Wearing a Loincloth in a Snow Storm

Can you imagine wearing a loincloth in an Alaska snow storm?

Out of place? Maybe just a little.

Context is something I wish were observed more. Dancing in context is just one of those things that eludes so many people.

When that Reggaeton music is blaring, why are you executing double-spins and grapevines?

Are you serious?

All of us could use extra work on our musicality, but blatantly ignoring the music is a bad way to start. 

I like the idea of taking the time to educate yourself on the various genres of Latin music and dropping the assumption that Salsa is danced to every type of music.

You cheat yourself by not taking the time to learn each dance that jointly developed with each type of music.

Don't fall victim to genre stereotyping.

Not everything is Salsa.

Reacting vs. Following

They tell me to just follow as if it is so simple.

My arm tension is constantly changing, my hands have more rules than Multivariable Calculus, and I am still trying to think about my feet.

I guess following really is complex work.

In fact, following is only half the picture. Reacting is the other half.

I follow my partner's lead, but react to the changes in his hands.

I follow where his arm guides me but react to his pushes and pulls.

I think reacting seems more difficult because it spans a micro sliver of time.

Reacting is instant. Following is delayed. Anticipating is forbidden.

I need to do them both and understand which one goes where.

I should have chosen to lead.

That would have been much easier.

The 4-Hour Workweek Diet

In his book, "The 4-Hour Workweek" Tim Ferriss flies against many of today's norms. Throughout the book he basically advocates a "call in sick" approach to job and life. Though I have yet to read the entire book, my impression tells me that it is largely based on taking many shortcuts that may not be too realistic for some.

One chapter in particular details an "information diet" consisting of little to no news reading, limited fiction reading before bed and a few other caloric restrictions designed to decrease your input and increase your output.

I think he definitely has a point.

As a whole we take in too much information and do even less with what we take in. But to say that we all should reduce the amount of information we take in seems to me like an overshoot. We all have different "metabolisms". Those with higher informational metabolisms(higher output) probably need more input than those who ar

e more at rest.  In fact, in most systems I can think of, more output means more input, not less. 

Usually, there is a positive correlation between input and output, right? Of course there is a point at which it becomes counterproductive, eating more than you actually move in which case excess calories can create fat deposits. 

Luckily, our comparison between food and info is only symbolic!

The Instructor's Paradox

The instructor's paradox is this:

You will spend your entire life pouring your heart into others, striving to bring them to their personal perfection and inspiring them to grow beyond their imagination.

Day and night you obsess over figuring out how to make them surpass you. 

You will simultaneously spend your entire life striving for your own personal perfection, searching for that next step to bring yourself closer to a goal that can never be attained.

Day and night you toil to avoid being surpassed by those you love to inspire.

Microscopic Changes Can Create Massive Results

Many times, in order to affect the large you have to change the small.

With communication, a small change in the verb can change the whole voice of meaning.

When dealing with problems that require creative solutions, look at the entire problem. Once you have viewed the problem from a wide angle lens, zoom in and zoom in close.

Once you do that, think about the smallest change that can create the largest effect.

The good thing about small changes is that they are often undone easily when made in error. Though they may have the same impact as a larger one, the latter takes a much more extensive clean up effort.

There Are No Such Things As Steps

In our very first classes we are often taught by reproducing a series of 'steps' demonstrated by our instructor.

We are given the essential building blocks of a movement in the most basic form possible. This is great -for a very limited time. In fact, the usefulness of step-based instruction pretty much ends with the basic step. Note the word basic.

In Salsa, once your body has accepted the idea of '3 steps and a slowed weight shift' it's time to start thinking in terms of movements, and not steps.

Let's examine the existing schema in place regarding steps.

Your first baby steps were clumsy.

Stair steps are jagged.

Steps in general, lack gradient.

Is it beneficial to think of any kind of dance as a series of steps? Perhaps the hokey pokey.

Now what comes to mind when thinking about movement?

I think all of us could benefit by a small shift in thinking. Let's totally reframe our idea of dance.

Thinking of dance as a series of movements will create an entirely different feel for your lead/follow.

Follows especially, when you think steps, you feel like steps. If steps are what is going through your mind, your lead will feel every single step as well.

When a follow focuses on her movement, she feels like movement. Dancing with follows, I can immediately tell whether they focus on steps or movement. This way of thinking is difficult to teach, but easy to accept and absorb if you truly want to improve.

When a lead becomes focused on his movement, he is no longer staring at the stars, counting in his head, because he has accepted that he knows how to walk and doesn't need to focus consciously on where his feet are on any given count.

Step-based instruction is a tool for teaching the most basic movements of any dance. Think of it as the 'training wheels'.

Once you get the hang of riding a bike, the two extra wheels create unnecessary friction and only serve to slow you down.

I say we ditch the training wheels.

Eduardo

http://www.pasodancestudios.com

Now Is Not The Time To Think

On what count do I prep on?

When do I step forward?

What direction do I walk here?

What turn pattern do I execute next?

All of these are good questions to ask.

Good questions to ask during training. Bad questions to ask when dancing.

When you are dancing we should try our best to shut off our minds and let our 'animal instincts' take over. This is the only way to access the raw human emotion that all of us have inside waiting to be expressed.

When is the last time you thought about absolute nothing but feeling the music? The next time you dance, pay attention to your thoughts and notice how often you think out steps. First, you need to be aware that you are actually thinking before you can shut it off!

Drill. Train. Refine. The Paso way, right?

But when you are embracing your partner and the music is pulsing, allow your body to go on complete autopilot and do what it was taught to do.

Eduardo

http://www.pasodancestudios.com

Dance as a massage

Massages feel good.

Common sense, right?

Observing one of our dancers today, I couldn't help but notice his movement was missing a sort of deliberate quality. It was loose, but too loose. In fact, a lead that lacks any tension at all doesn't feel too good.

We say to be loose. We say to not be tight. Have you ever told your student to massage, during his or her dance?

Massage the air around you. Massage your partner through your lead. Most of us have existing schema in place regarding the nature of a good massage.

Slow..deliberate..possesses a direction and purpose.

A good massage shouldn't feel 'random' or jerky.

Neither should a good lead. Try implementing this visualization with your students to enact powerful changes in their movement.

As a student of dance, we should add a 'massage lead' to our repertoire of textures. Imagine if your lead or movement felt like this.

Would you ever have a hard time finding a partner?

http://www.pasodancestudios.com