When you are working on arm styling, do you singularly focus on your arms?

Although this seems logical, anatomically we move our arms from our back, closer to our spines.

Our body architecture defines how we optimally move in space Yet our working concept of this is gradually overtaken by the  familiarity of our habits – compression and tension. We often divide our spines  into two entities;  our neck and the rest of the spine.  Our spine is a flexible and stable multi jointed structure of which the neck is one part.

Tight neck muscles increase the possibility of pain in the shoulder joint.  It is the important reason that I help students recognize that the organization of the skeletal head/neck/spine relationship is the key to a well functioning muscular system.

Here is a simple illustration of our arm joint, the head of the humerus attached to a socket in the shoulder blade (scapula):

I noticed  that when I explored arm styling, if I didn’t think about the connection to my back, my arms tended to pull my neck out of whack, which in turn cut off the alignment of the arm in the socket.

Similarly, that same arm joint appreciates a free neck to apply constructive feedback to the easeful movement of the arms in space.

Keep this in mind for your next practice session:

‘Map’ your shoulder joint – know where it is. (On your shoulder blade which sits on your back).

Lead your arm styling  with your fingers and elbow.

  Keep your neck free of tension.

If you want to find out more, book a lesson with me, either on Zoom or if you are in the NY/NJ area at my studio in Montclair, NJ.  Please use my contact form, tell me about yourself and leave your availability.  I will respond within 24 hours.

Happy Dancing!   If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

Being a performer for many years and then taking up competitive ballroom dancing at a mature age, I thought that my nerves would be tamped down and chill during comps.  I was wrong.  I wrote about it here.

But, I also know that certain conditions can mediate or eliminate the very nerves that can interfere with a free, rehearsed routine.  And it has to do with self imposed pressure……and isn’t all mental pressure self imposed?

There seems to be an unexpected reduction of self pressure when the very element of winning is perceptually removed.  The pressure of winning is out of the question because of an initial poor performance, or a confluence of events that seems to make winning unlikely.

As for the later, I can recount a recent experience at the NY Dance Festival.  I started the comp with only 2 hours sleep the night before and soon realized that the number of dances I would be doing was more like 2 or 3 times the number I signed up for. There were semi-finals, finals and some hidden ones I did not take note of.

For those reasons, I felt that going for a win was beyond consideration. I just wanted to stand up in my last heat!  (It took some grit, but I did and won 2nd place in my first gold comp in scholarship round and 3rd place in championship round).  I wouldn’t recommend these conditions, but it is an interesting to note how a reduction in self imposed pressure plays out.

Similarly, Nathan Chen the favorite to win gold in the men’s singles ice skating competition back in 2018 fumbled and fell badly in his short program. Pretty much a disaster.  There was almost no chance that he could finish on the podium.  Here’s what he said after the short program:  “Regardless, I am going to be nervous,” he said. “It was the same pressure I always put on myself.  Honestly, it was bad. I made as many mistakes as I possibly could have.”

But, in his long program, we wondered if this would be another embarrassing repeat of the short program.  It could not have been more opposite.  He landed every single jump, quad or otherwise and even threw in a 6th quad for good measure.  He finished off the podium but moved impressively from 17th to fifth.

So how could this be?  Remember that Chen also had a poor skate in the team competition and then followed up with the bad short skate.  By the time the long program rolled along, he had nothing to lose – except his nerves around winning.  He was more relaxed and able to plug into his rehearsals and training, allowing his nervous system to quiet and his muscles to coordinate.

The reason for the first two unexpected performances?  According to Nicole W. Forrester, an Olympian and a registered mental performance consultant who wrote the article excerpted below: 

“They are catapulted from minimal attention to intense media focus, which can make the athletes feel like they’re being scrutinized and judged.  This new attention can shift their focus on the need to win and away from what will allow them to be successful — the process.”

Aha!  This is something I can help you with.  Being in the moment, staying in the process, the pressure of winning is all in the future – you can only be in this moment, literally.  Easier said than done, but a rich endeavor that, yes, can help you win!

Since I work with both ballet and ballroom dancers, I’ve become curious about how the two, quite different forms of movement can call upon the same organizing features of the Alexander Technique’s principles of a good head/neck/spine relationship.

Ballet structure – at least the classical form – derives from a largely two dimensional approach. The torso and rib cage are carried squarely over the legs with  less invitation of spiraling.  The exceptions are epaulement, a position in which the shoulders are at right angles to the direction of the supporting leg, with one shoulder thrust forward and one back.

And as well, choreographic diversions which are becoming more and more commonplace as so many different dance styles inspire choreographers to create outside the ‘ballet box’.

Examining the connection between uprightness and a free neck is useful for ballet dancers who are often trained to “pull up and brace”.  I’ve found that training stresses lengthening in the spine, but the truth that this can be done with a free neck is often overlooked or not understood.  The “monkey see, monkey do” approach passed on through generations doesn’t give students their own means of working towards coordinating themselves around a thoughtful process.

Ballroom structure – in Latin and American Rhythm, the defining movement style is largely three dimensional e.g. Cuban motion requiring oppositional rotation of the whole torso, facilitated by lats driving the pelvic spirals or figure eights.  Uprightness is all about grounding, again created by opposition.  Freedom in the neck to improve posture?  The end point (good posture) has been explained to me by my wonderful teachers, but not the “how to”.

All of the experience gained in Latin and Rhythm can be brought to Standard and Smooth – the rotation in the torso during leg led transitions, but without the figure eight Cuban motion – not including choreographic flourishes.  Note:  I don’t claim to be an expert in Standard or Smooth as my ballroom experience has been primarily Rhythm and Latin, but I have learned that one assists the other.

Here’s how these two structures are anchored in the same approach

1. They are both human movement styles.
2. They both call upon the body to produce an aesthetic, artistically appealing performance.
3. They both require coordination of all the parts of the body into one organized whole.
4. They both – in all the various permutations of style – seek an economy of effort with great underlying strength.

Want to learn the best kept secret for acquiring all of above?  It’s all in your head! (neck/spine)!

If you want to find out more, book a lesson with me, either on zoom.com or if you are in the NY/NJ area at my studio in Montclair, NJ.  Please use my contact form, tell me about yourself and leave your availability.  I will respond within 24 hours.

Happy Dancing!   If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

Hey Dancers,

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year with many exciting ballroom dancing moments in the coming year.

Here’s Ivan and I blending my ballet experience (considerably more than Ivan’s!) and his Latin experience (well, definitely more than mine!) into a short piece to music from Act 3 of “Swan Lake”.

Both of us are working in a less comfortable dance zone which is what I love about this!  My study of ballroom dancing which started at ‘a more mature age’ was greatly facilitated by my Alexander Technique certification 15 years ago and teaching since then.

With the tools that I learned, I was able to apply a learned, comprehensive approach to a vastly different movement landscape (ballroom dancing) with less struggle both physically and mentally.

I now work with both ballroom and ballet dancers, helping them to apply an approach to movement that distills muscular effort down – or depending on a person’s need, ramps it up – to a level that reduces discomfort, creates ease and uprightness (posture), and carries over to improved functioning in all daily activities.

Check out this blog  It explains more about how learning to improve your ballroom dancing also improves your daily functioning.

If you find this intriguing, book a lesson with me, either on zoom.com or if you are in the NY/NJ area at my studio in Montclair, NJ.  Please use my contact form, tell me about yourself and leave your availability.  I will respond within 24 hours.

Happy Dancing!   If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

If you haven’t received it already,  get my free e-booklet 10 Steps to Competitive Greatness here.

At an age much greater than that lived by most college students, I went back to school to finish my undergraduate degree.  I can’t say it was a bucket list item to check off, more, it was a glaring unfinished endeavor that had plagued my psyche for awhile.  I don’t know why, it was just one of those personal stirrings that I could no longer ignore.  This was not an UNinformed choice- it was super informed.

But, as I navigated through the various coursework, writing papers, preparing discussions and such, I discovered that indeed, there were some Unexpected Benefits of Uninformed Choices.

Here is one:

My foray into the course, Dark Dreams:  Studying the Horror film was facilitated by my college mentor who described it as worthwhile and as I understood it “fun”.  I thought, ‘fun is good!’  I had imagined watching films of King Kong swiping airplanes, holding Fay Wray atop the Empire State building.  Or maybe Godzilla (that was a Japanese horror film – I knew that), or reviewing the empathetic monster created by Frankenstein.  These were all more or less fun horror films.  But as the course progressed, I learned that fun was not an accurate description of what I was about to experience.

Now I had to suffer through the horror of blood, gore and psychological scarring and write about it through a Freudian looking glass. I had no idea how I was going to do this, but somehow I did and that uninformed choice, although one wrought with a degree of suffering I had not expected turned out to be my most fulfilling class.

It reminded me of starting ballroom dancing 12 years ago at the beginning of the “Dancing with the Stars” craze.  Since I was a professional ballet dancer  and hadn’t danced for many years, I decided how fun and easy it would be, I always wanted to explore it and ballet was so rigorous.  Ballroom, although in high heels was not balancing on point and doing multiple pirouettes with and without a partner.  I mean, how hard could learning and performing the rumba be?  As it turned out, very.

Frustrating days filled with total confusion on hip action – Cuban motion – what’s that?  I was told I was doing Fosse style (remember Cabaret?). Well , that I was told was not even close.   And the worst part – my ballet training was often a hindrance – I was stiff as a board.

But I threw myself into my Latin dancing and admitted that it was not easy and forced myself to feel unfamiliar until my committed work  paid off  – the result being that I placed well in my competitions. And  I had fun.  But I’m still working on being less of a scientist dancer and more the risk taking stylist I desire.

Maybe there is an opportunity for you to pull the trigger on something that you desire but is easily discarded by thinking long and hard about it. Maybe that showcase idea you had that felt exciting was abandoned as too weird or difficult. Megan Macedo, a marketing coach in the style of “be yourself” asks these questions while desperately trying to find her own calling AND being a good girl at the same time.   “Why did I have to question everything? Why was I always analyzing my life and my choices? Why didn’t I have the blind obedience or dumb confidence that seemed to stand others in such good stead in life? Why was everything always so complicated for me?

Such is the guarantee that in life that which is unexpected, difficult, sometimes horrifying, and frustrating often turns out to be fulfilling, enlightening, and worthwhile.  I learn this again and again by finding myself in situations often thought to be one thing and discovering something different altogether.  I actually wish that I had done this more often, not played it safe and as Eleanor Roosevelt so profoundly stated, “do that which we think we cannot”.

Happy Dancing!   If you would like to book a lesson with me, please use my contact form, tell me about yourself and leave your availability.  I will respond within 24 hours.

If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

To get my free UPDATED booklet “10 Steps to Competitive Greatness” in PDF format, click here.

 Getting ready for a competition is  like listening to Ravel’s Bolero -it starts out quietly builds up in volume adding instruments along the way, repeats …building a driving theme and finally ends in a crescendo that reverberates as much in its percussive ending as the silence that follows.

Tomorrow I’m competing in the Fred Astaire  Whippany competition. I’m remembering how the getting ready part each time is a shock – I’ve conveniently forgotten from the last time the things that need to be done as a preparation before the competition.  It’s a lot, and I know from others they feel it too.  We forget each time, much like the excitement of an upcoming vacation highjacked by overwhelm while trying not to forget to pack anything vital.

The day of, or the night before there is a mental and physical expenditure of energy culminating in a crescendo – the actual comp. And let’s not forget all the stuff that comprises that build up:

1. Remember to bring dress(es), shirts/pants, shoes, makeup, jewelry, tanning supplies, hair stuff, good snacks and a slew of other things…..
2. Choose warm up 1 hour before dancing.  (I like a combo of yoga, gyrokinesis, and actual dancing).
3. Try not to freak out while going over routines sans partner when you can’t recall what comes next.
4. Stay focused on your technique while being completely saturated in the sytle of dance; romance, flirtation, strong and assertive attitudes, hip action, softness, agressiveness, lightness, grounding.
5. Maintain the style of the dance throughout.
6. Before bedtime go over your routines outside of the bedroom.  You will be less likely to do it while you are supposed to be sleeping.

I was inspired to write this during a lesson with one of my dance teacher students  when we spoke about her daughter’s difficult role in the ballet Bolero. The choreography matched the driving nature of the music, non stop and relentless starting slowly and working its way towards a crescendo which meant that the most intense part was at the beginning of the halfway point. For the entire 26 minutes, she was on stage   Her comment:  “I feel like vomiting”.

Well that is an unpleasant feeling!  Especially while trying to express beauty in movement.  In this instance, I encourage a complete assessment of energy output, efficiency of muscular use – tossing out excessive contraction.  Adding more breath and pacing yourself.  This is has to be done in the rehearsal as the adrenaline present in performance can be a negative if it is coupled with too much doing.

It’s always fun to rediscover something long forgotten, something that was wonderful, something that created a sea change in the artistic world and screams. Torvill and Dean were champion ice dancers in the 1984 Olympics and they were the first to perform to one complete piece of music, uncut by a mix of music selections  that were so common.  Their music:  Bolero. (It was not the complete Ravel Bolero at 5 minutes but the drama of the piece was there).

Notice the ease and flow of their dancing, simplicity, passion and musicality.  The synergy between them looks energy saving.  They dance as one.  You can watch Torvill and Dean’s performance here.  Enjoy!

If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

To get my free 10 Steps to Competitive Greatness in PDF format, click here.  Stay tuned for my upcoming expanded FREE booklet on the 10 Steps!

If we take beauty as a constant, describing everything from flowers to trees to faces to dancing, we may wonder if beauty is really a distilling down, a reduction of add-ons, encumbrances and wasted effort.

Trees, plants and flowers all must bloom, die, shed and then grow again.  It is a perpetual process of renewal.  What is beautiful about this process is it all comes from an organic base where nothing else is added in each cycle.  Only what is needed.

You may say, but what about all the stuff gardeners do to make flowers, plants and trees stay healthy – like fertilizers, water and sprays?  That’s true and I like to compare that to our support system which includes dresses, makeup and hair, shoes, massages and whatnot that we do to accentuate our beautiful dancing.

I often use this idea as a way of illustrating to my husband that the renewal process is all around us in nature, so why shouldn’t it be a part of the way we, as humans live?  In other words, the forgotten, dusty, broken items in the garage are begging to be cleared away and an empty space or new item in it’s place. (Still working on this!%&*!).

The same goes for dancing.

True, there is no dancing if there are no steps, no framework, no separate styles to inform our movement.  This is what our ballroom teachers give us.  But if we find obstacles as we rehearse for our comps/showcases,  this paves the way for recognizing what is getting in the way, not needed, superfluous, whatever you want to call it.

This, along with my own ballroom dancing is my passion –  helping people to uncover what is obstructing free movement and what to do about it once found.  The solution is  trusting that new thinking can change our muscular actions.

If you find this intriguing, book a lesson with me, either on zoom.com or if you are in the NY/NJ area at my studio in Montclair, NJ.  Please use my contact form, tell me about yourself and leave your availability.  I will respond within 24 hours.

Happy Dancing!   If you know other dancers who may benefit from reading my blog, please forward.

To get my free 10 Steps to Competitive Greatness in PDF format, click here.