Dance Better Now

Continuous and discreet dances: another way to categorize dances

By understanding how different dances styles are different from each other and how they are similar to each other, you are better able to get into the mindset each needs. Not only does this help you dance them better, but it helps you work out what you need to work on to improve how well you dance them as well.

Although I have not been able to find much about this explicitly elsewhere, I have noticed that dances can fall into one of two groups: ‘continuous’ and ‘discreet’.

The first group, which I have called ‘continuous’, could also be called ‘smooth’. This will make sense to American dancers who dance the American syllabus, and are likely familiar with the term “American Smooth’. The dances that fit into this category are dances like the tango (English/American), foxtrot and waltz; however, dances like the quickstep also fall into this category.

In these dances, there is no clear basic.

Admittedly, the waltz kind of has a clearer basic than the others, but I still add it to this group.

When there is no clear basic, the lead can’t go back to the basic step and just keep doing that while waiting until there is a chance to do another figure or they think of another figure to do. Instead, the dance must continuously flow smoothly from one figure to the next. In the case of waltz, one could keep doing the basic and then throw in another step when the time feels right. However, this transition is expected to occur smoothly and it is preferred that the basic not be used too much.

Certainly in the ‘discreet’ dances have a clear basic – think cha cha, samba, rumba, salsa and so on.

When dancing these styles, one can dance the basic while thinking what to do next. I have seen an excellent dancer from South America do nothing but a basic salsa figure for the whole night. He was so connected to the music that you didn’t realize that’s all he did. He could dance the basic figure in a way that expressed the changing music, which he looked to really feel, and thus looked like he changed figures. He never had troubles finding a partner so I assume the partners he danced with were happy with this approach to dance as well.

This is another way of categorizing dances, but what’s the point? 

The point is that this can help you work out how to approach a dance. If you are working on a discreet dance, then you can afford to stop and start and work on different figures with little negative effect. However, when working on continuous dances, you are well served to focus on putting one figure after another (even if you do not do them perfectly) so that you can become better at thinking a few steps ahead and keep the smooth flow of the dance.

It’s still a good idea to work on being able to move from one figure to another in the discreet dances. That is a big thing that I have noticed in the salsa world, lots of people like one figure blending into another without a basic in between.

By being aware of which of these two categories a dance falls into, you can put yourself into a more suitable mindset. When dancing the continuous dances, I now think more about what figures will come next and which fit the situation I am in.

This can be an issue for both the lead and the follow. Leads need to keep thinking ahead and follows need to realize that there will likely be no breaks where only the basic is done for a brief period where one can get one’s bearings.

I only noticed this difference when I started to focus on my social dance ability as opposed to learning routines. If you have been dancing socially, and free-styling, for some years, then you might have already noticed this. However, if you have found that some styles do not seem to click for you, then it might be that you need to remember whether they are continuous or discreet and what that means for your approach when dancing them.

Who learns figures?

I have recently taken a new direction with my partner dance development. I have gone from learning routines to learning to freestyle. In this post I will tell you what I have noticed and experienced so far.

Historically, I was really only learning routines and doing medals/gradings in my one on one lessons. I was doing a few group classes in styles I liked. I was also dancing socially on occasion. However, most of my efforts went into learning routines for the next medal.

I did enjoy this while I did it. However, when it came time to start learning a new routine a while back, my heart was not in it. I really could not stand the thought of simply learning another routine and not really learning the figures. If you asked me to do a routine then I could. But - if you asked me to do the following:

1. choose a dance (waltz, rumba, lindy hop etc.),
2. dance that style freestyle for a set period,
3. in that period do each of the figures that I should know from that dance and
4. do it all without actually doing the routine,

then I probably would have failed.

I think this is more an issue for male dancers who need to recall the figures and then pull them out as needed. I have spoken to many women who say that their instructors never teach them the routine. Instead, the instructors simply teach them all the figures and how to follow them. That way when it comes time for the medal/grading, she will follow properly, and get a good grade. Women have told me that even if they can’t recall the figure, once it is led it comes to them. Their bodies remember – so all good for women pretty much.

For men though, it’s a bit different. Men need to recall the figure, know when they can put it into the dance and then lead it. Simply learning a routine does not help much with this. That’s the issue I wanted to deal with and that’s why I decided to change the nature of my lessons.

So my one on one classes now have focused on recalling the figures, how they can be brought together, how they should feel (not just for me, but what o should feel from the follow) and putting them together in combination for better floor craft. The changes in my experience and what I have been learning have been very significant!

The most significant thing I have noticed is that I am now learning many subtleties in the follow that I can use to understand where the woman actually is – both where she is on the dance floor relative to me and the position of her body. I am now getting better at using this to better time my leads. This will obviously make me a much better lead, and I can already feel my awareness of how to properly move my partner on the dance floor improving. But it also makes the act of dancing much more stimulating and enjoyable.

The next most significant thing I have noticed is how lazy I have become. Learning a routine really makes you focus. It’s a clear goal, and this helps you focus more between classes. In class I am now saying things like ‘I have forgotten what we did, can we do it again?’ more frequently than I used to. It’s probably not as bad as it sounds; I usually recall it pretty quickly. I do however know that I need to find a better way of learning under this new approach.

In summary - I am really happy with learning what feels like “true” leading, but I do need to find a way to make the learning more effective.

Still, the question you might be asking is: what does this mean for me, Clint?

I would certainly recommend trying this approach to learning dance if you have not before. It’s pretty clear for me that this will help men much more than it will women so maybe the women have stopped reading by now. However, if you are a man, then at some time you really should try this.

But before you get too excited, I do think it helps to have a good number of figures under your belt beforehand. Even if you can’t recall them, they will come back to you. I have noticed many things coming back to me. If I had not done the medals, then I would not have been trying to learn figures (instead of recalling them) and focusing on these subtleties – probably not easy. Therefore, I think learning routines is good at the start. It gives you that focus you need to learn fast, but routines also provide good examples of how to put figures together. I would say that once you have done two levels, you’re probably in a good place to try this. However, I reckon you could do it after your first medal/grading.

I should make another observation. I think this is as new for many teachers as it is for students – female teachers with male students mostly. Expect to learn how to learn this. I have been given “homework” while doing this, but I do think that the nature of these out of class tasks can be refined. Expect to play around with any “homework” you get to work out how best to practice and learn. That’s what I am doing now, and I will report back on any insights that come to me as I do.

To wrap this all up I would say that if you have progressed a bit and would like to know how to freestyle more, then focus on lessons that only deal with learning figures and how to use them while dancing socially. However, expect that it might take a while to work out how to develop in this area quickly. If you have tried anything like this and have some insights to share, then please do so below.

Men versus women: who’s got the timing issue?

When it comes to musicality do you feel that the partner is always worse than you or better? Ever wonder who better: men or women? Here is an interesting question I received via email on this topic.

I have a question about musicality...

I just started dancing classes and one of my main issues is having a hard time following my partner. It's as if the music makes me want to dance in a certain rhythm and I'm not really following my partner lead. I'm aware I'm the unexperienced one in the class and I'm always told I have to loosen up and just follow the lead.

My question is,
do you think that musicality is as important for the man as is for the woman? What if I develop my musicality and happen to dance with someone weaker in that aspect in the real life, (not in class), won't that worsen my already weak follower abilities?

Thank you!

Fidelma

And here is my reply

 

The first question is an easy one to answer. Yes. Musicality is just as important to all of us.

The second question is interesting, but I want to first talk about how to deal with this in class.

It seems to have no real solution. On the one hand, you are pretty sure that you know what you’re meant to do in response to the music. However, on the other hand, someone who seems more expert than you suggests (implicitly) that you’re not meant to do that.

It makes you ask numerous questions:

• Am I wrong with my timing?
• Are the wrong with theirs even though they are more experienced?
• If they are wrong, then what am I mean to do; dance out of time?
• If I am wrong, then what is that I am doing wrong?

The combination of uncertainty about who is wrong and uncertainty about what to do about it makes for a very unpleasant experience. This can really rob you of the pleasure of dance and it’s really not what dance is mean to do.

At this moment you might be thinking ‘Thanks, Clint; you’ve pointed out what I do know but how about you tell me what to do about this!?!’

That would be a fair call, but I am trying to establish that when we feel this way – like there is no clear way to move forward to solve a problem – we need to do something that we do not often do. We need to change the problem.

The problem is not that you can’t keep time. The problem is that he can’t keep time. The problem is not that you need to know how to fix someone’s timing and musicality.

The problem is that something feels odd.

That’s the problem that you need to solve. Everything else is unknown and needs to be worked out so that you can first solve this problem.

I have said numerous times here in my emails and in my e-books that timing was a big issue for me. I am only now after years of dance feeling comfortable to rely on my instinct and just dance with the music. I still need to count every once in a while to be sure. I know how hard it can be. I also remember watching a video on timing a few years ago and the instructor said ‘NEVER do any dance practice out of time with the music!’ You really want to make sure that you are always trying to stay on the beat so that timing becomes instinctive. This made me even more stress about my timing I was worried I will develop erroneous musical instincts.

As hard as it was for me, I know I was not alone. That’s good news because it means that no matter what you are having trouble with your teacher has probably seen that and then more.

So the answer to this problem is your teacher. But: how you ask your question of the teacher?

I would start off by saying to the teacher first that something feels odd and you’re not sure what it is. All you know is that you feel like the music is trying to tell you to do something different from what you feel your partner is telling you to do.

Notice the use of the word ‘feel’. This is important because it means you’re not saying anyone is wrong. You’re just saying that there seems to be a conflict somewhere and you want to work at resolving it. Remember the man you’re dancing with is you “partner” so work with him. He is just keen to improve as you are and just as concerned with his ability as you are with yours. If you start with the known problem (something feel odd – like there is a mismatch in what you’re feeling) and then work from there with your teacher and your partner, then you can’t help but improve.

Now what to do in the real world? This is trickier.

First, remember the following: try to be mindful of other people who are trying to learn and do not get upset if someone else seems to have difficulty dancing with you.

That means that you are allowed to say something. It also means that if you have been polite, then there is no need to feel bad if they get upset. It’s not your fault if they are having a bad day or feel that they are not doing as well as they would like. Just let them deal with their issues in their own way. You can leave if you do not like how they are behaving, but don’t let it get to you.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what you can do.

I recall two times when I was the man in this issue. One woman was not sure and asked if I was dancing in 2 instead of 1 – we were doing salsa. The other woman asked if we could count together out loud as we danced so that we could see if we “heard” the music the same way. This actually worked quite well, and I would recommend it to any woman who feels something is off.

Depending upon what you think the man is like you might want to be more accommodating. If you’re really concerned, then try the following:

‘I am not sure if I hear the music right. Would you please count it out loud so that I can get the timing?’

Unless he has read this post he will simply assume you need help. If his timing is out, then he will potentially have a look of fear, but you never criticised him so there should be no anger towards you. If there is, then he really has issues. However, don’t assume that he is upset with you when he might actually be upset with himself.

If you hear it differently from how he does, then you can say ‘Oh – I hear it like this’ and then you count out loud. You are now in a situation where you are both considering a problem of mismatching of timing. How you progress from there depends upon you and him. Hopefully he would be just as motivated to sort out any issue as you. If he wants to get better then he should be.

In summary – don’t deal with this conflict of whether you should dance out of time so that you can follow. Solve the problem that you know is there in cooperation with those around you.

I hope that helped. Post below if anything seems unclear.