Dance around the world

13th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is timely that Tom Tubbs has posted a comment http://dancetours.blog.com/1551403/#cmts on my last blog entry about the problem that the lead dancer has of  "learning a routine a week say, to being able to have a repertoire that enables both yourself and your partner enough variation in a dance of 3-5 minutes?"

 This is certainly a problem I have faced.  Younger dancers seem to be able to remember the learned steps more readily than I have been able to.  Fortunately, the www.johnyoungdance.co,nz dance school I attend, does not just introduce a new routine each week and go onto yet another new one to learn the following week.  The focus is to build up a routine that might last up to two minutes at best yet still not enough to build up a routine for a 3-5 minute period.  My experience has been that getting out on the dance floor with social dancing and then practice, practice, practice is the only way to do it. It takes me a long time to create those new brain patterns, but there is a 'tipping point' that after sufficient practise enables me to base my dancing on the learnt steps but not be restricted to them.    

I have also found the step from bronze medal dancing to silver level is not as big as the earlier step from social dancing to bronze level.  It does get easier as the brain patterns get more firmly embedded.  As a lifetime learner, I enjoy the challenge of learning new things and am still filled with wonder with each new discovery. 

This article confirms that dancing helps prevent dementia.  

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

Classical dancing is like being a mother: if you've never done it, you can't imagine how hard it is.
             --Harriet Cavalli

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

12th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is stunning to watch good dancers who appear to float around the room while ballroom dancing.  We know that this is achieved by the discipline of the rise and fall during the dance.  Getting control of leg and thigh muscles to achieve this does not just happen without practice.

It is possible to practice at anytime while standing still.  Standing flatfooted and rising and lowering on your toes is a gym exercise but how much more interesting to do it with your imaginary dance partner while standing at the kitchen sink; waiting for a bus (when did I last do that??);  in the lift; in the shower.... There are plenty of places to practice the rise and fall and tighten the leg and thigh muscles in the process.

Here's an article on stretching
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/

..and here's one on the benefits of dance including physical benefits.
http://living.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=92892007

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

I was a ballerina. I had to quit after I injured a groin muscle. It wasn't mine.
             --Rita Rudner

To return to the latest blog entry click here

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz