I Can’t Dance When I’m Moving!

I say a lot of dumb things on a regular basis.  I guess we all do but I always feel like I am particularly prone to blurting out the first thing that pops into my head.  This week at dance I did myself proud by uttering one of the most ridiculous catch phrases yet to pass through my brain. 

So this week was waltz week.  I have been drilling the waltz footwork for two weeks now.  Heel- toe, toe, toe-heel, heel-toe, toe, toe-heel.  And I have to say I have been feeling pretty good about it! Even though it is the most awkward way a person will ever travel down a dance floor, not to mention unnatural.

So here I am all set up for success. I come in to my lesson and Brian starts showing me the footwork as well as the proper way for me to hold my hands and body.  We go through the routine and he meticulously walks me through all the steps I need to take.  I’m definitely getting it, I am following along, I got this…. We get into waltz position and I start taking my first step of the routine when all of the sudden I forget the last 15 minutes of careful explanation.  In this moment of brain lapse I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, “I can’t do this when I’m moving!”  To which Brian bursts out laughing and I turn red knowing that this silly phrase makes absolutely no sense.  I think what I was trying to say was that I understood all the concepts being explained to me but actually executing it was hard. 

This is kind of the epitome of waltz for me.  I have always thought that it is the dance that looks the easiest when you watch someone else dancing it and is the hardest when you try to dance it yourself.  There are so many nuances about how to step, when to step, how to hold your head, and how to keep your posture.  Not to mention keeping the careful waltz cadence, remembering your footwork, and trying to stay in your “window” (that little place that the ladies body stays to the left of the lead’s frame).  In short, waltz may yet be the most intellectually stimulating dance I have learned so far.  And yes, it is hard to dance it when you are moving!

Dancing is about MOVING but it is also about WAITING

Last week’s lesson was primarily focused on all the dancing “don’ts”.  The theme of this week’s lesson was primarily around “waiting”.  I have the tendency to step too early in West Coast Swing instead of hanging back and waiting for the ,lead to pull me forward on step “1”.   This idea of waiting either to hold the beat or for the lead to initiate a move is a fairly common thread across all dances. 

In Cha Cha I have the waiting problem too.  The dance has a different rhythm from West Coast but still relies on waiting between beats.  Even though the dance is more staccato with short, quick steps, I tend to anticipate the next move and start stepping before the move is even initiated.  Anticipation is a common dance problem in the best of times but it is especially prevalent when learning a choreographed routine.  Practice does makes perfect but also builds expectation for a particular move.

Again, same holds true for Night Club and Waltz.  I have to remember to wait, step with my foot first, and then let my body follow so that I can lean into my partner’s arms.  This enables me to form the dance frame that looks so beautiful.  Without waiting it is difficult for me to fill all the space within the dance connection. Basically I am learning to dance in a way that looks pretty if I was to be photographed at any moment.  And this is the honest truth!

There is one more truth that I believe is important to share when you are preparing for your first competition. You WILL learn many new dances when preparing for a competition but you also WILL be learning the dances to a specific routine.  This is good but also crippling because without learning the dance socially you will only know certain choreographed moves.  You will also primarily be practicing with your instructor ( I would imagine) which means not only will you get used to the way he/she dances but you will also get accustomed to following a strong lead.  So I would encourage anyone who is planning to compete to yes, practice the routines, practice your footwork, but also practice dancing socially.  It will help you out in the long run, I promise!  Any time you want to practice or start learning you can check out the lessons/classes at Dance Louisville which is a great place with a friendly environment.

A Week of "DON'Ts"- Learning What Not to Do When Dancing

I have decided that I really enjoy writing a blog post the day after my dance lesson.  It is a great way to notate and remember all the helpful tips I learned the day before.  Many of the tips I this week were related to habits I should NOT do when dancing.  I will start by relaying those tips before discussing the new steps I learned this week.

In West Coast Swing, I should NOT be bending my wrist in a funky way every time somebody turns me. I actually do this constantly so it is clearly a bad habit I have developed.  I need to focus on keeping my wrist ramrod straight and in line with my arm so that I can have a better connection with my partner.

In Night Club, I should NOT be dancing on my toes OR looking at my toes. These are both these I do CONSTANTLY.  Night Club should be danced low to the floor with slightly bent legs.   I also should NOT dance Night Club completely upright.  Rather I need to be applying tension to my connection with my partner (much like in West Coast Swing) and leaning up and over the connection (and back into the man's hand).

In Cha Cha, I should NOT be fearful to open up my arm and side during the crossover breaks as the footwork looks more natural that way.  And in Two Step, I should NOT just turn blindly - I should turn while posting properly so that I can properly stabilize myself and prepare for my next move down the line of dance.

So this week is about me beating my bad habits and hopefully trying to avoid all my little idiosyncrasies. I will also be focusing on the basic pattern and footfall for Waltz.  Basically I am going to practice awkwardly walking around my house doing the waltz rise and fall footwork which is heel-toe, toe, toe-heal.

So this may be the week of DON'Ts for improving my dance technique but it is also the week that I start learning my fifth and final dance- Waltz!!! I am very excited about this.  If I can learn my routine for Waltz by the end of May that means that I have all of June to refine my dance technique for competition.  Hooray!

Finalizing the Night Club Routine (And Perfecting Cha Cha and Two Step)

This week I worked on finalizing my night club routine.  Does it look beautiful and am I holding my head and body correctly through the routine? Absolutely not! Can I remember the footwork? Mostly…. So learning the remainder of the Night Club footwork was not too tricky as Night Club came slightly easier to me than Cha Cha.  The hard part about Night Club is really just learning how to hold your head and your body.  The frame for Night Club is wide and spacious and similar to how you would hold your body for any ballroom dance.  The lady must allow her back to completely compress up and over into the man’s hand (almost as if leaning backwards) with every turn.  This looks gorgeous and feels….unpleasant.  For me, it definitely feels unnatural. 

The other hard part of Night Club is forcing myself to stay “down low” on my feet.  Night Club looks beautiful if you take long strides and bend your knees, flexing towards the floor.  It looks awkward if you dance how I do on my tippy toes.  So I will be working on improving all these things this week.  I also really struggled with some of the arm movements especially for the move called “Sliding Doors”.  In this move you must extend your arms as you move your feet and it is almost like trying to rub your tummy and scratch your head at the same time.  In any case, when I tried to focus on my arms I completely lost track of my feet and vice versa. Room for improvement? Hah-most definitely! J

This week, I also worked on fine tuning my Cha Cha routine..  I think I finally have the footwork down- hooray! Alas, I am moving my body very rigidly without fluid motions-in short I am not moving my hips enough- sigh…. So I will need to practice moving my hips on my own so I can train my body.  I also need to practice dancing with my toes pointed out instead of turned in.  This makes the lines for Cha Cha look much better and makes the dance more comfortable. 

In the last part of my lesson we ran through my Two Step routine which oddly felt the most comfortable! I still feel like I am turning a million miles an hour through the routine and at times getting dizzy but mostly I feel comfortable.  Now I just need to get to this comfort level with the other dances….

Improving my Cha Cha and Learning Some Nightclub!

In the past week I have focused on tightening up my Cha Cha moves and learning a little bit of the Night Club routine. So far Cha Cha is the hardest dance for me personally.  I am not sure what exactly makes it so tricky except that I know my feet always want to go in the wrong direction.  I constantly tend to start the chase move with the wrong foot or bend my knees too much or lose track of my steps entirely as I race to keep up with the music.

Last week I decided that I needed to learn the footwork for Cha Cha very slowly and on my own so that when I was dancing with a partner (and music) my feet would just naturally know where to go.  Muscle memory is pretty much the key component to dancing well.  Everyday, I set aside 10-15 minutes and reviewed my form and footwork for the basic Cha Cha step, the crossover break, the turns, and the chase move.  This practice helped me a lot and prepared me for my next lesson.  Instead of struggling to focus on footwork and technique and keeping time with the music I could just focus on the latter two issues.  Hooray! My plan for this week is to look just a little better when Cha Cha-ing socially.   I think I can get there. :)

This week I was also introduced to Night Club.  I had previously learned a few turns and basic steps from Brian but had not yet started to integrate these moves into a routine.  I decided, after learning Night Club, that I like it a lot! I naturally have long limbs and arms and am constantly taking steps that are too big in compact dances like West Coast Swing and Two Step.  Finally, a dance where I can stretch my legs and arms out and be praised for it!!!

Night Club is a version of waltz and is a slow, big dance which takes up a lot of space.  I  love it.  I really like that I can relate Night Club to Two Step, which is a dance I already know.  For example, the pivot turns in Night Club are giant versions of the tiny, tight pivots performed in Two Step.  The only thing that is awkward about Night Club is that you have to cock your head to the side a bit and settle into your left and right hip as you dance (kind of like waltz).  This is a very unnatural (and uncomfortable) head movement for almost anyone and will definitely take some getting used to.

After my struggles with Cha Cha though I am relieved that I may have some natural ability for any dance.  This week my focus is on tightening up my Two Step routine and doing drills for Night Club, Two Step and Cha Cha.  Practice, practice practice!

Cha Cha - Not As Simple As it Appears

And so I have arrived at Cha Cha.  A seemingly simple dance with the basic count of 1-2-Cha-Cha-Cha.  However, the tricky part of Cha Cha is that it is a fast dance with small movements and much room for error.  For starters, your toes are supposed to be pointed slightly out in most moves (with heels together).  My feet do not naturally go that way! My feet and toes, when standing naturally, point straight forward.  This is an attribute that I had always thought was positive since I have never had to worry about looking pigeon-toed.  But in Cha Cha toes have to point out so I am faced with the unpleasant task of trying to remember the foot work for this dance while contorting my feet in directions they do not want to go.  But in addition to the footwork there are also many unintuitive arm movements that must be learned. 

Remember those early days in middle school when we were just learning about kissing and everyone always asked , “But what do I do with my hands or my arms?! It’s so awkward!”  This is kind of how I feel about Cha Cha because I NEVER know what I am supposed to do with my arms or my hands until shown.  None of it feels natural and in fact I have to practice making the Cha Cha arm movements so they WILL in fact “look natural”.  I think I actually pulled a muscle trying to do the correct arm movement for the cross over breaks the first time. 

Okay, so I have to focus on pointing my toes out, remembering footwork, crazy arm movements (and arm lines) all while keeping time to the music! Oh and trying to remember the Cha Cha routine too!!  My only hope to conquer this dance is to practice the basic Cha Cha moves solo and focus on the little things like keeping my toes pointed, my heels together, and my hips doing…..what?  I think that is a question I will need to ask in my next lesson. J

Two Step and the Art of Turning....and Turning.....And Turning

In order to compete in July I will need to master 5 routines to 5 different dances including Waltz, Night Club, Two Step, West Coast Swing, and Cha Cha. Thankfully I already knew how to dance West Coast and Two Step when I decided to enter the competition.  On the first day of dance prep I met with my instructor, Brian, and we reviewed my plan of attack to make the July deadline.  He decided that in order to boost my self esteem and simultaneously tackle a dance we would start learning the routine for Two Step first.  

Thanks to having already attended workshops and group lessons in Two Step, this dance was not new to me.  Two Step is a fast, unrelenting dance and there is practically no recovery time.  Unlike in West Coast Swing where you can hold an anchor or count yourself back in, Two Step pounds on with no room for error.  I am the first one to admit that I can cheat in West Coast by skipping the anchor if I miss a beat or my partner is off music. ( I know Brian, I am only cheating myself!) But this is a blog of honesty if nothing else.  These shenanigans do not fly too well in Two Step.  If the lady or the man gets off beat the only way to fix the issue is typically to stop dancing completely and start again.  

The beat is only the first issue. The other part that is tricky is the constant turning.  Gentleman have to turn quite a bit in this dance but ladies you will really be turning! And you must turn with confidence and without hesitation! I am going to alter a wonderful quote from Julia Child (about flipping pancakes) and say that you "Must turn with the courage of your convictions!"  It is incredibly hard to focus on turning and new patterns in Two Step simultaneously.  Therefore I began conducting my own turning practice at home.  Just 10 minutes of turn practice a day keeps the line of dance in play!  One helpful turn technique is the chaine turn. The chaine turn involves a series of quick turns that travel down the line of dance.  It is something you can do on your own without a partner and it really really helps with Two Step.  Pivot turns (where you literally pivot in the opposite direction) are also helpful but the chaine turns really sealed the deal with me. After doing these turns for about a month on my own  my instructor really noticed a difference and so did I!!!

Learning the Two Step dance routine after learning the basic Two Step patterns like the weave, and couples turn was actually quite fun.  And bolstered by my new turning skills I was starting to feel like I might really be prepared to tackle this dance competition.   That was, until I tried to start learn Cha Cha....