i'm impressed all over again by more evidence that often times the only way to learn something is by doing it. i always approach my teaching practice this way, because it's so clear that this is the way very young children learn best - always showing, doing, exploring, experiencing. but i forget this is also the way i learn.
i was having trouble with tango. i had various problems, but they could all be tied to my inability to let go and be present - be in my center and from there be ready for anything, but also not anticipating anything, or deluding myself into thinking i knew what was coming next. i was stiff, heavy on my feet, off balance, difficult to lead - in short, a disaster. i was talking to a good friend and sometime tango partner about it, and he reminded me that it's about trust.
i hate ceding control; i have a deeply ingrained inability to trust another person to guide my steps. all of my control freak tendencies stared me squarely in the face and i had to admit that i needed to get over it or quit trying learn to dance altogether.
so i closed my eyes. and then i had no choice but to be led, be in the moment and stop anticipating. it's like that terrible 'team building' exercise from corny office retreats and undergrad psychology classes - a bigger, musical version of the trust fall. now i can dance tango. but there was no way to get there by thinking about it, or 'figuring out' how to do it - i learned to do it only by doing it.
the same thing happened for me in salsa. the ability to dance on 2 and feel the clave seemed like it was going to elude me forever. i couldn't intellectualize it, and worse, i couldn't translate what my ear heard in the rhythm into my body's movement. i've struggled valiantly for a couple years now, inching closer and closer, catching it for moments and then losing it again ... but all it took was dancing with a few great leads who helped force my body to do what my ear was hearing. once i could simply experience it, i had a breakthrough, and suddenly my body is moving with the clave.
ahi na' ma!
m
i was having trouble with tango. i had various problems, but they could all be tied to my inability to let go and be present - be in my center and from there be ready for anything, but also not anticipating anything, or deluding myself into thinking i knew what was coming next. i was stiff, heavy on my feet, off balance, difficult to lead - in short, a disaster. i was talking to a good friend and sometime tango partner about it, and he reminded me that it's about trust.
i hate ceding control; i have a deeply ingrained inability to trust another person to guide my steps. all of my control freak tendencies stared me squarely in the face and i had to admit that i needed to get over it or quit trying learn to dance altogether.
so i closed my eyes. and then i had no choice but to be led, be in the moment and stop anticipating. it's like that terrible 'team building' exercise from corny office retreats and undergrad psychology classes - a bigger, musical version of the trust fall. now i can dance tango. but there was no way to get there by thinking about it, or 'figuring out' how to do it - i learned to do it only by doing it.
the same thing happened for me in salsa. the ability to dance on 2 and feel the clave seemed like it was going to elude me forever. i couldn't intellectualize it, and worse, i couldn't translate what my ear heard in the rhythm into my body's movement. i've struggled valiantly for a couple years now, inching closer and closer, catching it for moments and then losing it again ... but all it took was dancing with a few great leads who helped force my body to do what my ear was hearing. once i could simply experience it, i had a breakthrough, and suddenly my body is moving with the clave.
ahi na' ma!
m
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