Getting the best out of BFG.

[Petal]

Recently discovered why some followers were unable to follow my bad leading, - due to sloppiness when holding their hands, good dancers were unclear what I wanted them to do, .

Don't know if you are the same John i've danced with in stirling but if you are i don't have any problems following your lead.

[Jive Brummie]

So my tip would be, take the 20ish beginners moves, watch how others execute them, then go and have fun with them! (the moves that is! )

Hi Mr J.happyguy, I can't agree with this statement from Gojive........enough hehe. It happens all the time and is perfectly natural for beginners to see all these fabby dancers doing all sorts on the floor and wanting to be able to do the same...however, more often than not they are unable to do their beginners move's correctly and are falling into the run-before-walking trap.

Practice your beginners moves, get them sorted so you're totally comfortable with them and so that you know you can lead them all and lead them well......be honest with yourself. If you're having trouble with any moves any teacher worth their salt will be happy to help you and should give you honest feedback.

Without building your foundations the rest of the production will be rocky and unsteady. So keep taking your notes and having a wee boogie in the kitchen ('cos everyone else does.....i know it ), and more importantly than anything else, have fun..........everything else will come naturally.

J.

[Jive Brummie]

.........sorry back on thread now...phew!.

As far as the BFG is concerned, I personally, would try not to overload too much. It's probably just me but I can't usually take in everything I'm told unless I've had it drummed into me at 100 dB. At the BFG there's going to be loads of good gen by loads of good teachers, so select the ones you feel you'd like to put most effort into, first, as your concentration will naturally wain (sp?) towards the latter stages of the event and you may not get as much benefit fom the later ones due to plain old fatigue....

[johnthehappyguy]

Practice your beginners moves, get them sorted so you're totally comfortable with them and so that you know you can lead them all and lead them well......be honest with yourself.

J.

Thanks very much for the advice James.

Here is an honest response -

The difficulty that I (and many others I must imagine) is knowing when are we doing it right - how do we know ?

This may seem a rather bizarre statement, however it has been my experience that one is not always aware of the "right" way to do moves. I guess that Ceroc teachers can't go through every aspect of the moves in each beginners class - Or should they be able to ?

I have had the pleasure of attending one of your classes a few weeks ago when in holiday in Perth.

( and a dance with Melanie at Jivemasters )

Prior to that I had experience of several other Ceroc teachers.

All of them have their individual good points, however it came as a bit of a revelation in your class when you were so explicit with the Yo - yo ( to paraphrase you).......rh to shoulder then to ladies rh thigh... then rotate clockwise through 180.....

Prior to attending your class I had been missing most of the 180 bit out, and no one had advised/corrected me.

If I had not experienced your teaching then I would still have this bad habit.
Since then I have been very alert to the teaching of this move with other beginners classes I go to, and would diplomatically summarise the experiences as "inconsistent"

What was even more of a bolt from the blue at your class, was the Side to Side, where you highlighted the importance that only the forearms should be touching and the shape of the letter M. I mentioned to my partner that this was the first time I had heard about the level of contact and M - she told me he always does that and they do it that way in Dundee too !.

Since then I have been taught the move again elsewhere, with no emphasis on leaving a space under your oxter. Or the letter M shape. Which is at best disappointing.

So there you have it IMHO.

I would be really interested to hear what others think of this viewpoint.

thanks again,

Johnthehappyguy

[Gadget]

The difficulty that I (and many others I must imagine) is knowing when are we doing it right - how do we know ?

Personally, if I get an "ooh", "ahh", or "wow" then I've nailed it. Other than that, I think it's more knowing the signals from your partner that you're doing a move wrong.
- They are not where you expected them to be
- They moved before you wanted them to
- They moved/turned somewhere you were not expecting
- You feel more tension during that move than all the others
- You loose contact unintentionally or miss a catch
- You have to lean or streach to catch
- You get hit on the side of the head
- You get trod uppon/kicked

Now I can check off at least three of these on every dance I have. Each one is due to my error in not communicating clearly enough to the lady what I want her to do, or telling her to do something, then not getting out of the way
What I have learned to do is quick improvisation and covering up mistakes so that they look like they were intended. As per the quote: "once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made."

If I had not experienced your teaching then I would still have this bad habit.
Since then I have been very alert to the teaching of this move with other beginners classes I go to, and would diplomatically summarise the experiences as "inconsistent"

What can I say? Scotland Must have some of the best teachers.

Any time I've seen the side to side taught, the M has been emphisised, as has the 'elasticity' and tension.

As to the Yo-Yo: I'm a bit confused - on most demos I have seen (of the "new" version) the man turns 90 degrees to the flat handed bit, then turns another 90 when pushing to either spin or turn the lady. However in the words and demo of the move (when linked to everything), the man turns 180 degrees to the flat handed hold. Is this 90-90 meant to be an asthetic thing? Both partners mirroring each other?


{edit:meant to add this bit...}
To the origional topic - I think that if you go to the BFG to meet folk, dance and have a good time, then you will. Learning from the workshops is a {very nice} bonus - but mainly, they just give us all something in common to discuss later on

(now I get flamed by the teachers )

[johnthehappyguy]

Don't know if you are the same John i've danced with in stirling but if you are i don't have any problems following your lead.

Yes, it was me!!

Thanks for the compliment Jillian

[Lou]

All of them have their individual good points, however it came as a bit of a revelation in your class when you were so explicit with the Yo - yo ( to paraphrase you).......rh to shoulder then to ladies rh thigh... then rotate clockwise through 180.....

Prior to attending your class I had been missing most of the 180 bit out, and no one had advised/corrected me.

Ahhh... is that the difference between the standard Yoyo & the NewCTAImprovedWashesWhiter Yoyo?

[CJ]

Ahhh... is that the difference between the standard Yoyo & the NewCTAImprovedWashesWhiter Yoyo?

Aye...

Remember, nothing washes whiter than Hutton & Co. Decorators...

[Jive Brummie]

Thanks very much for the advice James.

Here is an honest response -

The difficulty that I (and many others I must imagine) is knowing when are we doing it right - how do we know ?

This may seem a rather bizarre statement, however it has been my experience that one is not always aware of the "right" way to do moves. I guess that Ceroc teachers can't go through every aspect of the moves in each beginners class - Or should they be able to ?

I have had the pleasure of attending one of your classes a few weeks ago when in holiday in Perth.

( and a dance with Melanie at Jivemasters )

Prior to that I had experience of several other Ceroc teachers.

All of them have their individual good points, however it came as a bit of a revelation in your class when you were so explicit with the Yo - yo ( to paraphrase you).......rh to shoulder then to ladies rh thigh... then rotate clockwise through 180.....

Prior to attending your class I had been missing most of the 180 bit out, and no one had advised/corrected me.

If I had not experienced your teaching then I would still have this bad habit.
Since then I have been very alert to the teaching of this move with other beginners classes I go to, and would diplomatically summarise the experiences as "inconsistent"

What was even more of a bolt from the blue at your class, was the Side to Side, where you highlighted the importance that only the forearms should be touching and the shape of the letter M. I mentioned to my partner that this was the first time I had heard about the level of contact and M - she told me he always does that and they do it that way in Dundee too !.

Since then I have been taught the move again elsewhere, with no emphasis on leaving a space under your oxter. Or the letter M shape. Which is at best disappointing.

So there you have it IMHO.

I would be really interested to hear what others think of this viewpoint.

thanks again,

Johnthehappyguy

Hi J.Happyguy,

just a quickie in response to this thread, THANKYOU VERY MUCH.......you've made my day mate. As a newby teacher it's nice to get feedback from the 'students' as much as it's nice to get feedback on dancing etc as a beginner . Personally I believe that it's impossible to improve one's dancing/teaching without feedback....so, come on people, be honest.

Personally John, I prefer it if beginners came to me for advice (well, what advice i could give anyway), rather than just muddling on thinking they're doing the right thing.



Many thanks, once again.

James