Dance Better Now

Do men feel like they lead you on the dance floor or carry you? Some advice on how to be a better follow

Recently I was at a dance event and happened to be on a table dominated by women. I mean numbers wise, and not personality wise. Part of the conversation got on to leading and following. Specifically on how some women find the instructions about how to follow that are given to them by their teachers are sometimes unclear.

They were told things like ‘Just let go’ and ‘You feel heavy’.

I am sure that these things make sense to the teacher saying them, but they were not to the students. The first thing that I would think is obvious is to simply look your teacher in the eye and say ‘What does that mean?’

I suggested this to the women I was talking to, but we also thought that we might as well try dancing and see if we could make sense of what these women had been told. So the dancing started. And we came up with some pointers that might be worth sharing with you.

Chances are you have been told all this by your dance teacher before, but maybe reading it here will trigger different parts of your brain than when your teacher tells you. This might make things click for you.

Hopefully you have an ‘ah ha’ moment or two when reading the following.

1.       You feel heavy

Do you need to be pushed or signalled?

It should be the second. You are meant to move yourself. The lead should give a signal, and you will then move yourself in accordance.

When starting some male instructors will push their students to make it clear what is expected. Some will also push to help correct movement when it is less than ideal. This certainly makes you look better on the floor, but it is not the way it’s meant to be done.

Focus on moving yourself.

2.       Just let go

One you get a signal, how much time do you spend working out what you’re meant to do?

If you have to spend much time at all, then you will be behind the beat and probably back to feeling heavy. Or it will seem that you’re apprehensive. Go with what you feel first and see what happens.

If you’re dancing socially, then the lead will assume it is his mistake – trust me; I do. Even if it’s not – just to be polite. If the lead gets annoyed, then he is not someone to worry about.

If it is in a class, then it’s a perfect time to work out if you have any misunderstandings about what each lead means. This can become especially important as you learn more figures. Each has a different lead; often with only subtle differences. As you learn more figures you need to pick up these subtle differences. You can also report back to a teacher if you had issues when dancing socially.

The more mistakes you make and points of confusion you find, the more of them you fix. And the more you fix, the better you dance.

So in summary:

• Do not expect to be pushed
• Move yourself when you feel the signal
• Do not spend time trying to work out where you are meant to go
• Move where it feels you should
• Do not stress if you go the wrong way
• Mistakes either are not a big deal or a chance to become more amazing
• Don’t guess what your teacher means when talk to you about following
• Communicate clearly by asking when working on becoming more amazing

One last note: men are told that a strong lead is not about pushing with force (although this is what that can mean to them when they first here the word strong). Instead it is about having a clear idea in their head about what they want to see happen. If you respond to signals like they are clear instructions, then you will get a chance to understand what a signal means or what the right signal should be or a little of both. Regardless of the case, at least someone will benefit through improved understanding.

Is there a substitute for practicing dance at real social dance events?

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NO

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The Rusty Tin Man of Dance

Have you ever gone to dance something that you knew you knew some time ago, but then found that you no longer did know?

It happened to me the other night, but that was certainly not the first time it had happened.

However, it occurred to me that even though I felt like a rusty tin man as I danced, it was probably good for me. This only occurred to me because at this time I was at a salsa night that started with a lesson on Forró. I had not danced Forró before and I was also a little rusty with my Salsa so you would think that it was challenging night.

However, it occurred to me that there was a benefit that was common to the two cases.

Learning the new dance and trying to recall the old dance really got the brain working. This is one of the greatest benefits of social dance. It makes you think in a way that is incredibly effective at exercising the brain to help decrease the chances al Alzheimer’s.

I have mentioned this before, but take a look at this to see how effective social dancing is at fighting Alzheimer’s.

The act of learning new steps is an important part of social dance. Relearning seems just as challenging as learning. So if you ever go to a dance event and find that you have forgotten how to dance a certain style, then it’s just a chance the practice learning again. This will make you better at learning other dances and other figures and it’s good for the brain.

So what’s the moral or this post?

Don’t be afraid to learn a new style at the risk of forgetting one you know. If you need to relearn the one you forget, then it is a chance to improve your dance learning ability. This will help you in all aspect of being a dance student. It will also be good for you brain.

Dancing can indeed be a lifelong learning task. No matter how good you get at one, there will be another one you can learn. By the time you get to the end, you can start all over again like a rusty tin man, which, as it turns out, is good for you!

Getting to the bottom of great dancing

Do you know how important strong buttocks are for good dance?

I first want you to try something. Stand up and try to get into the Latin dance position where the pelvis is pulled forward. Now try squeezing your buttocks while you do this.

If you do not do Latin dancing, then just stand normally and squeeze your buttocks.

You should notice how squeezing your buttocks brings the pelvis forward.

This is a simple exercise to show how important your gluteal muscles are to your poster. It is most common in Latin that you need to take a position where your pelvis is tucked and brought forward. However, in all dance it is important that your pelvis is not pulled back too much. This is simply not good dance posture in any style.

If you have well developed gluteal muscles, then you will find it easier to have a better poster naturally.

Safer dancing

However, you will also be less likely to have pain or injuries that could be caused by dance or that will prevent you from dancing.

One of my dancing friends recently sustained an injury that while not major in itself caused his gluteal muscles to weaken for a period. This then put extra strain on his groin, which led to another injury that was much more serious than the original dance.

If you don’t have strong well developed buttocks, then you can injure other parts of your body. And it’s not just your groin.

Do you ever have back pain when dancing or just from standing or walking?

If you do, then next time you are feel back pain, try squeezing your buttocks. You will potentially feel that pain go away and notice that your pelvis comes forward.

With strong buttocks you will be much less likely to be injured or unable to dance due to pain.

But that’s not the only benefit to your dance.

Do you ever have trouble lunging?

If you do not have strong buttock, then you will like find lunging puts a large strain on your thigh muscles (often close to the knee) and you might have troubles maintaining good posture in the upper body as you do.

If you find that lunging does prove a challenge, then next time try to focus on using the gluteal muscles on the side you are lunging too. You should find that it is easier and that you have better posture.

I know how much strong buttocks can improve dance, but how do you make them stronger?

How to quickly increase your buttock strength

If you now think you need to work on this, then here’s the easiest way:

When walking focus on flexing your gluteal muscles to help you walk. One your left foot touches the ground, flex the left gluteal muscles. Then the right and so on. You will notice two things:

1. Your gluteal muscles can work more than they do when walking
2. You will be walking faster with little more effort.

If you want to extend this further, then focus on doing the same thing as you walk up stairs. You will feel the same thing as when you walk, but it will be much more intense.

This is a good start, but you can go further with dedicated exercises. I was recommended this one by the friend I mentioned earlier.

1. Buy a Thera band (if you do not have one)
2. Stand near a chair or table for support
3. Wrap the band around your ankles
4. Push you pelvis forward
5. Stand upright
6. With a straight knee take one of your feet back
7. Take your foot back as far as you can while keeping the knee (on the same side) straight and your pelvis forward
8. You will really feel it in your buttock if you’re doing it right

 

 

Do this 10-20 times each side depending upon how hard it is – this will depend upon your fitness and the stiffness of the band.

If you would like to take this even further then Conditioning for Dance by Eric Franklin is an excellent book. It has a lot on the buttocks and just a lot on dance in general. I use it a lot when I feel a part of my body is not really working quite as well as it could be or needs to be for better dance.