Dance lesson with Ikaika on 8/27/2010

Attendee: Sharron

We had an amazing lesson today. It's beyond words. The power of good dancing is beyond words.

Now that I've had a glance of the essence of dancing, I can't settle for anything less. It is one of the very rare moments in life, that I know so clearly that this is something that I want. To dance with such subtly and content. This is why I wanted to dance in the first place, and why I am addicted to no end.


The two thing we were focusing on today was
1. Feel the extension/shaping coming from the foot, starting from pressing the foot, to knee, hip, one vertebrate at a time to shoulder, finally head. Before doing this though, need to feel vertical, balanced and connected to the floor.
Some people say that they think Standard is boring, not sexy, etc. That is because they have never felt this kind of movement, connection.

2. awareness: on every 10% of weight change, be aware of what is happening, and what I am trying to do. It is the awareness that the teacher is teaching. I already have the ability to do lots of the stuff, it is being aware of when to do what is the harder part. But this can be practiced alone effectively. just check every 10% of weight change, what is it that I should be doing.

3. what distinguishes the good dancers is that they look comfortable on the floor, at ease, relaxed. It's not about the grand shape etc, but that they are at home on the floor.

Then we try to put these into the waltz Natural spin turn.

1. from the prep step to 3 to the first step of natural turn. during the & before the 1, already need to think of move the left knee forward to prepare for the swing/sway of the next step. This way, it is connected to the next step, not separated.

2. from 2 to 3. rise to close the left foot.

3. At the end of the natural turn from 2 to 3 of the next step (spin turn). feel the pressure from the foot to press against the floor, then effect triple up to the knee, hip, body, one vertebrate at a time to move the head in the end.


Exercise to do at home.
1. While dancing alone, try to check where the weight and balance are, whether I am connected to the floor. then think of what to do.
2. stand on the floor, feel the internal pressure going from the bottom up.



Some notes from lesson on 8/26/2010Attendee: Sharron and Daniel
1. How does the follower figure out when and how much turn to do on the second step of the spin turn? Sharron need to monitor where the leader's right hip is.

2. On every right turning figure (such as natural turn), Sharron need the kind of shaping that is like stretching toward the left elbow. And this shaping need to come from the base, not just the shoulder. Try to applying this shaping in Waltz natural turn first, then think of applying it in the feather step of Foxtrot as well.

3. Always move from the base. The moving of the upper body is a consequence of the movement of the base. The base is the driving wheel.

Dance Lesson with Ikaika on 8/24/2010

Attendee: Sharron, Daniel

Just got back from New York. A week without practice :(

today we worked on waltz again, natural spin turn.

1. In terms of shaping. when given an inch, take a mile. I need to respond earlier, and let the partner pass/go earlier.
2. In the shaping in the prep step, I need to stay forward on the knee/foot, but feel extending into partner's right arm to fill up the space.
3. In the first step of the natural turn, start turning from the hip joint earlier. It's an internal turn in the hip joint, don't let the hip join fall out.
4. In the step 2 of the natural turn, let the partner pass first then match the step.
5. Spin turn, in my part to get around the partner, need to step through his right side, not around, and then need to make additional more turns at the end so that we can line up correctly. Daniel need to get his balance, keep weight stack above his foot, not falling out at the end of the spin turn.
6. An exercise to shape the partner with using only the left side of the leader. Leader dose almost like the same thing as the girl while shaping: take the tummy in, have some internal turn in body, feel left shoulder blade forward and then shoulder over it as in high jump.


Below is Daniel's notes
Prep step:
1) Rotate around spine using the rib cage, not the shoulders, to create the wind-up.
2) When winding up, give Sharron more space with the right arm; also, do not enter her space with the shoulders or head.
3) Keep stomach in, shoulders down

Natural turn:
1) Delay the sway, but also try to get more rotation.
2) To create the wind-up for the spin turn, finish the natural turn normally, then get wind-up during lowering. Do not alter step 2 of Natural turn to create wind-up for spin turn.

Spin turn:
1) After 1, anchor on left foot, then make Sharron go (using hands), then follow up with her
2) We need to be right side-right side when we commit our weight over our feet, not all the time. This means we can have foot placement which may seem awkward, if it all works out by the time we commit weight. This leads us to the crazy circular-like motion where we get out of each other's way.
3) Do not go all the way up on the knee on 2 of spin turn. Keep the knee flexed.

Shaping exercise:
1) I did not really get it. What I try to do is keep stomach in, rotate shoulder slightly, but compensate with the arms so arms do not move.

Dance lesson with Ikaika on 8/16/2010

Attendee: Sharron

Last week we had some wonderful lessons with Ikaika, but I neglected taking notes, so a week later, I only remembered that we talked about:
1. make the spin turn travel more. Daniel's first step on the spin turn need not to curve to the extend that it's not going down line of dance.
2. he corrected the opening into prominent after the turning lock. Daniel need to let me pass first, then step forward himself, so that we line up correctly for the prominent position.

Today, we worked on
1. Throw away oversway:
a. when in the prep position, turn head right, but don't take the space of the man. Need to remember to keep the belly in. :P
b. the challenge line step, need to try to feel stepping straight through the man's right side. after landing with the right foot turned, don't try to swivel to be turned 180 degrees. Instead do something like 150, to leave some angle.

c. go forward on the shaping part, feel like a forward/upward spiral shaping that stretches the right side. forward, but not onto.


2. feather step:
a. He asked me to put my finger tip at the center of my body, right below the last rib cage, to feel the spine turning (into CBM), it needs to turn at the same speed of the body weight shifting from the front of the feet to the end.
b. Contract the back muscles (the muscles on the side of the back) to turn the body into the CBMs.
c. relax the muscle, free it, flow it, while keep the head at the same position, at feather, reverse turn, and especially at the end of the feather finish step, don't tense up with the right elbow sticking out.

3. natural wave:
after the natural turn, in preparing the next step, left the knee bent over the foot, to facilitate the preparation of the left foot. Do not shift out the right hip instead.
do the prepare, split, collect three stage exercise. On preparing the right foot forward, similarly, try to create a crease between the left leg and the left crotch, to prepare the right foot forward.

standard lesson with Ikaika 8/9/2010

Today we worked on reverse weave, mostly focused on the correct leg work

1. collect/prepare: internally feel the core part is drawing back. Just like if the leg is a stick, to have the further end of the stick to flip up forward,the closer end needs to pull back and down.

2, Extend/split weight: use the back leg joints to facilitate the shifting of the weight forward, do not lean with upper body to go forward.

3. pull to collect: If coming from raised position, need to lower early, instead of lowering only at the end. Make it a scoop, not a dump.

Dance lesson with Ikaika on 8/2/2010

Attendee: Sharron Ji

We talked about the ideal way to do Pro/Am first, because I mentioned that I would want to compete in Ohio Star Ball in November if possible. He said the followings are needed:
1. 4 lessons a week, and 1 hour practice every day alone.
2. Competition once a month.
3. good teacher with skills and political connections.
4. Lessons with visiting coach and judges.
5.


Today we worked on Foxtrot feather step again.
1. Timing of feather step: split weight on whole beat. 1 2(split weight) &(move the weight over) 3(split weight), ....

2. Don't skim though the surface, let the weight sink/plant into the floor. Feel like the quad muscle just below the butt weights a ton, and is sinking directly on to the foot.

3. Imagine you are using the lower body to guide the leader to shift his weight across his feet. This idea was very helpful for me to get to sink the weight into the foot, especially left foot on the first step of the feather step.

4. On the natural turn, we should do the same, use the lower body (feels like the weight changes in the leg and foot) to guide the partner to turn.