Ever notice how people who make movement an important part of their lives tend to be happier, or more content? First and foremost, movement of any kind, tennis, basketball, running, biking, yoga, badminton and bowling all produce “feel better” endorphins that course through our bloodstreams long after we’ve stopped moving. Country Dancing is no different! Moving (a.k.a. exercise, a.k.a POLKA) …
What do judges look for in country
Competitive dancing can be a tricky thing. It’s not like the 100m dash where the first person to cross the finish like wins. It can be very subjective. The big key is to focus not on the results but on improving. That being said this is a competition so lets dig in a little. Triple Two Triple Two is dance …
Performance Anxiety – Dealing with nerves
Back in the eighties, a slew of alien movies like Cocoon, Alien, ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind made all of us nervous about what an advanced “space” civilization might think about our Earthly activities. Were they studying our TV shows? Infiltrating our radio waves? Landing in pastures late at night to spy on us in our sleep? …
Teaching yourself to practice
Anyone who plays a sport or engages in any physical activity knows that practice improves your ability. The human body responds extremely well to repetition. Whether we are repeating positive behaviors, or negative, the body will grow in the direction we give it. In the dance studio, we call it “muscle memory.” Muscle Memory Muscle memory serves us well because …
Dealing with setbacks as a competitor
Setbacks… they are part of the game! Have you ever had one of those weeks when it seems like every part of your life is going along swimmingly, and then suddenly things take a giant leap backwards? That’s pretty much how it went. It’s a long road… It began when I asked my dance coach’s wife, L, to give me …
Training your center for country dancing
Have you ever been to a dance lesson where someone didn’t mention your center? You have to move from your center! Okay. Okay. So we have all heard it before, a million times, already. We know this, but we don’t all do it, or at least not all the time. The truth is that it can take years to really understand what it …
Technique and Experince
Technique and Experience The start My first private dance lesson took place in small fitness room in the basement of a 1940s country club smelling of mildew mixed with chlorine. During the entire hour, my instructor explained the Rumba “basic step.” Facing the fitness mirror, we “stroked” the floor with the inside edge of our big toe, counting 4-1, 2-3. …
7 lessons you’ll learn as a country dancer
I don’t think I chose dance as a portal for transformation, I think it chose me. I remember as a very young child, rolling around on the mats at TinyTot’s Dance Academy in my black leotard and baggy pink tights that wrinkled around my skinny ankles, and despite my exuberance and excitement, Miss Cathy insisting that I get in line …