you might be improving when your pro....

fascination

fascination

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admittedly, this is probably a pro/am sort of thread but if others want to tweak it to their particulars, all good

so...I have been thinking ;)....and it occurs to me, in my sample of two...that there are a few things that have been markers for me in terms of improvement....and I thought perhaps, since so many of us struggle at times with sure signs of improvement, and while there are some things we can discern for ourselves with regard to assessing our own dancing, there are some other more subtle things, cues from the instructor/coach, that I have noticed seem to indicate improvement...b/c I am generally dubious of praise when/if it does come.

here are a few that I have noticed;

1) it is generally an indication of improvement when the critique of a particular aspect stops...example; yesterday, I did not have to stop and re-do a single impetus or spin-turn which is exceedingly rare...okay ...never happens ...so I am assuming I am making the proper correction.

2) whenever I can discernably tell that pro is dancing something at a higher level than he previously has with me....my assumption is that my dancing has finally allowed it to happen witout a battle...this has happened at various times in my dancing...the first time, many moons ago, when FP did a chasse that, for the first time, had very discernable pendulumto it...and yesterday, after having worked for a very long time on getting rid of upper body tension and turning from the leg, NP did alot more shape and of course the rotation and movement was infinately yummier and I understood how and why....highly technical term, I know...

3) whenever a new dimesnion is added to something that I have already been working on for a while my assumption is that other things seem to be well enough in hand that he can begin to get a bit more particular, which is always a good sign...

these are the three that come to mind for me today...how about you?
 
fascination said:
1) it is generally an indication of improvement when the critique of a particular aspect stops...example; yesterday, I did not have to sto and re-do a single impetus or spin-turn which is exceedingly rare...okay ...never ...so I am assuming I am making the proper correction.
Click to expand...

Actually noticed this exact same thing during lesson today. was owrking tango with buddy teacher, and she corrected me on something I'd heard in both last lesson with her and last lesson with NP. But as we finished tango and moved on to rumba, I realized there was something else she'd been correcting me on regularly that she hadn't said anything about. all that time in mirror finally fixed it! :)
 
fascination said:
admittedly, this is probably a pro/am sort of thread but if others want to tweak it to their particulars, all good

so...I have been thinking ;)....and it occurs to me, in my sample of two...that there are a few things that have been markers for me in terms of improvement....and I thought perhaps, since so many of us struggle at times with sure signs of improvement, and while there are some things we can discern for ourselves with regard to assessing our own dancing, there are some other more subtle things, cues from the instructor/coach, that I have noticed seem to indicate improvement...b/c I am generally dubious of praise when/if it does come.

here are a few that I have noticed;

1) it is generally an indication of improvement when the critique of a particular aspect stops...example; yesterday, I did not have to stop and re-do a single impetus or spin-turn which is exceedingly rare...okay ...never happens ...so I am assuming I am making the proper correction.

2) whenever I can discernably tell that pro is dancing something at a higher level than he previously has with me....my assumption is that my dancing has finally allowed it to happen witout a battle...this has happened at various times in my dancing...the first time, many moons ago, when FP did a chasse that, for the first time, had very discernable pendulumto it...and yesterday, after having worked for a very long time on getting rid of upper body tension and turning from the leg, NP did alot more shape and of course the rotation and movement was infinately yummier and I understood how and why....highly technical term, I know...

3) whenever a new dimesnion is added to something that I have already been working on for a while my assumption is that other things seem to be well enough in hand that he can begin to get a bit more particular, which is always a good sign...

these are the three that come to mind for me today...how about you?
Click to expand...

I agree with you fasc! esp. # 2 and 3 for me...pro recently added a harder step in place of what was previously leading into one of my fans in cha cha.. :)
 
glad for both of you...it's important that we take time to mark these things...pro said to me that once it is looking good he is no longer concerned with it...and I respect that about him, but I think it is important for each of us to make sure we notice that...and celebrate it...
 
Oh, I made sure to celebrate it. but also to make note of it to make sure I didn't slip back into bad habits. :)
 
Adding a #4

When the types of correction change from larger issues to small, for example, from "put your leg here" or "head up" to "increase your lat contraction."
 
Definitely agree on the disappearance of a continual criticism. After what must have been a year of having everything come back to engaging my lats, that has disappeared in the past two or three months, to be replaced by a focus on sternum and lower abs. I'm just thrilled to think about a different body part for a while.

And sometimes the progress is more overt. Several months ago, pro said, "This lesson is very frustrating, because I can't really feel anything I want to correct." Now, I could hear the asterisk and footnote: "**At this time and at your level. No assessments of perfection expressed or implied." However, I was on cloud 9 for a week.
 
When he says things like, "When you move out like this, I can throw new stuff at you because I can trust you." Talk about cloud 9 for a week!

We do lead-and-follow, not routines, so "new stuff" is sometimes different ways of the same steps or amalgamations, sometimes it's completely new steps/amalgs, and I never know when they're going to come up. Very exciting, and always challenging.


 
exactly...I was so excited about not over-rotating my shoulders and pulling my right elbow back on those spin-turns...some things are just so much harder to feel and fix than others....i was so infernally sick of having to stop there for that reason and about three others...he had at least 2 dozen opportunites to go: NO...and it never came...float
 
Like many mentioned above - when critiques in my dancing have shifted from the basics in placement and technique to the very specific and miniscule details that make a huge difference in overall look and body movement.

Over the last few months I've noticed a huge change in focus in lessons and it finally occurred to me that certain things don't need to be discussed anymore as they just happen naturally now.
 
Similar to what j_alex said: We had a visiting coach get very thoughtful when putting together some coreo and then say somelthing like: "You guys have improved to the point that there are so many options for this part."

So...when it becomes apparent pro can give you newer/more difficult coreo.

And yes...ditto to what everyone said about when the criticism stops as well.
 
Great thread! Many of these are wonderful markers of progress. An early one is when pro shifts focus of lessons from learning steps and patterns to improving technique.
 
1. When your pro forgets what he's leading in a lesson and does a figure from a much higher-level routine and does not realize he's done this until it's over and you innocently ask "What was that?" because you were able to follow him without knowing what was coming. (This has happened at least twice. A third time I think it was on purpose and he just wanted to see what I'd do.)

2. When your pro enters you in a higher level than the last competition and doesn't mention it until you get your heat lists (I just say how many rounds I want to do and whether or not I want to do a multi-dance--level is entirely up to them. I must be getting better if I'm suddenly not entered in Pre-Bronze or Intermediate Bronze.)

3. When they start going in and nitpicking small things that apparently have been bothering them for a while, but which have had a lower priority than fixing big things (ie if Chris starts critiquing my arms instead of my hips or feet, either progress has been made or I did something REALLY annoying with my arms that time. ;) )
 
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