This student is the kind who is quick to catch on, has had a little more dance experience than others in the room, and always one step ahead of me as a teacher… in a good way. He is a joy to have in the room, and it’s obvious dancing is fun for him.
Picture this: He has just learned the basic footwork for East Coast swing, and is practicing with a partner.
“Oooo, I’ve got a personal tip just for you, that your follow is going to love” I said as I approach the practicing couple.
“Alright!” he responds, with anticipation.
“I notice you have a lot of extra motion in your hands and arms when you’re doing your basic. You’re obviously having a good time, but your follow is a bit confused. She can’t tell when you’re about to lead a turn and when you’re not. If you keep the movement in your hands, arms, and shoulders to a minimum, and only actually move them when you’re about to lead something, you’ll be much more clear.”
“Here. Can you show me?”
“Sure.” I proceed to dance with him a little, and then also demonstrate to him while dancing with his parter. Her eyes light up immediately.
“You’re right!” She says, “That is a lot more clear.”
He’s not convinced so easily. “I see what you’re saying. But I’m trying to get a lot of energy into my dancing. My first dance was Viennese Waltz, and ever since then I look stiff with every other dance I do.”
“Yeah, I get that. You don’t want to look stiff. But your arms aren’t the place to put energy into this dance. Try feeling more energy in your knees and in the core of your body. And just make sure not to be stiff overall. Put a little bounce in it. The energy will show up, and your follows will be grateful.”
He agrees to try this out, and I let them get back to their practicing.
Do you have further suggestions for this lead? Improvements upon what I told him?
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*Photo by jclutter on flickr.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Matt // Jan 31, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I’d tell him to think about how someone might look while walking. If the walks around holding his arms stiff at his side, he won’t look natural; he will indeed look stiff and lifeless. But, if he walks at the same moderate pace while swinging his arms wildly, he won’t just look like he has energy, he’ll look a little funny and unnatural, like he’s trying to do something extra that doesn’t belong. Instead, if he walks around with his arms just relaxed, not trying to swing them, they’ll still move, but this time they’ll move naturally, they way they’re meant to move in response to the way he’s moving himself.
You can tell him that energy is great: Lindy Hop is an energetic dance. But just as not every song has the same amount of energy, not every dance has to have the same amount of energy. On some faster, higher energy songs, he’ll be moving with more energy and so will his arms. But on many, he might be dancing with less outward energy, so it’s not just acceptable, but desirable that sometimes he exude less “arm energy.”
2 RHCD // Jan 31, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Great topic!
You could have him try to follow your wiggly arms vs quite arms.
I had the quite arms explained to me that the arms are how you communicate to your partner what your about to/wanting them to do. The more noise in that communication the harder it is for a follow to figure out what is wanted.
3 Matt // Jan 31, 2008 at 8:04 pm
That’s true, but I think you can take that one step further. Really, the follow shouldn’t ever have to figure out what is wanted; a good lead on a good follow will actually create what is wanted. However, noisy arms often do force an element of figuring out into the dance.
4 Amberlynn // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:22 am
I absolutely agree about the walking. We use simply taking a walk, hand in hand, to show our students how simple leading and follow really is, and should be. He doesn’t have to force her anywhere, she doesn’t have to second guess anything. It’s natural, simple communication.
The trouble is, very beginners ARE thinking about what is wanted, and it can get in the way. Any tool we can give beginners to simplify the process (like knowing about quiet arms) will help them become good leads and follows.
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