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| Lindy: Why I don't Teach or DJ |
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| on Thursday, December 21, 2006 - 12:54 AM - 623 Reads |
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I've been dancing lindy hop for seven years now. I've never DJ'd or really taught any actual lessons. There are a number of reasons that I don't, and maybe I will overcome all of these eventually, but for now, I'm content to just dance... Probably the biggest reason I don't teach is that I've never had to. I didn't dance while in college, where it is expected for the older students to teach the younger ones. I've always danced in big cities where there were plenty of better dancers who wanted to teach. I've never felt the need to step up and teach basic classes as long as I wasn't needed.
I also don't teach because I consider dancing to be my non-thinking, creative outlet. I started dancing because it looked fun. I continued dancing, because I was at nuclear power school, which was hard, and hurt my brain. I enjoyed the excitement and enjoyment of going out dancing, and not having to think too much with it.
I have taken a lot of workshops, and sometimes I focus on one aspect of a class to work on for a while. In general, though, I try to do what the instructors are asking during the class, and then just let my subconscious incorporate whatever it chooses into my dancing. So far, I think that approach has worked rather well for me. I also take private lessons to see where my natural improvement by dancing regularly has resulted in bad habits. I do work on those bad habits, but not very diligently, usually focusing on the "biggest issue" for a while, and then turning everything over to my subconscious.
As a result, though, I don't consciously think about my dancing. I have no idea why I do many of the things I do. I'm really not sure why some things work and others don't. A follow I'm dancing with will ask me to repeat something I've just done, and I really have no idea what move I'd just done. I did what my partner's following and the music seemed to suggest in the moment, and immediately let it leave my mind.
If I taught dancing, I'd have to break down what I do and think about it. The dance would no longer be mindless and a release for me. Maybe I'm making more of this than I should. I certainly know that I'm limiting myself as a dancer by not delving into the specifics. It was interesting to take classes from dancers I consider my peers. There were a number of things being taught that made me think how I would approach it differently. I don't usually think this way.
Similarly, I don't really pay attention to what music I'm dancing to. I know what I like and what I don't when I hear it, but I couldn't go up to a DJ and be very helpful when requesting a song. I spent quite a while collecting a lot of danceable music, and even started going through to organize some of it, with the expectation that I'd eventually DJ. So far that hasn't panned out, and all of my music is currently being held hostage by a host of hard drive issues that I still haven't sorted out.
I read a very interesting article recently on what it takes to be great
It is fascinating to see that natural talent is not the biggest indicator of success, and that most of the successful people throughout history have spent at least ten years of "deliberate practice" to become exceptional in their field.
Applying this to lindy, not many people have been dancing for ten years at this point. Certainly not many have danced with "deliberate practice" for that long. Most of them have burned out and moved on, or haven't really worked to improve their skill set once they became relatively proficient. I think it is exciting to think of what the dance will look like in another ten years, when there will be a fair amount of people who have put in that kind of time and energy into this activity.
Applying this to my dancing in particular, I don't put any "deliberate practice" into my dancing. The only time I can really think of where I did this to any real extent was when I danced on Zah Zu Zay, the performance team that won ALHC in 2002. It was probably the best dancing experience I've ever had, but I doubt I'll ever find something like that again to inspire me.
What do I do from here? What motivates some and not others to push themselves with deliberate practice to be the best they can? I've been told by a number of follows at any given dance event that I've been their favorite, or one of their few favorite leads. Usually by some of the best follows in attendance. Why do I need to improve? I'm not a competitive person, so is there a reason for me to try to get better? I'm certainly "good enough" for any social dancing event I could go to.
At this point, I think that to really improve (which means getting the motivation to improve), I need to begin working on teaching or DJing. I'm not sure if that will change my dancing in ways that I like, or if it will ruin everything I currently enjoy about the dancing. I suppose the only way to find out is to jump in and try. I know I'm not going to be ready for that for a while (job and other issues), but maybe sometime relatively soon, I'll see what happens. |
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