Paisley
I'll Lock Up
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Frustrated? Not Progressing? Read This.
Sometimes dancers get to a certain level and stop progressing. This situation has various causes. Of course, if you keep doing the same thing you've been doing, you'll get the same results.
You'll often hear "practice, practice, practice." This is true--but if you're doing the wrong thing when you practice, all you're doing is reinforcing bad habits. For example, I have one partner who lets his arms go straight and bends his shoulders forward on 1, 2, 7 and 8 every time. He could practice until doomsday without moving beyond a basic level. He seems frustrated by his inability to lead anything but very simple moves and he tires quickly. I gave him a tip on posture and frame, but as they say, you can lead a horse to water...
Possibly, the fastest cure for this is to take some private lessons. If cost is an issue, see if you can schedule a very small class with a few friends. I was once in a class with only eight people and shaped up pretty quickly. (Making videos that were critiqued in front of the whole class was a big motivator, too.)
Think about re-taking some lower-level classes. When you're a beginner, there's a lot to learn and it's easy to miss little things that are important. Even though I've been dancing for eight years and consider myself advanced, I still take intermediate classes now and then and always learn something. I recently stayed as a guest for a beginner class because they needed more followers, and learned something.
Some other ways of solving this sort of problem would be making a video of yourself dancing and comparing it to a video made with professionals doing the same kind of dance with basic steps. You could also ask some advanced dancers for tips. If you start hearing the same tip again and again, it's probably valid. Then you can practice to reinforce a new, better habit. Check yourself to avoid falling into your old, bad habits.
I see quite a few couples who rarely dance with others and reach a plateau at a low-intermediate level. The solution is simple: dance with other partners. You'll be forced to lead or follow instead of making up for one another's bad habits. Guys, if you dance with a skilled follower and she doesn't know what you're doing, it's not her shoes, it's not the floor, it's not the song, it's your leading.
I'm buggo on leading and following. Yet I've had teachers who didn't even teach it--they just taught footwork. This is no more useful than a single shoe. If your teacher doesn't teach things like frame, tension, leverage, weight placement, counterbalance, I recommend you get another instructor. If there's no other instructor available in the kind of dance you're learning, I suggest you find an instructor who does a good job teaching frame and leading and following, and take their beginner classes in whatever dance they teach. (Go on a chat board or to various dances and ask around to find someone good.) Leading and following is done mostly with the upper body. Cha-cha frame feels like east coast frame; Argentine tango like balboa; west coast is similar to lindy. The holds vary, but the principles are the same. I think that even an aspiring lindy hopper who takes ballroom tango to learn frame and leading or following would benefit--and learn lindy frame more easily for it. It's like taking up one instrument after learning another. This is something my best friend, a music teacher, suggested if someone is getting frustrated learning, say, the piano.
Another suggestion: taking up a different dance. Watch Dancing with the Stars or another show where people learn different dances, and you'll see that they're much better at some dances than others. A few years ago, bull rider Ty Murray did a respectable lindy with just a week's instruction from a ballroom dancer who learned along with him. Doing a respectable lindy under those circumstances is really outstanding--he had the aptitude for it. Although Ty worked hard at every dance, he didn't do nearly as well at some of the others. Same instructor, same effort, but different results because his natural abilities.
My best friend also suggested trying a different instructor or teaching method if you're frustrated. Probably, few teachers (besides my very honest friend) have various teaching methods or will recommend going to another teacher. (Long ago, my piano teacher let me flounder for four years while telling my mother I could be a concert pianist if I'd just practice. Right--at a concert for the hearing impaired.) So you'll have to use your own judgment. If you don't like your teacher, if she tells you to practice when you're already frustrated from practicing, and above all, if you're not learning, go elsewhere. Go to a club, find people whose dancing you like, and ask who they learned from. At least you'll get a teacher who is good at teaching *somebody.* In my limited experience, my best teachers were those who taught at clubs. I've had only one good teacher elsewhere--a ballet dancer. Of course, your results may vary.
Physical problems can limit you. When I first started dancing, I didn't know it, but I had two pinched nerves in my neck and back. I had a good, firm frame (I was too stiff to be limp) but my mid-back was killing me after I used a proper lindy stance. I eventually saw a chiropractor and got the problems worked out. A book I've found really useful for fixing aches and pains is Fix your Own Pain by Jolie Bookspan. An exercise in the book fixed my long-standing knee pain in a day. She also has a web site with lots of information. And I don't know if it will help you, but after I cut way back on eating starchy and sugary carbohydrates, most of my little aches and pains disappeared.
Sometimes dancers get to a certain level and stop progressing. This situation has various causes. Of course, if you keep doing the same thing you've been doing, you'll get the same results.
You'll often hear "practice, practice, practice." This is true--but if you're doing the wrong thing when you practice, all you're doing is reinforcing bad habits. For example, I have one partner who lets his arms go straight and bends his shoulders forward on 1, 2, 7 and 8 every time. He could practice until doomsday without moving beyond a basic level. He seems frustrated by his inability to lead anything but very simple moves and he tires quickly. I gave him a tip on posture and frame, but as they say, you can lead a horse to water...
Possibly, the fastest cure for this is to take some private lessons. If cost is an issue, see if you can schedule a very small class with a few friends. I was once in a class with only eight people and shaped up pretty quickly. (Making videos that were critiqued in front of the whole class was a big motivator, too.)
Think about re-taking some lower-level classes. When you're a beginner, there's a lot to learn and it's easy to miss little things that are important. Even though I've been dancing for eight years and consider myself advanced, I still take intermediate classes now and then and always learn something. I recently stayed as a guest for a beginner class because they needed more followers, and learned something.
Some other ways of solving this sort of problem would be making a video of yourself dancing and comparing it to a video made with professionals doing the same kind of dance with basic steps. You could also ask some advanced dancers for tips. If you start hearing the same tip again and again, it's probably valid. Then you can practice to reinforce a new, better habit. Check yourself to avoid falling into your old, bad habits.
I see quite a few couples who rarely dance with others and reach a plateau at a low-intermediate level. The solution is simple: dance with other partners. You'll be forced to lead or follow instead of making up for one another's bad habits. Guys, if you dance with a skilled follower and she doesn't know what you're doing, it's not her shoes, it's not the floor, it's not the song, it's your leading.
I'm buggo on leading and following. Yet I've had teachers who didn't even teach it--they just taught footwork. This is no more useful than a single shoe. If your teacher doesn't teach things like frame, tension, leverage, weight placement, counterbalance, I recommend you get another instructor. If there's no other instructor available in the kind of dance you're learning, I suggest you find an instructor who does a good job teaching frame and leading and following, and take their beginner classes in whatever dance they teach. (Go on a chat board or to various dances and ask around to find someone good.) Leading and following is done mostly with the upper body. Cha-cha frame feels like east coast frame; Argentine tango like balboa; west coast is similar to lindy. The holds vary, but the principles are the same. I think that even an aspiring lindy hopper who takes ballroom tango to learn frame and leading or following would benefit--and learn lindy frame more easily for it. It's like taking up one instrument after learning another. This is something my best friend, a music teacher, suggested if someone is getting frustrated learning, say, the piano.
Another suggestion: taking up a different dance. Watch Dancing with the Stars or another show where people learn different dances, and you'll see that they're much better at some dances than others. A few years ago, bull rider Ty Murray did a respectable lindy with just a week's instruction from a ballroom dancer who learned along with him. Doing a respectable lindy under those circumstances is really outstanding--he had the aptitude for it. Although Ty worked hard at every dance, he didn't do nearly as well at some of the others. Same instructor, same effort, but different results because his natural abilities.
My best friend also suggested trying a different instructor or teaching method if you're frustrated. Probably, few teachers (besides my very honest friend) have various teaching methods or will recommend going to another teacher. (Long ago, my piano teacher let me flounder for four years while telling my mother I could be a concert pianist if I'd just practice. Right--at a concert for the hearing impaired.) So you'll have to use your own judgment. If you don't like your teacher, if she tells you to practice when you're already frustrated from practicing, and above all, if you're not learning, go elsewhere. Go to a club, find people whose dancing you like, and ask who they learned from. At least you'll get a teacher who is good at teaching *somebody.* In my limited experience, my best teachers were those who taught at clubs. I've had only one good teacher elsewhere--a ballet dancer. Of course, your results may vary.
Physical problems can limit you. When I first started dancing, I didn't know it, but I had two pinched nerves in my neck and back. I had a good, firm frame (I was too stiff to be limp) but my mid-back was killing me after I used a proper lindy stance. I eventually saw a chiropractor and got the problems worked out. A book I've found really useful for fixing aches and pains is Fix your Own Pain by Jolie Bookspan. An exercise in the book fixed my long-standing knee pain in a day. She also has a web site with lots of information. And I don't know if it will help you, but after I cut way back on eating starchy and sugary carbohydrates, most of my little aches and pains disappeared.
fftopic: but have question for the leads: I'm not a fabu dancer but hope to be someday, but i can at least follow. however there is one lead that I know who is so um strong that it's physically painful to dance with him. now he's an ok guy and can do some aerials (I do love getting tossed around!) and I don't want to hurt his feelings. but he tells me that I don't follow well and that I try to lead when really all I'm doing is trying to do is protect myself. how would you want to be told? I don't want to be rude, and I don't care to hurt...
