How are you coming along with this?
This week in my dancing I'm working on...
- Thread starter azzey
- Start date
How are you coming along with this?
Ha! Just saw what I wrote about 'bullet time' back in 2013. I achieved this in 2018.
Can I have a puff of what you're having?Ha! Just saw what I wrote about 'bullet time' back in 2013. I achieved this in 2018.
Dissonant Harmony
Son Montuno
-Raising my hand too high while turning the girl - Not anymore..
-Hand too high on girl's back - I switched to lower-back anyways.
-My fingers are often apart - Not anymore.
-Bad habits messed my basic: Reason was a leg injury left untreated. (I had to work around that).
I've spend the Corona-Time (no gym, so no hard workouts to recover from) strengthening my left knee, ankle, foot...(And had a month+ of not-dancing), so I could actually start from scratch. It worked. I am not content with my upper-body, but I am very happy with the state of my footwork, and strength, balance and control in my lower body in general.
Do you find less of a lump wrist having someone's hand/object to hold? A tiny trick I used was to hold a light book in each hand.
The looking down. I hated this (my instructor used to make fun of me jokingly to stop staring at her....or "I'm sure the floor looks nice") ... I used spotting and in the very beginning, wrapped a wet bandana around my neck JUST under the chin so if I my head went down, my chin felt wet. Now I look down when trying to remember stuff or think ahead; happens more than I like so now I cheat by closing my eyes and try to look like I'm really feeling the music.
As for the torso movement, not sure what's off with it; care to share? No Latin motion? Too stiff? LM is just a figure 8. The biggest problem is the pain in the beginning and if you don't do it regularly, the paolin again...my Lord!
Usually, the cause of limp wrist comes from not engaging the hand. I would also suggest holding something in the hand, preferably a spherical like object like a tennis ball. Then practice the basic in front of a mirror and try to keep the hands in front of you. Once comfortable with that, get rid of the object in your hand and ball your hands up into a loose fist to eliminate the limpness.
Another exercise you can do is something the great Azzey once told me:
"Run towards the mirror in slow-motion. Imagine you're the Six Million Dollar Man. Don't think about dance, just natural running motion. Focus on being connected throughout the whole body."
That's more about connecting your hands/arms to your basic, but it should also help with the limpness by keeping your hands occupied doing something else.
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Did you meet him?
Unfortunately no I did not. All of our exchanges happened here on the forums.
1derpalm
Son Montuno
I'm referring to just my solo basic. I think it is just lack of caring early on. And then when I got to a better teacher it was almost TOO technical. And contradictory. I had a guy teacher in Cuba tell me to lean forward more and get the shoulders more into it. Came back and the teacher wanted me to undo it. Took a private lesson with almendra and Richie, and they said move my hands in a more circular motion, inwards (hard to explain), and the teacher told me that is too much movement. So I was just EFF it. TBH I would rather have a more Cuban look for both linear dancing and Cuban, vs a Salsa look for both. Ideally switch between, but I just lain don't like what I look like.
My yambu/guaguancó is coming along sort of okay, but I'm beyond motivated (I lump them together because the basic is essentially the same at the beginning). Not many people teach it in my general vicinity. Tbh my teacher kind of taught it but in a very smooth salsa and to me in rumba like way. Of hate to say I'm learning more from YouTube, although I am missing a component or 2 to REALLY get it. I think I have a video of my old teacher doing it, so perhaps there is still something to glean from it.
My yambu/guaguancó is coming along sort of okay, but I'm beyond motivated (I lump them together because the basic is essentially the same at the beginning). Not many people teach it in my general vicinity. Tbh my teacher kind of taught it but in a very smooth salsa and to me in rumba like way. Of hate to say I'm learning more from YouTube, although I am missing a component or 2 to REALLY get it. I think I have a video of my old teacher doing it, so perhaps there is still something to glean from it.
From a technique standpoint, some of my biggest revelations came from watching Youtube. It's very hard to describe technique with words so I don't usually try to. Taking lessons live or online can be a crapshoot and you gotta know what to look for otherwise it's a lot of money down the drain.
One thing to note is that my progression in body movement hasn't been linear. It's been exponential. This is something I didn't expect. I was dabbing in body movement for 10 years but was taking in material from a lot of different sources and models. Things eventually clicked and it became easier, but it's been a long haul with a lot of frustrating moments that I would not want to repeat.
I can confidently say that I'm only starting to become satisfied with the results. I would say that quality of motion in Salsa is so hard to achieve because it's so unnatural. Transforming your body is hard. Changing the way your body moves is hard. It's one of - if not - the hardest thing I've had to learn in my entire life. I have no idea where I'm going with it, but with ample motivation there is no limit.
Something about coming from nothing and taking it further than I ever thought makes me want to keep going. As someone with no natural ability in rhythm or dancing, I just want to keep knocking down barriers in my way and prove all the naysayers - and most of all my own negative self talk - wrong.
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I think when this thread was created, it was meant to be more as a personal diary. There were also more posters on this forum who were actively giving updates on their dancing.
I resurrected it because it is related to dance technique, which I wanted to read more of.
Personally, I vary my dance exercises every week so as not to get bored. I find I can practice multiple technical concepts simultaneously moreso now than in the past.
Also, posting regular updates is a way to keep myself motivated. I have nowhere else to share this info. Social media is for cute pics and finished products. I approach dancing like training so I take this stuff seriously even though my main goal is to stay healthy and have fun.
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Now i'm trying to keep my upper body stable and loosen my hips. I think since i hurt my knee and hamstrings/back i overcompensated by moving the torso more. Some dance like that, but i think it looks more gritty, and less forced if the shoulder movement is not exagerated.
Any thoughts on this? @Chris_Yannick
Any thoughts on this? @Chris_Yannick
Wait.. are you saying that you hurt your back/hamstring/knee moving your torso?
IMO, shoulder movement looks better if not exaggerated, but for increasing range of motion, I like to pop the shoulders more. I'm currently practicing reggaeton, which includes a lot of torso work. The best exercise for that are rib cage isolations, but if your back is wonky, forget about it.
For loosening the hips, I do regular hip rolls, alternating in both directions for maximum versatility. Of course, you keep the upper body still and only move at your waist. Keep a wide stance with feet firmly planted on the ground.
My body work practice consists of alternating upper body (chest, shoulders, rib cage) while keeping lower body and hips still. Then I do the hip rolls as mentioned above while keeping the upper body as still as possible. Hip exercises are fun and you can even practice doing them while turning on the spot, and if you want to loosen the hips while moving, try doing the hip rolls while walking laterally.
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I hurt my knee, as well as my hamstring and some muscle in my back ( not through dancing). This made my hips tighter and i think i started to compensate by moving the torso more when dancing.
Hmm... I used to keep a wide stance but it seems good to do it with a narrow stance aswell
Got it. I can only think of those hip rolls. I do it to music - Timba and Reggaeton are the best for that - but since I like listening to those forms of music, I can get a lot of practice in. When you feel better, try doing some lunges or squats (without weights of course).
Go up and down, roll the hips, go up and down, roll the hips, repeat...
If something hurts, stop doing it.
I haven't tried a narrow stance yet. I'm more focused trying to keep myself grounded and the wider stance helps with that and also most of the Afro-Cuban stuff I do requires a wider stance. As long as you have good stability, then it doesn't really matter.
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RogueBlader
Son
This week in my dancing I'm working on...
On2 footwork. Currently taking an On2 transition course online over 5 works with my regular instructor, focusing on footwork and body movement, with a bit of virtual partner work. Once I rewire my brain for On2, then when it comes to actual partnerwork once we are all allowed to dance, the transition (theoretically) should be easier.
On2 footwork. Currently taking an On2 transition course online over 5 works with my regular instructor, focusing on footwork and body movement, with a bit of virtual partner work. Once I rewire my brain for On2, then when it comes to actual partnerwork once we are all allowed to dance, the transition (theoretically) should be easier.
Currently working on:
Lower base stability. Trying to stop the legs from buckling. I see it when I record myself. The upper body doesn't look very stable when this happens and the movement becomes flimsy.
Training some reggaeton is doing a good job at this. I now practice all of my movements in a kind of squatted seated position which develops leg strength.
Lower base stability. Trying to stop the legs from buckling. I see it when I record myself. The upper body doesn't look very stable when this happens and the movement becomes flimsy.
Training some reggaeton is doing a good job at this. I now practice all of my movements in a kind of squatted seated position which develops leg strength.
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