Timing, Improvisation, Leading at the same time

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Newdancer81

Active Member
Just a question for all the leads out there. I can usually lead okay, my timing is fine if I'm doing basic steps, but then my timing falls off when I try to think and improvise on what to do next in a social dance or freestyle.

Is there a trick to all this? Or is it just practice? Because what happens is that I try to think of what to do next and then do a slight pause and end up being off time? What tricks are there?
 
When Im leading and don't know what to do next I usually get back to the basic or loop something that's easy to buy myself more time.

It depends on the dance style what makes sense but I'll often just walk in time to the music side by side with my partner
 
It comes with experience and practice. You can always revert to a basic figure while you're trying to figure out the next move.

But you should try to think ahead if possible. 30 consecutive reverse turns is probably going to leave you dizzy in VW.
 
Loki said:
It comes with experience and practice. You can always revert to a basic figure while you're trying to figure out the next move.

But you should try to think ahead if possible. 30 consecutive reverse turns is probably going to leave you dizzy in VW.
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Funny you say that, if I try to think ahead, I get too focused on executing the current step/pattern perfectly and then I sometimes forget what I'm supposed to do next. It gets frustrating because I know what I want to do, but then I forget because of brain cramps.
 
Keep practicing. You need to be able to lead from "muscle memory" simple patterns while dealing with floorcraft situations. Simple patterns to include basic box-type patterns and other patterns to maneuver around the floor, including the transitions between these patterns.

If you're on a crowded floor and/or with an uncertain follow, stick with the simple patterns and leave practicing that new whizbang step you think you learned in the last group class for a less stressful time.
 
davedove said:
Keep working at it. Even advanced dancers occasionally have a brain fart.:confused:
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One of my favorite videos of Augusto Schiavo has him very obviously having a few moments of Utter Forget. Priceless. However, being Schiavo, he works through it beautifully and gets back on track.
 
Newdancer81 said:
Funny you say that, if I try to think ahead, I get too focused on executing the current step/pattern perfectly and then I sometimes forget what I'm supposed to do next. It gets frustrating because I know what I want to do, but then I forget because of brain cramps.
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Once you practice enough with different combinations of figures, your body will just know what to do without you having to think about it.

Or you could organize what you do know and categorize things into figures where your left vs right foot are free, and ones where you're going forwards vs. backwards vs. side, and that might help you a bit.
 
Definitely time and practice. If you can only do the basic step while thinking about what else to do, that's what you do. Eventually you will be able to do more and more complicated steps without thinking about them. You haven't been dancing that long.
 
There are no Tricks, and yes, it just takes practice. And BTW, it never completely goes away. Just like talking is communication between two people, so is dancing. How many conversations do you have a day where you have an ahhh, hmmm, pause, a "what's the word" moment, or you say it perfectly, but the other person doesn't hear it perfectly. In conversation, you've come to accept these as normal. They are normal in dance as well, don't sweat em....
 
In my experience, most leads at social events aren't improvising. Some of the more advanced ones, sure, but most have set 'chunks' that they like to use - a series of four or five figures that can be rearranged in random order depending on music, floor traffic, follwer ability, etc. Dance with them enough (or watch them enough, as you're not a follow) and you'll pick up on the pattern.

For example, in waltz, there's a lead in my area who likes to lead pattern A: natural-change-reverse, followed by pattern B: whisk-chasse-change-spin turn-change. But sometimes, we're blocked or he hasn't travelled as much as he expected, so he might lead pattern A twice, then pattern B, or pattern A followed by pattern C: open impteus into weave from PP, natural spin turn. IIRC (I don't social dance much), his standard waltz has 5 of these chunks that he mixes and matches, but to someone watching casually, it likely looks completely random.

(Pros or open level dancers at causal events, well, they're often making stuff up. Not just routines on the fly, but steps. But then, they've been at it 20 or so years... and even they have favourite patterns or figures.)
 
Squall said:
Once you practice enough with different combinations of figures, your body will just know what to do without you having to think about it.

Or you could organize what you do know and categorize things into figures where your left vs right foot are free, and ones where you're going forwards vs. backwards vs. side, and that might help you a bit.
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This seems too complicated for me because I think I would try to file things and then mess up lol...my brain is dumb lol.
 
Okay, so I think I'm getting better with leading,timing and improvising now. I guess where I'm struggling now is sometimes I get so involved in a move or step that I totally forget about the music. Any tips on how to avoid this?
 
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