Dance Training Journal: 4/15/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/15/15

Today's class was on Initiation. We covered several basics again, impulse, breath, weight shift, and endings. One of the things I wondered, as we did it, was how to stop mid spin, and hold it. As in, if one leg is spinning on an axis, with the other extended, is it possible to stop in the middle? Stopping at the end of the sweep is trivial. Fading to a stop, is doable. Is a sudden stop possible? What kind of muscles, and motion would be required to create that, smoothly, and without any loss of balance? On the plus hand, I'm starting to take away more and more of an ability to follow, and work within a group on the dance floor. It is a constant struggle for me, to not just do my own thing, and to try and sense the "group energy" Part of why this happens, is inside me, I crave acknowledgment, as an individual. That leads me to focus, and center on my actions, and my goals. This is an extreme limiter in the dance world, as the most striking phrases, and motions are invariably caused not by individual dancers, but by dancers working and collaborating with each other. In terms of mindset, I need to let go of the need of accomplishment, in order to find accomplishment. Let go of the desire for victory to find victory. Falling into samurai/zen logic here. Probably is the smart thing to do though. Erasing my need to feed my ego when dancing, is definitely something to work on, then.