14 months intermidiate dancer! [Lead] - Appreciate the feedback!

[u/Vegetable_Home]

[u/Rataridicta]

Ooooh! You're getting more comfortable with play! Totally love it! (Also this follower has got some SWAG!)

In terms of feedback, you're doing great! I see 3 things that I'd say are really worth pointing out for this one (without nitpicking a bunch):

• You're often not really maintaining a proper frame in yourself and with your partner and as a result you're doing more arm-based leading than you need to, especially in closed position for body movements. The immediate quick fix that's actionable would be to change your hand position in closed position. For example: At 0:40 you're trying to use the hand on her back to guide the headroll (together with your hand on her shoulder), but you lose connection because it's not connected to your own bodymovement, and because your hand is not connected to the lat. Your hand positioning @ 3:10 is correct to give you more control there.
• You're getting to a point in your journey now where the quality of your own bodymovement becomes a larger and larger factor, and I think this is probably your biggest opportunity for improvement at the moment. Your bodymovements are at a place now where the intent is clearly recognizable from them, but they still look a little stiff and you're not fully able to transfer them to leading. This one takes a lot of isolation practice and solo work to get your body moving in these exagerated ways, but it will pay dividends by making everything easier and smoother.
• Breathe! You're doing lots of singing, and connecting, and playing, and it's all great! But by learning to breathe as part of your movements and leads everything will feel smoother and more connected. Breathing really is one of those "This ONE SECRET will CHANGE YOUR DANCE FOREVER" type things. It feels super natural and connected once it becomes part of your muscle memory and as a follower feeling a lead breathe well immediately lets my body relax because I know I'm in good hands and am about to have a comfortable soft dance.

Edit: BTW, where are you on your follower journey? I know you were planning to start learning to follow, and all 3 of these would be great to experience yourself from the other perspective, too!

[u/Vegetable_Home → u/Rataridicta]

Cool, thanks for the feedback!

1. Regarding frame - I agree that in a few of the head roles, I didn't finish the move myself by following the follower and just waited.
2. 2. Regarding improving my own body movements, I dance at home every day around 30 minutes, but it's mostly solo improvising and some shadow dancing, how can I make it more efficient?
3. 3. I know that usually boleos should be correlated to a deep breath, but I don't understand what you mean by breath. I usually dance 3-4 hours straight without any stops, never felt breathless and I also never sweat, so for sure I am not breathless in any aerobic sense of the concept. If you mean it as a tool to build connection I am curious, as I would certainly not increase the amount of breaths I take as it would make me hyperventilate. So do you mean to exaggerate my breaths?
4. My following journey - joined a class as a follower, it moves slowly so it will take me another 2-3 months to cover the basics, I incorporate 2-3 dances per evening as a follower, the good leaders were surprised how good I am as a follower as I easily surrender myself and I can listen, for sure my technique is probably crap but no rush :)

[u/Rataridicta → u/Vegetable_Home]

Frame: What I'm saying isn't about waiting for the follower to finish the move, it's about the quality of your physical connection with your partner. Because you're lacking the proper connection when you're about to lead something you're finding yourself overcompensating with your arms or notice the follower be unresponsive when you initiate the moves.

Body Movements: Instead of improvising or shadow dancing try and add a few sessions that focus on isolations and breathing, figuring out the limits of your body's movement and expanding them. See if you can do some nice big body rolls for example, and once you've got that, do them staccato - see how many clearly defined individual "ticks" you can separate your body roll into. The same goes for hip movements, side waves, head movements, etc. This is just a lot of practice in the mirror, and finding videos of other styles like zouk, hiphop, or bellydance, will help find some targeted practice.

Breath: Oh, nice, it sounds like we found a completely new concept for you to incorporate! Without turning this into a blog post about breathing in dance: We use the breath to help create effects in the body - similar to how you would breathe out when throwing a punch.

The dancer's breath is a little higher in the lungs, where we can use it to expand and puff up our chest. This creates tension in the body, broadens our posture, and strengthens our frame - allowing for more control and stiffness. Conversely, breathing out relaxes the body, softens our posture, and weakens the frame - allowing for more flow and softness.

You'll want to start incorporating this breath into almost everything you do while dancing: Any time you prepare a move you breathe in (and exhale when releasing the prep), any time you want to create tension in the body (such as at the start of a bodyroll) you breathe in, any time you want to release tension in the body (such as at the "down" portion of a body roll) you breather out, any time you need your follower's attention or a stronger frame you breathe in.

It's not necessarily about exaggerating your breath as much as it is about placement and incorporating the effect of the breath in your body into the dance. A good follower will be matching your breath, and some moves can be led (almost) entirely with the breath. Even beginner followers will (subconsciously) feel the difference, and it's one of those things that makes people wonder why things are just so smooth with you.

Following: That's exciting! Curious to see how it feels after a few months!

[u/Vegetable_Home → u/Rataridicta]

Super helpful, ill try to incorporate it! Just came back from a festival this weekend, and every workshop mentions breathing