Originally Posted by
Gadget
As a dancer, point to anyone who wants to be worse than they can be!? Why does making it a purely social dance exclude the possibility that people don't want to be as good as they can be? Or try to be?
"Normal progression"? Do you mean what's taught from stage, what you have lerned from the stage, or what you could learn from the stage? Why won't you ever learn stuff from watching the stage and dancing with people in a normal class/workshop?
I think that the only void I find in current teaching is pointing out areas where people could improve... or more appropriately, pupils picking up on these areas. What to do to improve is not that important: if the pupil identifies what they want to work on, then they will find feedback on it, ask people about it and watch for things to help them improve it.
If you approach a class with the concept of ignoring the actual moves that are being taught, and seeing what else is there - you can pick up quite a bit.
Really? The only thing I would think on differently on for practice to a competition would be presentation to an outside audience... And I don't dance for them: I dance for me and my partner.
As Ducassi points out, the biggest improvement comes from having someone to spend some one-on-one time with and give direct feedback - the actual 'competition' is only there for motivation.
What do I feel about dance competitions?
I think that MJ is primarily a social dance and the best measure of success is being asked to dance. Putting that into a competition environment would translate to the person who could adapt to different music and different partners the best. Someone who wins or is placed in a rotational 'Lucky Dip' would be the only competition result I would be wholey impressed by.
Anything else can be won with single mindedness, hard work and time/money dedicated to it. In isolation. It's this isolation that (for me) is against the whole MJ ethos and what most competitions stifle. When people are practicing, they are practicing how to dance and how to look good - at the exclusion of the environment they are trying to represent.
Competitions - evil. Weekenders - heavenly. {IMHO}
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