Any tips? I know practice is number one, but does anyone have any tips or knowledge from their experiences?
Thanks all.
Thanks all.
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Tue, May 6, 2008 - 3:56 AMAre you talking about doing slow moves?
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Tue, May 6, 2008 - 12:25 PMtry following a half-time of the base beat in any music you dance to.... and then do a single move to it, like an omi, or a hip-drop, or one side of a snake arm, on the other half beat- do the other arm, but drag it out to cover the space in between...
chamomile tea before practice (not while you're driving tho') and a bit of yoga or meditation helps to calm the mind before you dance also! -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Tue, May 6, 2008 - 7:21 PMthis sounds like nerves. try practicing without choreography and just listening to the music. experiment with staying just a mili-beat behind the music, kinda lazy.
sometimes you hear jazz musicians doing this: lazily lagging just behind the beat when they solo, but managing to pull it off.
maybe we should all become cool old blues and jazz musicians, see the world in a hep new way, dig it? ;-) -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Tue, May 6, 2008 - 10:27 PMGreat analogy maureen! I'm always comparing tribal with jazz i.e. the improv aspect of it! But what you're referring to is called "back phrasing" when lets say a vocalist is doing what you call "lazy" singing but the musicians keep the accompaniment on time. As a pianist, it's hard to notice if they're doing that or she/he's just trying to slow you down.
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Tue, May 6, 2008 - 11:24 PMI posted this question just after watching my performance at C&T so I wrote it in frustrated incoherent talk. The one thing I kept saying to myself while watching it was...Slow Down!
It was improv mostly. I had gone through it many times before performing and had some bits that were kind of stuck where my brain/body put them, but otherwise it was "improv". I started out slow and ended slow, and I liked the way it looked (except for the billions of flaws we all see when we watch ourselves perform...but I digress). But the middle portion I just seemed to have been moving quickly when I didn't need to.
Thanks for the analogy of jazz musicians. I used to play some jazz (a. sax) and can visualize what you are describing. I'll have to put it to practice. -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Wed, May 7, 2008 - 3:00 AMthe stress of performing makes me accelerate dancing sometimes and i end up a little too fast than the proper beat... when i realise it i take a deep breath and Slow Down! and have to focus on being "cool" and relaxed.... focusing on the beat tends to help :)
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 6:13 AMI would watch some older videos of Fat Chance... it was inspiring to me because I noticed how serene they are. THey really take their time through the moves and really finish every single movement. It's laid back and easy and it really inspired me to slow down and take my time. -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 6:43 PM*really finish every single movement*
This is one of the keys for me - finish every single movement. I have a tendency to rush the ends of things - especially if they're things I find difficult, or if I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do next, or if the music changes when I didn't quite expect it to. So that's one of my current projects - to really focus on finishing every move I start. -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 10:28 AMtry milking everything down to longer counts in the music. i.e. either use super super slow music and count out moves, so you train your body to go uber slow, and use the entire 8 count for the move, or else you can take twice as many counts to do a move. For example, for an undulation up to down in your torso, you can do it to mid tempo music and take 8 counts, or you can pick some juicy uber-slow song and still do 8 counts, it will just even slower....
take breaths. even on stage. pauses are good. it feels scarey to be up there something without 'dancing' and moving to every count, but i think it actually creates both dramatic tension and texture to dancing, , and also ease for the audience members to watch, if you're at ease up there and feel comfortable NOT dancing every beat. For some reason, that's scarey, but it's also exhilerating.. .
And i really really find that doing a yoga practice, and a lot of core warm up helps me be able to go inside more, access deep places within, slow/calm down movements, and helps find and articulate all the muscles needed in core, etc. to be able to control slow slow snake like dancing..
perhaps a combo of all of the above??
thanks for posting! this is reminding me to sllllllllllooooooowwwwwww everything down
xo
deb -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 10:31 AManother option: come to sf mecca immersion here in SF this August!!! :) We'll be focusing and working on things like that in your dancing....
sfmeccaimmersion.com
tribe.net/sfmecca~immersion
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Wed, May 7, 2008 - 9:10 AMmy teacher always makes us practice slower than we would normally do so when we do it for real we are just to the right speed -
-
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 1:22 PMif you have the (fabulous) Buena Vista Social Club CD of Afro-Cuban music, listen to that trumpet player.
sometimes he enters a song like he's just strolled in from the porch after a cig break and a beer--one millisecond later and he'd actually *be* late. brilliant stuff! -
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 10:59 AM.....not dancing all the time........exactly Raven! That's an acting technique: trust the pauses. the power of silence. stillness. There's a pic in my tribe photos where I remember consciously telling myself, don't dance, just be.....for a moment......sometimes its not about the dancing......but then again it may be because I was dancing to non-traditional music (Herbie Hancock feat. Damien Rice). There's alot of beauty to be found in stillness.
-
Re: Getting your body to slow down...
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 3:37 PMHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! That was the most funniest & vivid descriptions Maureen!!!! Loved it!!!
-
-