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of your dancing (or drumming)
by Aleta Quinn
technique or with your performance as a whole: you hit a wall, you
enter a rut, you just can't seem to get to the next level. For whatever
it's worth, here is my advice, gathered from experience, observation,
and conversations with other dancers and musicians.
and you can try to learn the material actually presented. A new
challenge can be inspiring by itself. But seek inspiration more
broadly as well. A video of a great dance performance can inspire
you to work on your own dance, even if you don't use any of the
same moves as the dancer. In fact, any performance at all may
strike you. Stage presence, audience control, precision, emotion,
technical skill, fluidity, grace, and timing are goals for Raks Sharki,
Flamenco, Indian, modern, and other dancers, as well as
drummers, singers, guitarists, and figure skaters. Ever seen Kurt
Browning skate? Wow, there's inspiration!
little faster than your current ability level. Try different music. Try dancing to that old school, heavy
karsilama. If you like it, find a teacher; if not, the experience of trying it will help the rest of your
dancing.
And when I say try different music, I mean try different music. The most important thing is to tap
into your love of dancing. I'm a firm advocate of learning traditional music and rhythms, but I always
advise students, practice with music that you love. This encourages practice. At the plateau, this can also help you
discover new expression, new direction in your dance style. So it is that I often practice to Tarika and Paul Simon.
slow. It sounds outlandish unless you've seen Eva Cernik perform. Not so very long ago, double circular veil, sword
floorwork, and hip hop fusion were innovative and rare.
Of course, after you've tried something bizarre, the crucial point is to decide whether to drop it or not. A lot of clever
innovations really aren't worth it on stage. If you figure out how to play concertina while belly dancing, it's going to be
phenomenally ineffective in front of an audience. It takes great skill to produce the melody line while responding to
underlying rhythm; it takes great skill to control the bellows while dancing with different rhythmic emphasis. But only the
accordion/concertina insiders are going to know that, and they will probably evaluate your skill solely based on your playing
ability. The rest of the audience will evaluate only your skill as a dancer, with a footnote that you happen to be playing
concertina at the same time. And chances are, they will be actively looking for flaws in your dancing. "Well, her moves are
kind of choppy and lacking grace, but she is playing concertina at the same time." The simultaneous concertina is a gadget
which should be dropped. However, the experience of having figured it out will benefit your control and multi-tasking skills,
which translates into the rest of your dancing. So, somebody try it!
won't be fun anymore, and you'll practice less. Find a way to make
practice inviting.
Arrange your physical space to encourage practicing. Have water
instantly available, hours of music right at hand, a completely private
space, and whatever practice gear you need all in one place. Streamline
the process so that it's a short, fast hop from mundane life to effective
practice. Ideally, the practice area is someplace you frequently go
anyway. Leave visible reminders of your craft in plain view. For
musicians, this generally means having your instruments strewn about
your living space in an appalling mess.
would be wasted: sitting in a car, waiting backstage, and the
commercials during your favorite TV show. If you can't move freely,
as with the car, practice your stomach or torso stuff, or play air zils.
Drummers, try those rolls, paradiddles, finger snaps, and riffs on the
steering column.
seems that a lot of progress in dance and music comes in quantum leaps rather than gradual steps. Both overall skill and
individual techniques seem to improve discretely.
An extreme example was my experience learning to play the zils. I tried and tried and tried and simply could not play them
while moving, and had only marginal skill while stationary. This continued for about six weeks of intense effort, with no
reward, and then I gave up. Six months later I tried again, and somehow, magically, I could play while dancing. Was there
a psychological barrier hindering me for those first six weeks? Did my brain subconsciously figure out the "trick" to it? I
don't know what happened, but it was like learning to ride a bike (and the aptness of the bike analogy is probably no
coincidence).
So, don't be discouraged: improvement might be just around the corner. And don't be afraid to take breaks!
the vast majority of people can't make this kind of time commitment, so this piece of "advice" is really more the recognition
of a phenomenon. A mediocre dancer disappears from public view, practicing for three, four, sometimes five hours every
day... and six or eight weeks later emerges, absolutely transformed. I've seen this happen a couple times, often with
drummers, and experienced it myself. It's like a time fugue and I highly recommend the experience, if you're crazy enough
to have the time and the desire.
