Dance Practice Drills
- Thread starter pygmalion
- Start date
dancersdreamland
New Member
Mitra said:
Is belly dancing not the BEST form of dancing in the whole world! I stumbled upon belly dancing and absolutely fell in love with it! I recently picked up classes again and may be performing at the end of June...I love it!
westernballroom
New Member
My wife and I have had the tendancy to get so focused on one dance that we begin losing our edge on the others, so we've developed a type of check list matrix. We dance all the American style dances as well as country western. Generally we take a private lesson every other week. Our matrix lists all the dances across the top and dates down the side for several months. Our intent is to focus on two dances each week, the dance we're taking lessons on, and another dance we're wanting to improve on. We may take private lessons on one dance for many weeks, but we rotate through the other dances weekly.
As we work through the matrix we mark off what dance we worked on. We video ourselves so we can critique as we go. So here's the drill:
1> Isolation excercises to warm up.
2> Reveiw the most recent instuction; new step, technique and execution. We may practice a lot without music but we always finish each sesson to music.
3> Review the other dance we're also working on, target any steps we need to and always, always work on technique.
4> Then we reserve each Saturday morning to dance every dance we know. We may not have time to a full song in every dance, but that's the plan.
We've gone through several cycles of this routine and it keeps us feeling pretty sharp and like we're making progress. We get out of sync sometimes and may miss session, but this routine works us back into shape fairly quick. The video camera was a great investment for us. Some things feel okay but just don't look right when you get to watch yourself.
As we work through the matrix we mark off what dance we worked on. We video ourselves so we can critique as we go. So here's the drill:
1> Isolation excercises to warm up.
2> Reveiw the most recent instuction; new step, technique and execution. We may practice a lot without music but we always finish each sesson to music.
3> Review the other dance we're also working on, target any steps we need to and always, always work on technique.
4> Then we reserve each Saturday morning to dance every dance we know. We may not have time to a full song in every dance, but that's the plan.
We've gone through several cycles of this routine and it keeps us feeling pretty sharp and like we're making progress. We get out of sync sometimes and may miss session, but this routine works us back into shape fairly quick. The video camera was a great investment for us. Some things feel okay but just don't look right when you get to watch yourself.
dancersdreamland
New Member
After MONTHS of searching, I finally found a belly dance class in my area...
A quick interjected update - I moved about an hour and a half away from my old town. I used to dance with a performance troup and had the pleasure of performing a group belly dance in October 2003. I took a year off to work on wedding plans and then moved in October 2004 right after our wedding. Since then I have been trying like crazy to find some sort of dance.
...I just restarted belly dance about two weeks ago and I suprisingly am still flexible and remember most of the dance moves. Anyway, in the class I am currently in two girls perform with a troupe in a town about a half hour from us. They invited me to perform with them if I can pick up the dance by the end of June. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated as I find out more.
A quick interjected update - I moved about an hour and a half away from my old town. I used to dance with a performance troup and had the pleasure of performing a group belly dance in October 2003. I took a year off to work on wedding plans and then moved in October 2004 right after our wedding. Since then I have been trying like crazy to find some sort of dance.
...I just restarted belly dance about two weeks ago and I suprisingly am still flexible and remember most of the dance moves. Anyway, in the class I am currently in two girls perform with a troupe in a town about a half hour from us. They invited me to perform with them if I can pick up the dance by the end of June. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated as I find out more.
Twilight_Elena
Well-Known Member
pygmalion said:
I do it all the time, but my spins are still sucky. Have developed great abs, though.
Twilight Elena
mamboqueen
Well-Known Member
I practice each of my dances every day; really focusing on the basic movements and trying to get them look good and achieve balance. I really break everything down slowly, especially the spins (I had a tendancy of going up on my toes). So, other than general exercising, warming up stretches, I just keep doing the basic stuff over and over.
dtas - printed your post and going to try practicing some of those.
Just waiting for this nagging knee to hit the road (Jack).
dtas - printed your post and going to try practicing some of those.
Just waiting for this nagging knee to hit the road (Jack).
Tenshi_no_Pocky
New Member
Dance Team
I was on the dance team in high school and here is something that we used to do to strengthen ankles:
MUST keep posture while doing this...
1.) get on a step on a staircase or a small elevated platform of some sort and stand on it so that the ball of your foot is on the step and the rest of your foot is not.
2.) slowly raise and lower your heel, flex and point with the entire weight of your body on it. (you may wish to hold onto something or only do this a few times and then stand on the ground doing it and then step then ground yatta yatta...)
3.) When your ankles get unbearably tired, stand on the ground and do this for a while and then go back to the step when you are alright again.
I hope this helps somewhat. Practice posture and remember to point and flex every day whether it be to strengthen like in the above excercise or just when you are sitting out of boredom. This helps prevent injury and improves any moves where you have to pivot or turn on one foot.
I was on the dance team in high school and here is something that we used to do to strengthen ankles:
MUST keep posture while doing this...
1.) get on a step on a staircase or a small elevated platform of some sort and stand on it so that the ball of your foot is on the step and the rest of your foot is not.
2.) slowly raise and lower your heel, flex and point with the entire weight of your body on it. (you may wish to hold onto something or only do this a few times and then stand on the ground doing it and then step then ground yatta yatta...)
3.) When your ankles get unbearably tired, stand on the ground and do this for a while and then go back to the step when you are alright again.
I hope this helps somewhat. Practice posture and remember to point and flex every day whether it be to strengthen like in the above excercise or just when you are sitting out of boredom. This helps prevent injury and improves any moves where you have to pivot or turn on one foot.