Original post from 2013
As mentioned in an earlier post I have been standing in as a dance ‘teacher’ for the regular classes in Birmingham and this has made me much more aware of my limitations both as a Lindy Hopper and as an instructor. So to address both of these I have had a little more one on one training. Swing outs (lindy turns) are an area that always need improving and earlier in the year I had an hours worth of deconstructing my technique and putting it back together. This worked, no longer do I over rotate on 5 or lean back and throw my balance. So when I had another session last week a whole new set of ‘improvements’ were identified and this is where I started to struggle, not with the fact that my swing out will always need tweaking but how I learn and understand the instructions.
Many people are aware that there are different types of learner, teachers and trainers have this explained to them. I’ve done the training and filled in the questionnaires myself and adapted all my training material to suit , which is easy if you are explaining how spreadsheets work but dancing? Dance is normally taught by watch and repeat, when I had my swing out lesson it was almost the same, I did it then it was explained what I could improve and then shown it. I could see the difference but I couldn’t make the connection between seeing and doing!
Traditionally I can read a manual or work something out by doing, not with dancing, I have an inability to translate the instruction into body movement. So technically, on 5 I dip my right shoulder, lose frame and the then use my right arm to propel my follow, uncomfortable and hard work. I am struggling to translate how to improve this and this is where I see a few issues.
- I’m not aware of my own body dynamics
- I hear the instruction but can’t translate it
- The visual demonstration causes me to focus on the shoulder rather that the whole body
- My own self confidence as a dancer/teacher causes me to panic
So what to do to address these things?
How do you become more body aware? With all the thinking about where my feet are and what move I’m doing the body bit is forgotten.
Listening to people, a skill that I find difficult mainly because I am listening to everything else that is going on and never focusing on one thing (perhaps that why I love sound engineering).
Not seeing everything that is happening, too narrow vision?
Self confidence, an issue that reoccurs in dancing, work and life, small steps with this one.
Back to the dancing… I have some very good follows who will politely give me advice in classes or when I ask for feedback and this identifies some of my ‘bad’ habits and rubbish leading, which is very useful except that I then struggle with how to make it better.
So what’s the answer? Do you have any suggestions? In the dance (lindy) world are there other ways it could be taught to cater for different types of learner?