Cross posted on tumblr. This two-way posting is soon going to do me in. I will choose between them soon.
What makes for a good dancer? What makes for a good anything? Well - lots of things, duh. Some that can be widely agreed upon and others that are extremely subjective. For me, something that is critical is body engagement.
What do I mean by “body engagement”? Here’s an example:
Sometimes when you watch a group of performers, whether they’re dancers or actors or something else, one of them stands out to you as being “more” than the others. They seem really in the moment, really ‘giving it their all’, really putting their entire self into what they’re doing. That’s a lot of “really”s. But not only is that person “really into it”, they’re engaged in a way that looks natural, authentic and Right. They make you Believe.
We may try to replicate this by telling ourselves or others to “try harder”. But when people try harder in dance, they tend to tense up in the effort to go bigger, bolder, faster, more something. The result usually isn’t very pretty. Dance is not about tensing up your body. It’s about engaging your body for creative and expressive release. And when we’re talking Blues Dance (which is my favourite, my true love, my home dance), we talk about it being a relaxed dance. Just relax…
Just Relax? While Trying Harder? What??!!
Damon Stone and Barry Douglas defined the concept of “Stretch” at blues dance panel discussion that someone has been sweet enough to put online. To paraphrase, stretch is a type of body articulation where you stretch the muscles within your body against each other.
Stretch is a great example of engaging your body. It’s also easy to illustrate. I did this in the mirror this morning.
If I lift up my arm in a straight line away from my body so that my entire arm is parallel to my shoulders, I am obviously using muscles. But if I really stretch that arm out from my shoulders all the way to my fingertips, I can feel my upper arm pulling away from my torso, my forearm pulling away from my upper arm, the muscles in my body stretching against each other from my chest, along the side of my torso and along my arm all the way to my fingertips. It creates a look different to just raising my arm, and to tensing that arm.
I now have a more articulate understanding of body engagement and stretch that I can apply practically and communicate. Blues dance education win!
Post Script: What I mean by “body engagement” is more or less what various partner dance teachers call “tone” or “tension”. But when a dance teacher asks you to put more tension in your body, they don’t mean to clamp your muscles tight, which is what it can sound like. They just want you to engage those muscles more. Language is full of ambiguity and communicating body movement through language is a special challenge.
What makes for a good dancer? What makes for a good anything? Well - lots of things, duh. Some that can be widely agreed upon and others that are extremely subjective. For me, something that is critical is body engagement.
What do I mean by “body engagement”? Here’s an example:
Sometimes when you watch a group of performers, whether they’re dancers or actors or something else, one of them stands out to you as being “more” than the others. They seem really in the moment, really ‘giving it their all’, really putting their entire self into what they’re doing. That’s a lot of “really”s. But not only is that person “really into it”, they’re engaged in a way that looks natural, authentic and Right. They make you Believe.
We may try to replicate this by telling ourselves or others to “try harder”. But when people try harder in dance, they tend to tense up in the effort to go bigger, bolder, faster, more something. The result usually isn’t very pretty. Dance is not about tensing up your body. It’s about engaging your body for creative and expressive release. And when we’re talking Blues Dance (which is my favourite, my true love, my home dance), we talk about it being a relaxed dance. Just relax…
Just Relax? While Trying Harder? What??!!
Damon Stone and Barry Douglas defined the concept of “Stretch” at blues dance panel discussion that someone has been sweet enough to put online. To paraphrase, stretch is a type of body articulation where you stretch the muscles within your body against each other.
Stretch is a great example of engaging your body. It’s also easy to illustrate. I did this in the mirror this morning.
If I lift up my arm in a straight line away from my body so that my entire arm is parallel to my shoulders, I am obviously using muscles. But if I really stretch that arm out from my shoulders all the way to my fingertips, I can feel my upper arm pulling away from my torso, my forearm pulling away from my upper arm, the muscles in my body stretching against each other from my chest, along the side of my torso and along my arm all the way to my fingertips. It creates a look different to just raising my arm, and to tensing that arm.
I now have a more articulate understanding of body engagement and stretch that I can apply practically and communicate. Blues dance education win!
Post Script: What I mean by “body engagement” is more or less what various partner dance teachers call “tone” or “tension”. But when a dance teacher asks you to put more tension in your body, they don’t mean to clamp your muscles tight, which is what it can sound like. They just want you to engage those muscles more. Language is full of ambiguity and communicating body movement through language is a special challenge.
