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Teacher's (and Dancer's) Lament
by Sandi
& Dan Finch
Every teacher has been there, at least once -- you have just shown a
figure and explained it, but what you see the class doing isn’t
anything like it should look.
The dancers might think they are doing it correctly, but most likely
they too know something is amiss. They won’t know what it is, but
anything that goes wrong in a class, whether for beginners or the more
advanced, can be traced to a problem with one of these elements:
incomplete weight change, lack of balance, timing challenge, bad
partnering, or miscommunication.
Sometimes a teacher is teaching dances, not teaching dancing. Too much,
too fast, not enough repetition, technique sacrificed for speed. If
dancers only learn dances, they won’t think about the figures
individually. The world is full of round dances -- the Roundalab Index
of Rounds has over 28,000 routines posted. Learn how to do figures so,
as a dancer, you can put them together to any choreography you might
hear at a dance.
Yegor Novikov, who will be teaching at the DanceVision Mastery Camp in
June, says “there is no shortcut to excellence,” either for the
beginner or the advanced dancer. Both have to work on the basics.
“Basic doesn’t mean easy,” he says. “Basic means essential.”
All of dancing begins with the feet. For beginners, the biggest boo-boo
is failing to complete the weight change on a step. More advanced
dancers don’t always learn how to “use” their feet for balance and to
create lines.
Dancers who have problems changing weight can work on two things: Think
about moving your spine to be over the standing foot, which ensures
your weight has transferred, and get in the habit of lifting the heel
of your “free” foot so it is ready to take the next step.
Dancers who are more advanced need to focus on two aspects of taking a
step -- foot position and how a foot moves, according to Novikov. Foot
position starts with how the foot connects to the floor. It can be
flat, solidly on the ground, able to hold up 100% of the body weight,
or on the ball with ankle extended and still able to hold up full body
weight, or the toe can be pointed. On the ball of the foot, you should
visualize a line from between the first and second toe back to the
heel. To dance tango, the inside edge of the big toe makes contact with
the floor on a tap. To make a nice line and keep the ankle secure, the
tap comes from a rotation of the shin bone down, not just the foot.
How to spiral? Step onto the ball of the foot allowing the heel to kiss
the floor as the body creates the energy for the rotation. For any
step, especially in Latins, breathing correctly helps with balance. On
the rumba basic, breathe in as you take the first step, breathe out as
you recover, take another deep breath as you step side, and exhale to
control the settling on the slow count.
Dancers tell us (in many ways without saying so) that they don’t
understand the music. Some have a natural “ear,” but for most dancers,
understanding music is not an innate ability. Music is like the ticking
of a clock. Every minute, 60 ticks. Finding the beat to follow is like
listening for the clock to tick. The lyrics are like a TV playing in
the room. Before you can hear the clock, you have to tune out the TV.
One of the instruments in every song is ticking, keeping the basic
beat, for the rest of the orchestra -- and for you. Listen for it.
Novikov suggests playing with your own timing to develop an ear. A
simple exercise: Clap, then snap your fingers, then slap your chest.
Each action makes a different sound. Do the three with equal emphasis,
then give one more energy than the others; or speed up the sequence; or
do a double clap or slap your chest two times. It begins to open your
mind to the subtleties of sound.
Beyond that, there are other principles that work throughout dancing. A
simple one -- If you want your feet to come together on a closing step,
as in the basic two step, a hitch or the third step of waltz, bring
your knees together. The feet will follow.
Posture is responsible for balance. Keep your head up, eyes on the
horizon. Looking down throws your weight forward, changing your
balance, and puts that head weight onto your partner.
Even beginners can learn the basic concepts of “partnering,” what
ballroom calls lead and follow. Ladies in our style of dancing hear the
cues as well as the man. She might know the steps perfectly, but
neither partner will enjoy dancing unless she “listens” to his leads so
they can move together. Men are in charge of when to start, direction,
and speed. Allow him that. Men, treat her gently. No pushing or
pulling. Keep a good frame. Let your body’s movement tell her when to
move. In our classes, we liken ladies to that Costco shopping cart. You
have to keep it in front of you and move it as you walk forward. Keep
it in mind when you go to move her.
From a club
newsletter, May 2022,
and
reprinted
in the Dixie Round Dance Council (DRDC)
Newsletter, December 2022. Find a DRDC Finch archive here.
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