The mind loves to distract itself from the task at hand with – well, pretty much anything. This is especially draining when trying to decompress with an evening of ballroom dancing, and your mind is stuck on what to cook when you get home. Here is my advice on how to increase focus on the ballroom floor, and enjoy a great lesson! Continue reading “6 Ballroom Dancer Hacks to Increase Focus”
We have a decent understanding now of what muscles we frequently use to make strong and controlled ballroom movements. But what dancer training exercises can make them stronger – and give our dancing more power, speed and endurance?
As there are countless exercises out there, and this is just an overview, I’m giving the most effective exercises I know, one for each major area of the body. Continue reading “Ballroom Dancer Training for Stronger Muscles”
Like a certain Depeche Mode song, there’s some techniques in dancing you just can’t get enough of. Tricky body movements that can take a lifetime of training to master. Here’s some common dancing exercises worth adding to your routine.
Continue reading “Dancing Exercises for Any Level”
Previously, we talked about how to improve balance using the principle of grounding. Time to get more advanced!
Continue reading “How to Improve Balance in Dance: Grounding Exercises 2”
Last week we learned a powerful tool for improving balance, by increasing floor connection and stability. Now it’s time to take the principle of staying grounded to the dance floor and feel it in action.
Continue reading “Improving Balance: Grounding Exercises 1”
Some time ago, I was stretching on the studio floor, and a student walked in and asked if I’d hurt myself. ‘Nope’ I replied, ‘just stretching’. ‘Oh’, he responded, ‘I’ll have to take care of my body so I won’t have to do that.’
There’s an assumption among many dancers, that ballroom dancing stretches and warm-ups aren’t necessary. Some, like the student above, even feel that stretching is only necessary to recover from an injury, rather than to prevent one.
Continue reading “Ballroom Dancing Stretches: Part 1”
Dancing without your arms is like painting a picture with only half your colour palette. Great dancers have learned to express the music with their whole body, to create better musicality and convey the emotion of the dance. So how can we start to develop our ballroom arm styling so it moves as fabulously as the rest of us?
Continue reading “An Intro to Ballroom Arm Styling (P1)”
Ever watched a show like ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’ or ‘Dancing With the Stars’, and wondered how they were able to pick up so many dances at once? Yes, they’ve had some prior training in both cases, but still, could you dance lyrical, samba, and Bollywood after a few weeks of practice?
Continue reading “Cross-Training: Upgrade Your Ballroom Dance Technique “
Now that we’ve a general idea of how to get the most from your dance practice, let’s look at three common issues all dancers face and how to resolve them by asking questions and experimenting.
To improve your dancing without an instructor, you must be patient and observant of what feels comfortable, balanced, and smooth… and what does not.
Continue reading “How to Improve Your Dancing Without Help, Part 2”
What if you didn’t have to have your instructor looking over your shoulder to improve your dancing? What if you could figure out what was holding you back and correct it all on your own?
Don’t get me wrong: virtually all of us need expert advice from time to time to avoid practicing bad technique.
But with a little body awareness and a lot of patience, we can make the lessons we’ve learned go a lot farther when we take it from the studio floor to the practice floor.
Continue reading “How to Improve Your Dancing Without Help”