I just had the honor of teaching Partner Communication and Dance Expression with Dennis Wise at Chambana Jan Jam 2015. I taught movement for actors for 20 years. Chicagos Comedy Improv and acting techniques have transformed my dancing. I treat who I am dancing with as a scene partner. I try to listen and react to every movement suggestion they give me. (I think of having a conversation rather than Lead/follow. Leads often hog the conversation and dont give the follows time to talk. Tango is great at giving the follow time to improvise). My dancing exists because of: Information from my partner. The mood, volume and tempo of the music. The architecture and color of the room. The floor surface. What we are wearing. Everyone in the room. Any available props I can use safely and more. I observe everyones movement on and off the dance floor. I constantly gather and store peoples walks and gestures in my movement library. I physically transform myself for each dance/role/partner. If you have intent, a give-and-take can be a great move. If you dont know what you want from your scene partner it can be the worst move. It should never be done exactly the same way twice. Heres some of my workshop notes: 3 main categories: 1. PHYSICAL BODY- good frame consists of vertical axis (this is why women generally spin better than men in contra); scapula bar (connects arms to core); butt bar (connects legs to core); Lats (connect arms to center); Partner dancing is often mistakenly taught as steps. That misses the point, because it is what happens in the core that matters. Point of contact with your partner--Pivot (two points stay in the same place), Slide (one point moves and one point stays the same), Roll (both points change) 2. ENREGY FLOW- Where you concentrate your energy in the body creates different emotions (too much frontal lobes is read as evil or with an interior focus it becomes insane) Artistic moments are when energy flows in opposite directions at the same time (e.g. the body is moving right but the energy is projecting left) 3. PHYSICAL FORCES- Gravity and momentum must be obeyed. Primary action is always up and down. We ended by dividing everyone into 3 groups. Each group performed and then we critiqued their performance. Observation and reflection time is extremely important. I hope this is helpful, please use it and share it. I love teaching workshops like this. Thanks Matt Turino for asking me. And thanks to the huge turn out of supportive friends who came to my workshop. DONT APOLOGIZE for any movement choices. Make BOLD AND SAFE choices on the dance floor. Here are 3 videos that taught me a lot. Watch them and reflect on what you liked and didnt like: https://youtube/watch?v=4V_ry085p8A https://youtube/watch?v=WzrTK0MGn-Y https://youtube/watch?v=Nqhct5iluL8
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 17:02:19 +0000