What are you working on?

[MartinHarper]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?
What do you want to change about it?
How are you going about getting better?
What would help you improve faster?

[Gadget]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?
Timing. Leading with more than hands. Posture. Moving arround the dance floor. Using 'tilt' in my leading. Minimising foot movement...

What do you want to change about it?
Timing: change the emphisis so that the each beat is still marked, but the gap between them is changed to smooth or sharpen some movements.
Leading: I want to be able to lead from any point of contact with my partner.
Posture: stand up straighter and have more association between my upper and lower body.
Moving: Not be anchored to 'my spot' on the floor so much: use the space and dance into new spaces.
Tilt: instead of simply using horizontal and vertical leads in three dimensional space, I want to include some 'tilting' to reduce the ammount of horizontal lead needed.
Feet: trying to eliminate shuffling and positioning steps by being decisive about where I should be and where my partner should be. Placing the feet rather than simply allowing them to stop me from falling.

How are you going about getting better?
Practice, observation and self-analasys.

What would help you improve faster?
Practice. More dancing.

[TheTramp]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?
What do you want to change about it?
How are you going about getting better?
What would help you improve faster?

Everything!

[Lou]

For the last year or so I've been working on:

Better following & listening to the lead - less anticipation & back-leading

Improving style - introducing wiggles, pretty hands, etc

Changing my Leroc-Bristol based footwork

I've improved, I hope, but now I'm plateauing badly at the moment, and I've stopped dancing for a bit, out of frustration. Martin (and anyone else who dances with me), it would be handy to know - what do you think I should be working on?

[Lynn]

Currently -
Improving my balance and control for better spinning technique.

Next year - (whenever proper, regular classes start)
Learning to lead the basic moves - to be able to lead, to understand what it is like for a beginner lead, to improve my own following.

Learning the basics of Arg Tango - in the hope that it will improve me as a dancer - even if I struggle with it and am totally useless (a distinct possibility) - there are bound to be things that I can learn and apply in terms of frame, connection etc.

Generally, always -
Becoming a better dancer, better follower, better partner for people to dance with. Improving my connection, making eye contact occasionally and of course, fabulously enjoying myself!

[David Bailey]

Excellent thread

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

Better leading.

How are you going about getting better?

This year, I've been mostly:
- Trying to remember how to do salsa (about 75-85% of the way there now I reckon)
- Starting Argentinian Tango

As for MJ.... hmmm, I'm not sure if I'm trying anything specifically with MJ, maybe I've just abandoned hope of improving it

What do you want to change about it?

My tendency to dance some moves to death, and to forgot the hundreds of other moves I could be playing with...

What would help you improve faster?

More time, less laziness.

Oh, and Martin, what are you working on?

[Clive Long]

Good thread MH

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

Being more interesting for my partner
Being more "fluid" in my dancing and transition between moves
Responding to the music and the breaks

What do you want to change about it?

Being more connected with my partner.
Not being afraid to dance in a more sensual way.

How are you going about getting better?

Dancing Argentinean Tango and ballroom.
Writing down more interesting MJ moves, learning them and and using them

What would help you improve faster?

Private lessons.
A few partners who are tolerant and prepared to work at dancing with me.

Clive

[MartinHarper]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

Balance.
Continuous connection.
Not making my follower dizzy.
*whatever you think should be here and you're about to tell me about* ;-)

What do you want to change about it?

Following, I need to be balanced so I can respond to the lead, rather than simply stepping whichever way I need to to avoid falling over (which is my leading style). Leading, balance will help in certain moves, and will allow me to have my feet closer together without falling over.
Continuous connection - sure, sometimes it's my partner's fault that we lose connection, but often it's my fault, and I want to fix that.
Not making my follower dizzy - trying to avoid the look and feel of running around her, which I think is the cause. Especially if she's spotting on me: spotting on a moving target is a mistake.

How are you going about getting better?

Balance - my shiny new balance board is fun.
connection/staying still - just concentrating on that while dancing.

What would help you improve faster?

Balance - yoga/pilates/whatever?
Connection/Staying still - private lessons?

[Lynn]

A few partners who are tolerant and prepared to work at dancing with me.

V good point Clive, this is something I'm going to try and sort out next year. It makes a big difference to work through things with someone else. (Ideally someone who is doing the same classes as me.)

[jivecat]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

All of it.

What do you want to change about it?

I want to check that I haven't developed any bad habits like poor posture.
I want to get confident enough to do double spins.
I want to add more style and work out exactly what to do with arms/hands/head etc.
I want to get to be a competent intermediate salsa dancer.
I want to iron out footwork glitches, & extend my repertoire of footwork so I can respond better if a leader throws something slightly unusual at me.
I want to get more confident at taking the initiative, playing and improvising.
I want to respond to the music better.

How are you going about getting better?

I'm not doing anything about it, except dancing twice a week.

What would help you improve faster?

Having some private lessons.
Dancing with the kind of leaders who are likely to help me to do 4 & 5.
Going wherever they may be found, e.g. dance weekenders.
Me doing some focussed practice/training on my own.
Listening to a lot more music.
Practising specifics with a supportive partner or several.
Dancing with a wide range of different people.

[Icey]

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

I'm working on my posture which is something I suddenly found at the BFG and through that improving my spinning.

What do you want to change about it?

I want to find my own style and work out what to do with my left arm

How are you going about getting better?

I'm watching dancers I admire and trying out their arm movements for myself. Some I find that I like while others I feel like a nitwit.

What would help you improve faster?

Seeing myself in action - that ghastly videotaping exercise where I could watch myself dance and see where I could improve.

[Andy McGregor]

I'm working on doing less of most things - except smiling

In MJ many of us move our feet for no reason other than to mark the beat. We move our heads, hands, etc, etc without thought or reason. So, if I move it must be because the music told me to. And the journey of that movement is everything - except the picture you paint when you get there - which is also everything.

Now that I'm doing less I'm finding that some (read many) women do a great deal of unled bouncing, especially their hands In fact, some women do loads of unled stuff and sort of put themselves in gear and drive off while you've still got the handbrake on because the musical green light hasn't come on So I suppose I'm working on what to do with women who do that.

Oh, and I'm working on being a better follower.

[Andreas]

- musicality
- leads and prediction of follower's next action
- balance
- not to forget more complex moves due to lack of practice

[Trish]

Interesting thread.

What aspect of your dancing are you working on?

Trying to do double spins quicker with better balance
Trying to use my spare arm more gracefully/in a more interesting way
Hitting the breaks when I'm leading
Trying to follow in a really connected way, and not to anticipate

How are you going about getting better?

Learning ballroom, to help with my general poise, and following.
Doing physio exercises, partly to help my bad shoulder, but also to improve my posture, as my physio says the shoulder problem is due to my posture not being right.
Practicing spinning/spotting in the girl's loos at work (yes, really! Tiled floor and a big mirror!)
Watching Strictly Come Dancing in slow motion to try to figure out what they're doing (yes, I'm that sad) and nicking bits of it if appropriate.

What would help you improve faster?

[nicked from Jivecat - thanks!]
Having some private lessons.
Dancing with the kind of leaders who are likely to help me
Going wherever they may be found, e.g. dance weekenders.
Me doing more focussed practice/training on my own.
Listening to a lot more music.
Practising specifics with a supportive partner or several.
Dancing with a wide range of different people.
Carrying on with the ballroom dancing.
Focussing on what I'm trying to do.

[KatieR]

this is what I posted on the Australian Forum...

Want to work on : Compression and tension, Styling

What do you want to change about it?
I want to feel more responsive to the lead, improve the tension in my arms, I also want to look a lot more stylish on the dance floor.
How are you going about getting better?

Each time I dance, I always concentrate on the few things I am working on at that time. While I am dancing I am thinking, how is that feeling, how is that feeling to my partner? Where do I feel things arent working? How can I improve this? etc

Also taking workshops in the areas I want to improve and also asking those better than myself how my dancing is going, if I am improving and what I can do to assist my improvement.

What would help you improve faster?
Do even more workshops and get private sessions with those that I admire.

[CJ]

[QUOTE=KatieR] blah blah...QUOTE]

Should you not be working o extending your visa?!? Like how we all tried to advise you?

Some people have no appreciation...

Me?? I'm working on my personal hygiene and am up to changing my top at least 3 times a week now.

[KatieR]

[QUOTE=Ceroc Jock]

blah blah...QUOTE]

Should you not be working o extending your visa?!? Like how we all tried to advise you?

Some people have no appreciation...

Me?? I'm working on my personal hygiene and am up to changing my top at least 3 times a week now.

I see Mr CJ, you want to have that argument do you??

Well, bring it on! (along with the chocolate body paint)

Oh, and the law requires you to at least wash behind your ears...

[Donna]

Want to work on : Compression and tension, Styling

This one's easy. You have to carry the weight of your own arms my actually giving the arm to him. That's what my ballroom teacher taught me. Just a little bit of tension is needed in order to follow properly..and, it makes it much easier for him.

[KatieR]

This one's easy. You have to carry the weight of your own arms my actually giving the arm to him. .

Im not sure I follow, how would you 'give your arm to him' ... I dont suppose you could explain this a little more?

[CJ]

Im not sure I follow, how would you 'give your arm to him' ... I dont suppose you could explain this a little more?

All I can assure Katie, is that it's not like giving him your head!

Serious answer...

have been working on frame/dimension. My musicality is my strong point. Having been focussing on this stuff, I feel I am now down to 4 stock moves! Is amusing me as I know it's a process I have to go through but is frustrating all the same.

So, having (to a small degree) improved my other stuff, please can I have some moves back??