Neck position in dancing

Jessyca shared with me this great post on posture in dancing that I am reposting here.

Take a look: http://www.delta.dance/2015/03/the-biggest-mistake-dancers-make/

Six Directions of Leg Swings, your hip-femur joint.

Blues Dancers. Learn your anatomy. Because you should know how you move and what bones are doing. Because sometimes your bones get in the way.

This is a post is about your hip-femur joint. It's an 8 minute video. You also get to see my legs in thermal undies.

Four Blues Games

I like games. They give a framework to play and explore. They give enough structure so there's a purpose. But, within the game, you can explore the idea fully.

So, here are 4 blues games:



1) Doorway partner (solo)
2) Jedi-mind dance (partnered)
3) Ideas from a hat (group)
4) On all fours (solo or in group)

What's Feedback Got To Do With It?

Here's a puzzle.

Q: How can you get real feedback about your dancing?
A: It's mostly against the code.

The unwritten "code" says that you should not tell other dancers what they are doing wrong, because they may have different goals from you.

Also, teachers often will not tell you because 1) they want to focus on what you are doing right and  2) in large group classes, they don't get to give much individual attention.

So, what can you do?

Neck flossing and neck position

Yikes. If your neck feels bad, it might be because you have it locked in a bad position. Many of us know, "we need to have better posture", but posture is a tough things because it's about vigilance. Here is Neck Flossing, which is a 2 minute drill to help address neck position issues.

RePost: On Words, Conversation, and Couple Dancing

I found this blog post that I want to reblog and comment.

“Veux-tu danser?”  That’s the extent of the (verbal) conversation….  The rest takes place on a different level.

We start in a loose frame and we start to move, just easing into the easy beat of the band.  My intuition receptors are turned up high, there are some many things my body needs to know, how does he feel the music? is a bouncer? a juker? and slowy? a spinny one?  We start turning and playing with some pauses and dig into some hip grooving that would be scandalous if our pelvises weren’t 6 inches apart and the music wasn’t so damn good.  I start to learn how he leads, how he hears, how he interprets this song.  And I get to play on that.   (SOURCE: http://emilieblog.com/?p=54 )

I love the description. She hears the lead and then plays back.

For followers,
 -- Do you think leads listen to your part of the conversation?
 -- Do you introduce your ideas: i.e. play?
 -- Can you tell the difference between a lead who listens and a lead who doesn't?
 -- MOST IMPORTANT: Do you know anyone who teaches leads about how to listen? If so, what did they say (and who, if you remember)?

What is BluesWhisper? (First Post)

BluesWhisper is a blog devoted to improving the conversational aspects of blues dancing. A good conversation has a topic/theme, continuity, both sides taking turns talking and listening, and feels good. A good BluesWhisper dance has a theme (musicality/quality of movement), continuity (of the theme), both sides taking turns talking and listening, and it feels f***'ing great.