Competitor? Amateur? Social? How to practice for different dance levels.

Dancing and Practice time:

If you aspire to become a better dancer you will need to practice. Dancing is a skill that takes not only knowledge but lots of practice. Depending on how far you want to take your skill level dictates what type of practice you need in order to reach that level.

Mistakes While Dancing

Mistakes -  Before you decide to become a part of a dancing couple, make sure you are able to admit when you are wrong (and sometimes when you are not) or your partnership won’t survive.   WHEN you make a mistake in practice, laugh about it and keep right on dancing – or figure out how to lead it and patent it!  When you make a mistake in front of an audience, keep smiling, and keep dancing.  Only you will know that you didn’t plan it that way!  I’ve known numerous, professional and amateur dancers who have (after the dance) admitted that they made multiple mistakes – and still won the competition!  Apply this same rule to your social dancing, too, and you will both have a lot more fun.

Competitive Dancers

Competitive dancer – There are two levels of competitive dancer; Pro-Am and Amateur.  (Unless, of course you are a Pro-Pro couple – then you wouldn’t be reading this.)  In Pro-Am competitions the student (you) dance with your instructor – and only the student is graded for competitive purposes (they say).  In Amateur competitions, the both members of the couple are graded for competitive purposes.  If you want to reach the skill level needed to be a competitive couples dancer you first need to have a partner – or pay a teacher. Make sure that the partner has enough desire and free time to put in the practice necessary to compete. You can’t practice your competitive dance skills at a social dance. You need to find a floor suitable for practice where there are few distractions. This involves lots of concentration and patience.   This is the most intense, demanding but very rewarding level of dancing. It’s not for everyone but it will teach you very much about dancing, and yourself. If you can’t find a suitable partner ask your instructor about Pro-Am competitions.

Showcase Dancers

Showcase Dancer – I use this term for lack of a better one, to describe a dancer who is willing to put their skills out in front of other dancers a few times each year during special dance events. The level can range from new dancers to retired competitive dancers who wish to keep their skills intact. Whatever the level being danced, the audience appreciates dancers who look comfortable and seem to be having a good time. If you are a new dancer and dancing in front of a crowd for the first time you may NOT be having fun. You just try to look like you ARE having fun. You’ll find that it DOES become fun, or at least very satisfying to show off your skills, as you gain practice (you may even find it exhilarating) .  In order to practice for these events you need the same conditions as a competitive dance couple, except you may be dancing with an instructor rather than a partner. For beginner showcase dancers, this is advisable if you are new to dancing since your instructor is much more able to lead or back-lead you through the difficult portions of your routine. (The amount of practice time needed is usually dependent on the time left before the Showcase event.) You may need to put in some very intense practice sessions.  First time showcase dancers, be sure your instructor teaches you a proven routine rather than trying to put one together at the last moment.  Intermediate, and more advanced showcase dancers may simply use an instructor to choreograph and / or coach one or more of your practice sessions, leaving you and your partner to perform the showcase, and show off what you have accomplished.

Social Dancers

Good Social Dancer – This level is where everyone should be. Even the Showcase and Competitive dancers need to be at this level if they intend to attend social dance events. In order to improve your social dancing you need several tools. The first is good dance shoes. They will make life much easier. Next you need some good instruction. This can come from private lessons, group classes (studios, dance parties, or even your local community center or church), workshops, or instructional tapes. Each has a place in social dancing. Try to concentrate on technique instruction as much as learning new moves.  Finally, you need to attend dances where there is a good floor and good music. Avoid dance venues with floors that are too sticky and need powder to free them up. Wood floors are best!  There are some good tile dance floors around, but they tend to be hard on the feet and legs.  Also try to avoid bad dance music. The music should make you want to dance. You shouldn’t be expected to try and find a dance to fit the music being played.

Now, Get around to it!

Once you have all the necessary tools available you can concentrate on becoming a better social dancer. The best part about this type of dancing is that you get to have fun and practice also. When you are dancing watch your partner and how they react to your movements. If you are a man you need to see how the lady responds to your leads and footwork. If you are a lady do you always react properly to his leads? Does he need to push and pull to get you to follow? (Ladies, even accomplished dancers, may need to stop and ask their male partner to demonstrate the lead again, so you can learn to follow it – remember only one of you can lead, and , for-better-or-for-worse, the man has the task of leading – even if he is not highly skilled at leading.  You can offer pointers…, but don’t offend.)  Whether you are a man or lady there needs to be a certain amount of comfort level in your dancing. Different levels of practice yield different types of dancers. Each is unique and one is not better than the other. Although dancing requires discipline and practice the results should yield confident skillful dancers. Dancers who take lesson after lesson without suitable practice (that means going out to the studio parties, regularly, and participating – even if you are still “not good enough”) seldom improve.

(with thanks to http://www.twosteptidewater.com/Dance_Tips/dance_tip17_how_to_practice_for_dance_levels.htm)

How to get into shape with Pilates

To get in shape with Pilates is to embark on an amazing journey of not just physical fitness, but as Joseph Pilates said, a complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit.

Everyone likes to talk about the flat abs Pilates gives you or the long, lean muscles, even weight loss; and if you commit to Pilates training those are among the benefits you can enjoy. But, as you will see, they are part of a much bigger picture.

What we are after in Pilates is, “a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.” (Joseph Pilates).
That’s what it means to get in shape with Pilates!

I bet you are ready to get started already. But first, there are a few things about Pilates that make it a uniquely effective system. If you understand these things about the Pilates approach to exercise you will get in shape much faster, and in a more integrated and life enhancing way:

Pilates is for Every Body
Getting in shape with Pilates is a path anyone can embark on, from the couch potato to the athlete. Pilates exercises can be modified to meet the needs of the individual.
Learn How to Modify Exercises

The Pilates Principles
In order for the Pilates method to work its magic, the exercises should be done with certain principles in mind. The Pilates principles are: centering, concentration, control, precision, breath, and flow. These ideas are integral to achieving the dramatic results that Pilates in known for. Results like a body that is strong, flexible, and able to gracefully accommodate the movement demands of your life. They are also the keys to the body/mind/spirit integrative aspects of the work.
read more about the Pilates principles

Pilates is Core
Pilates exercise starts with the core of your body — with full breaths refreshing your cells; with your heart and circulatory system pumping fresh blood into your tissues; and with training the deep muscles of your abdomen, back and pelvis (your Pilates powerhouse) to support your spine, and provide stability in your pelvis and shoulders as you move. When we strengthen and stabilize the core, we can safely move out from center to increase the flexibility of our spine, stretch our muscles, and improve the range of motion in our joints.

Get Started with Pilates Exercises
Now that you know some of the inner workings of getting in shape with Pilates, I bet you are ready to get moving. I would personally recommend Olinia Pilates Studio in Bedfordview.

Increasing Your Fitness Level
If you are consistent in your Pilates training your fitness level will continue to improve. But you will have to continue to challenge yourself, as is true with any fitness method. As you progress, will find that the pace of a workout picks up as do the strength and stability challenges.

Many people find Pilates to be an entirely satisfying fitness regimen. In traditional exercise terms, Pilates is moderate strength and flexibility training. If you want to round out your fitness program with a more cardiovascular workout, you might want to add in a few Kettlebell classes – I will go into details in my next blog

(editorial with thanks to http://pilates.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/Get-In-Shape.htm)

We just got Married

Getting Married to my soul mate was the best occurrence I have every experienced.  Walking down the aisle was an incredible sensation, knowing that in under 30 minutes I am going to be married to this implausible man.

Our wedding colours were silver, white and a watermelon pink.  My theme was very Manhattan, soft and fairytale “ish”

Our Ceremony was full of hearts, petals, love and our family and friends, from there we moved to the cutting of the cake under beautiful crisp white umbrella’s and an array of traditional Lebanese meze served with pink champagne, sparkling water and mixed fruit juices.

The Guests were entertained by a live band whilst we did our photies.

When the guests moved into the reception area, each persons name was written on a silver heart to follow through with the LOVE theme and the table was decorated with white Orchids, fairy lights and boxes filled with St Joseph’s lilly and candles.  Again the Centerpieces were positioned on a mirrored circle with hearts placed strategically around them.  Each guest received a box of Lindt chocolates with the saying “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times with the same person”.

The guests were entertained by Tarryn Rego, the best Belly Dancer South Africa has to offer.

Gary’s speech brought laughter to the entire room…… wouldn’t have expected anything less from my husband.

Towards the end of the evening, Gary and I snuck out of the room and the band welcomed Michelle Veenemans the BEST Opera Soprano I have ever heard.  With this, Gary and I came out and did our first dance, a Rumba…. To the Opera Nessun Dorma.  Not a dry eye in the room, including me… to quote the words of our dancing instructor Dave Campbell “it was the best performance I have ever experienced, a rumba to opera with so much love”.

Our Wedding was perfect, and the next morning I woke up to build a puzzle to find out where I was going on honeymoon… MAURITIUS BABY.   All in all, we are now officially Mr and Mrs Golding… and I love it.

Keep your make-up fresh

In my years of dancing one of the many things that I am constantly eager to perfect is my make-up.  The importance of having your make-up not look washed out and pale under the bright lights is and on-going education for me and something that I am continually trying to seek the best products for (will keep you posted on that).

The make-up must accentuate the dancers’ features for judges and people in the audience.  Although most makeup is applied to the female dancer’s face, ITS VERY IMPORTANT that the male partner needs to be blemish free and tanned.

Things You’ll Need:

• Skin tanner or bronzer
• Foundation
• Powder
• Blush
• Eyeliner
• Mascara
• Eye shadow
• Artificial eyelashes
• Lip gloss

Step 1.

When applying your fake tan, Don’t forget your face.  One big thing I have noticed when dancing overseas is that the girls (and guys) look the same colour from the tip of their toes to the top of their heads.

Step 2

Cover the woman’s face with liquid foundation. Set with powder, to keep the makeup from running.  This is where some people go wrong.  Instead of using a foundation the same colour of your skin, my suggestion would be to go a shade or two darker this will then match up with the colour of your tan.  The colour of the setting powder doesn’t usually matter, but if you can choose a darker powder too.

Step 3

Apply a bright-colored blush to the woman’s cheeks. Use a great deal more blush and a brighter color than you would typically use, to distinguish the cheeks and cheekbones.  Ensure you don’t give yourself ball’s for cheeks.  The colour should only be applied on the length of your cheek bone.

Step 4

Line the woman’s eyes with a dark liner to draw attention to their shape – this will make them seem to “pop” from the dance floor.

Coat each lid area with a bold highlighter colour extending right up to the eyebrow (a colour that is lighter than that of your dark colour).

In the crease and along the lower lid area use a colour shadow of your choice. Should you want to, take a blending brush and blend to soften.  Attach artificial lashes to the upper lid with eyelash glue. Coat lashes with mascara.

1. Step 5

Outline the lips with a dark lip liner. Fill in with a long-lasting, smudge-proof lipstick in a bright color. Finish with a shiny lip gloss.

Tips & Warnings

• The dancing as well as the lighting can cause the dancer to perspire, so look for foundations and powders that are long-lasting or waterproof.
• Use a stick or cream blush, which will last longer.
• Dancers often use more than one shade of eyeshadow, ensure that these co-ordinate with your costume and your skin colouring.

Pilates for Dancers

Pilates exercises focus on posture, strength, and flexibility – all three are important components for any good dancer. The use of Pilates results in a strengthening of the upper body that enhances a dancer’s balance, alignment of body parts, better posture while still or turning, and other spinal muscle alignments. Pilates exercises are also good at lower body parts like the ankles and feet that play a key role in any form of dance.

What Pilates exercises does is increase the alertness level of the body to surrounding physical space and leave the mind in better control and hence more relaxed. The purpose of the Pilates exercise is to make sure that the mind is aware of all muscles involved in every moment and to take them into account while maintaining balance and agility. Because of this, Pilates can work on nearly every part of the body.

Dance teachers or coaches will often recommend Pilates exercises to dancers to help them improve their balance, muscles, movements, and body-parts coordination.

The body is a machine that can wear out if it is continually under stress. Dancing is a very stressful activity as far as the body and mind is concerned. The muscles are always overworked and the mind has to keep up with the maintenance of balance and general control. Pilates help to bring discipline, easier control and coordination while at the same time increasing muscle strength and also helping with relaxation.

Pilates can work on isolated muscles groups (like the shoulders) or it can work on complex muscle groups (abdomen and back). A different exercise works on all muscles in the body and helps to restore and rebuild muscle tissue that has broken down due to stress. Increase strength ensures that a similar muscle tissue breakdown is reduced in the future so that dancers do not get tired too easily and their body does not hurt once they stop dancing.

My Pilates instructure is an ex dancer which works out great for me…..

Olinia Pilate Studio, Bedfordview 011 022 7204

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anita_Wisp

Dancing Lessons

Getting the Most from Your Dance Lessons

By: Dan Pittman

Dance students naturally want to get the most they can from their lessons, but often lack a clear understanding of how to do so. In fact, any student’s progress depends mostly upon how they approach and use their lessons. Fast, complete and efficient progress will result only from a logical and structured approach to learning.

Set a Goal

Quite simply, unless both the instructor and the student have a clear understanding of the skills and abilities that are to be developed, then progress suffers. A frank discussion of goals and the formation of a solid teaching plan are essential.

Correct Frame of Mind

The student-teacher relationship is one of both physical and mental participation. Knowledge can only be gained through focused attention and a willingness to learn. Students should take care to apply themselves to the task at hand, and to do their best to perform the new elements according to their instructor’s direction.

Concentration and Focus

Sometimes students, in a desire to “do everything right”, will focus on one facet of dancing while the instructor is attempting to work on another. The experienced instructor will not expect their students to correctly perform all of their old skills while learning something new. The student should direct their attention only to the topic which the instructor has chosen, and the instructor will later amalgamate the new knowledge with the old.

Allow the Instructor to Teach

The student is wasting their instructor’s skills if they do not allow the instructor to exercise their own judgment and abilities. Many students, who would not dream of telling their doctor what medicine to prescribe or their mechanic how to repair their car, will not hesitate to tell their instructor which part of their dancing most needs attention, and how they should be taught. Instead, the instructor should be given rein to teach as they see fit, so long as they are working to the best of their abilities towards the student’s goals. If this path does not yield the desired results, then another instructor should be found.

Remember also that learning to dance is different from learning pure mental skills — sometimes understanding comes only after correct performance, instead of the other way around. The student should always try to allow the instructor to complete a presentation, since quite often full understanding dawns only when the presentation is complete and a “feel” for the action is obtained. If at that point the student does not understand, then they should ask for clarification. Otherwise, they should try to allow the instructor to exercise their professional skills — after all, that is what they were hired to do in the first place.

Practice

Practice is probably the most under-rated aspect of a student’s learning. Those students who apply themselves to their practice invariably show more consistent progress than those who do not. Students of tennis, skiing, martial arts, music, golf, or most other physical pursuits consider practice an integral part of their learning, but all too often students of social dance do not. The human mind can consciously demand only so much of the body at one time, and is not capable of simultaneously monitoring or directing more than one or two aspects of the body’s movement. In order to correctly perform several different dance elements, the body must be able to function independently of concentration — in other words, good dancing skills must be habitual. Habits can only be formed through repetition. This can also be a pitfall, since a repeated action will become habit whether that action is desirable or not! Care must be taken to ensure that CORRECT performance is practiced AT LEAST 50% OF THE TIME, since the body will “remember” those actions which it has performed MOST OFTEN.

Regularity

Regularity also has a bearing on progress, since too much time between lessons breaks up the continuity of the learning progress, allows the student to forget too much of any lesson’s instruction, and forces the instructor to unnecessarily repeat topics.
Read more: Dance Lessons http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/dance-lessons.htm#ixzz0lpZEKxF4
Dance, Fitness & Sports CentralHome

Keeping Focused is Imperative

Our result from this weekend’s competition was a 1^st Place, however it wasn’t as well accepted as it usually is.  We have come to the realization that you cannot combine a Freestyle, Hip Hop and Electric Boogie competition with Latin American.  The mind cannot split itself into so many different genres and still stay focused

However, we are satisfied with our placing and look forward to working harder for the next competition on the 8^th May.

I have some tips to on how to keep focused during a difficult competition:

1. Ensure your focus remains on the dancing and one another – distraction are dangerous!  Keep your competitors at arms length.
2. Although planning is essential, i.e. costumes, grooming etc… if at the last minute something needs to change don’t be thrown by it.  It’s very easy to get caught up in the stress and start panicking over the small things  However, if 6 other competitors have a pink costume on, oh and yours is pink – change…. You will ultimately make more of a statement.
3. Gary had the unfortunate experience of falling.  In a case like this it’s vital not to let this little misfortune effect you.  Easier said than done, but remain calm, pull yourself together and forget about it.  Remember you still need to get through your rounds.  So don’t let a small incident effect you.
4. Trusting one another – it’s imperative that you have 100% faith in your partner… this will always encourage them to dance harder and keep their end of the bargain.
5. Last but not least, keep your iPod very close by….. when other music comes on that is not related to your genres of dance, stick those earphones in and zone back in.

I would like to mention that the World Hip Hop and Electric Boogie will be taking place next year at Sun City – Battle of the Giants Competition.