I teach a lot of students every year, each one presenting me with the different challenges that make teaching them so interesting. And yet, whether they fall out of turns or over-shape on a tango corte, it’s amazing how many of their issues come from a since source: lack of balance. In fact, I would argue that if we all worked to gain better balance, over 90% of our challenges in ballroom dance would become non-issues. Continue reading "MORE Roadblocks to Better Balance"
Roadblocks in Your Dance Balance Training
During your balance training exercises, you will inevitably encounter periods of ‘balance block’, where you could swear you’ve ticked all the boxes, yet you’re still wobbly as a newborn kitten.
Treat these roadblocks as tests, making sure you are really committed to your ballroom balance training. In the end, you’ll always find something that was missing, accelerating your body control and awareness. To speed you along however, these are some common causes of balance block you may encounter. Continue reading "Roadblocks in Your Dance Balance Training"
How to Set Some Dance Goals
Our first dancing experiences, much like the honeymoon phase of a relationship, are usually filled with excitement and exhilaration. After a few months however, many people start to drop off. They ask themselves ‘what am I doing this for anyway? Is it really worth all this money just to have some fun once or twice a week?’ In short, they lost sight of their dance goals.
Our dance goals are like sign posts on our dancing journey, giving us direction and reminding us why we dance in the first place. ‘But Ian’, I hear you say ‘I don’t want to be a world champion. I just want to dance and have some fun.’ Really? Is ‘some fun’ why you spend between $20-200+ a week? Is that why you come in after a tiring work day, and sometimes practice between classes? Continue reading "How to Set Some Dance Goals"
How to Improve Your Dancing Without Help
What if you didn’t have to have your instructor looking over your shoulder to improve your dancing? What if you could figure out what was holding you back and correct it all on your own?
Don’t get me wrong: virtually all of us need expert advice from time to time to avoid practicing bad technique.
But with a little body awareness and a lot of patience, we can make the lessons we’ve learned go a lot farther when we take it from the studio floor to the practice floor. Continue reading "How to Improve Your Dancing Without Help"