M.I.N.D.ful Monday Musings #027
Current State Of Mind
Hello beautiful humans!
Here we are in another week, getting closer to 2024! It's crazy how time flies. I remember writing a newsletter around this time that referenced my dad's passing away in October of last year.
Last week, I went live on Facebook to talk about "How To Avoid Having A Pointless Dance Class," which was inspired by a frustrating situation I've repeatedly found myself in during group dance classes.
In a lot of group dance classes, there's typically a focus on particular partner-work patterns. Sometimes, there's a breakdown of what the individual roles are supposed to do, and there's a separation of leaders and followers, with leaders behind the leader instructor and followers behind the follower instructor. We then partner up again and try to execute these patterns in sections until we get to the part where we try it with music.
When the music is played, the instructor will sometimes (including myself) count out the start of the patterns, with the goal of everyone putting together the partner-work in good enough harmonious unison.
These steps are all fine to have and are needed. However, I feel that there are two important elements missing: variations and feedback! I'm finding myself very excited about this topic!
If the goal of the dance class is success on the social dance floor, and the social dance floor is filled with variety from the music we dance to, to the skill level of the people we dance with, to the variations of the partner-work we lead or follow, then the ability to lead and follow variations of the moves we learn in class is super important. Otherwise, we just turn into pattern zombies, going through the patterns in the exact same way we learned them in class.
In the quest for proficiency in leading and following variations of the partner-work we learn, we are bound to make mistakes and need feedback on how our leading and following feels for the proficient execution of the partner-work we try to lead or follow.
If we don't receive feedback on our leading and following in the group classes because it wasn't part of the lesson plan, and we don't get feedback during social dancing because we're there to have fun and the music is loud, and social dancing isn't the place to teach, and we don't get feedback from practice partners as it seems many of us are looking for consistent practice partners, and some of us, depending on our financial situations, can't afford frequent private lessons, let alone access instructors of high enough skill level and availability nearby if we had the money to invest.
Where are exactly are we supposed to get freaking feedback on our dancing? Or do we just go through the motions of another dance class with a incomplete sense of progress?
Dance classes are typically an hour, so there's only so much time to go through the content that was planned with the breakdowns, the questions, and the rotations. Out of all these scenarios, it seems the best opportunity for us to get feedback is during the group lessons, which require intentional lesson planning and communication skills to foster kind, gracious, and curious feedback between students.
The next best thing would be practicas, guided or unguided, where giving feedback would be more welcome and expected, and the skills around doing so would still need to be there as well.
I will end here to not make this newsletter too long. I'm open to any insights that sharing these thoughts may have sparked with you!
Expanding on the 42 Communication Channels above, it seems we are pointing to communication channels 2.9, 2.13, 3.9, and 3.13! I'm liking the way this idea is formulating in my brain!
- 1.0 Before Classes
- 1.1: Lead Instructor to Follower Instructor
- 1.2: Lead Instructor to Leader Students
- 1.3: Lead Instructor to Follower Students
- 1.4: Follower Instructor to Lead Instructor
- 1.5: Follower Instructor to Follower Students
- 1.6: Follower Instructor to Leader Students
- 1.7: Leader Students to Lead Instructor
- 1.8: Leader Students to Follower Instructor
- 1.9: Leader Students to Follower Students
- 1.10: Leader Students to Other Leader Students
- 1.11: Follower Students to Lead Instructor
- 1.12: Follower Students to Follower Instructor
- 1.13: Follower Students to Leader Students
- 1.14: Follower Students to Other Follower Students
- 2.0 During Classes
- 2.1: Lead Instructor to Follower Instructor
- 2.2: Lead Instructor to Leader Students
- 2.3: Lead Instructor to Follower Students
- 2.4: Follower Instructor to Lead Instructor
- 2.5: Follower Instructor to Follower Students
- 2.6: Follower Instructor to Leader Students
- 2.7: Leader Students to Lead Instructor
- 2.8: Leader Students to Follower Instructor
- 2.9: Leader Students to Follower Students
- 2.10: Leader Students to Other Leader Students
- 2.11: Follower Students to Lead Instructor
- 2.12: Follower Students to Follower Instructor
- 2.13: Follower Students to Leader Students
- 2.14: Follower Students to Other Follower Students
- 3.0 After Classes
- 3.1: Lead Instructor to Follower Instructor
- 3.2: Lead Instructor to Leader Students
- 3.3: Lead Instructor to Follower Students
- 3.4: Follower Instructor to Lead Instructor
- 3.5: Follower Instructor to Follower Students
- 3.6: Follower Instructor to Leader Students
- 3.7: Leader Students to Lead Instructor
- 3.8: Leader Students to Follower Instructor
- 3.9: Leader Students to Follower Students
- 3.10: Leader Students to Other Leader Students
- 3.11: Follower Students to Lead Instructor
- 3.12: Follower Students to Follower Instructor
- 3.12: Follower Students to Leader Students
- 3.14: Follower Students to Other Follower Students
Song I'm Currently Jamming To
I stumbled across the song that Brenda & Anderson danced to in one of their viral videos.
Recent Content
- A reel on ideas to train for your urbankiz!
- A snapshot of a whiteboard after I was brain dumping for a hook step course I’m going to start working on.
- A video of progress I was making on building wherecanwedance from August of 2022!
- A picture of my two cats, Charlie & Tori.
- Tinkering with hook steps with Sarah.
- My FB live on How To Avoid A Pointless Dance Class
- An urbankiz tip about learning the footwork on the opposite role.
- A new blog on embracing every dance in a dance.
Photo of the Week
It Melissa again and we got together for a fun photoshoot at the same place we met up for yoga
Dance Meme of the Week
Believe it or not I made these meme about 8 years ago! What have been your favorite dance memes recently?
Cool Video I'm Watching
A cool video posing the question, what would you do in your life if money were no object?
Upcoming Travel
2023
10/26-30: Bailame Dance Festival - Minneapolis, MN
11/3-5: Neokiz Weekender New York - Warwick, NY
11/17-20: Neokiz Intensives - Atlanta, GA
12/1-4: Attending Elevation Zouk Festival - Denver, CO
2024
05/3-6: Neokiz Weekender in Edmonton - Edmonton, AB, Canada
05/17-20: Kizowna 2024 - Kelowna, BC, Canada
07/20-24: 8th Annual Neo Kizomba Festival - Austin, TX
Question Of the Week
If you have organized dance events before, did you learn from anyone? How did you figure things out?
I stumbled across someone who is putting together an online class on how to run a partner dance event, I’ll be joining and I’m curious to see what things I’ll learn versus spins of ideas I may have already.
Check it out here.
Answer of the Week
No answer this week, feel free to respond with a question!
Past Newsletters
You can view past newsletters here.
Dope Dance Resources
- A cool project to create a global directory of dance events for dancers, artists, and organizers!
- Find out how you can thrive at your next dance event with the Ultimate Dance Event Survival Kit.
- Find out how you can organize your dance journey with the Dancer’s Training Journal 1.0.
- Level up your kiz online with Mr. Neokiz!
- Learn more about the Ultimate Musicality Course For Dancers to level up your musicality!
- Join me at my urbankiz festival in Austin, July 18-22, 2024!
- Check out my dance podcast!
Thanks for reading!
Thoughts and feedback on the newsletter or on anything covered within are always welcome, just hit reply. The thing I love most about writing this newsletter is follow-up interactions with readers.
Charles
