Let's Work With a DVD!

[da Sage]

OK ladies...who else is a dance slacker? Tonight I danced for the first time in a week. I don't know why I thought I didn't have time to dance before...I was not busy all day every day, much as I would like to think that I was!:lol:

I love my DVD collection, but the truth is that I get tired and distracted and wander off in the middle of the instruction! I don't have that problem with live dance classes. I love to take an hour-and-a-half dance class in a studio, so why can't I discipline myself to do a 45-minute dance workout on DVD? It's not just that I'm un-coordinated now.

 

[atisheh]

OK ladies...who else is a dance slacker? Tonight I danced for the first time in a week. I don't know why I thought I didn't have time to dance before...I was not busy all day every day, much as I would like to think that I was!:lol:

I love my DVD collection, but the truth is that I get tired and distracted and wander off in the middle of the instruction! I don't have that problem with live dance classes. I love to take an hour-and-a-half dance class in a studio, so why can't I discipline myself to do a 45-minute dance workout on DVD? It's not just that I'm un-coordinated now.

I waste a lot of time on my computer... like right now. I think if I only checked my email four times a day, and gathered up the rest of the time and used it for dance, I'd be fabulous by now.

I think what you say about class vs video is generally true... I find I can do things in a yoga class that I can't do with a video, I push myself further. Is it the presence of other people? The motivational force of the teacher? I think with yoga, part of it is knowing that a good teacher will correct my form, whereas I have to pay more attention on my own. And I suspect that with dance, it's partly the space -- a dance floor and mirrors are so much nicer than a corner of my carpeted living room, when I'm trying to do turns without bumping into furniture.

 

[Safran]

I love my DVD collection, but the truth is that I get tired and distracted and wander off in the middle of the instruction! I don't have that problem with live dance classes. I love to take an hour-and-a-half dance class in a studio, so why can't I discipline myself to do a 45-minute dance workout on DVD? It's not just that I'm un-coordinated now.

I do that as well - I often just pause the DVD and wander off to the kitchen for a drink... and it is SO difficult to continue after that!

 

[Daimona]

why can't I discipline myself to do a 45-minute dance workout on DVD? It's not just that I'm un-coordinated now.

Because it is too many distracting things around you (cleaning some mess, checking email/forum etc) which you don't have in a dance class room situation and you need to break that pattern of distraction.

Aim for a smaller part of the DVD (perhaps just 10-15 minutes) and when you get in the flow, add some more minutes/sections of the DVD.

Remember to line up what you need while practising (a bottle of water etc) BEFORE you start so you reduce everything that may distract you while practising.

 

[atisheh]

See, it's funny... my problem is never continuing once I've begun. It's getting started. Once I actually get the right clothes on, move aside the furniture, and pop in the DVD, it's hard to tear myself away.

 

[RahimaMJR]

See, it's funny... my problem is never continuing once I've begun. It's getting started. Once I actually get the right clothes on, move aside the furniture, and pop in the DVD, it's hard to tear myself away.

I'm the same way...sometimes I'll just put in a DVD to "watch" for a little bit, and then before I know it, I'm up and dancing!

For the past week or so, I've been working with Heartbeat of Bellydance, and Autumn Ward's Beautiful Technique from Step One.

Heartbeat: I've been mainly doing the shimmy drills, but also playing around with the choreography for something to do. Also, I enjoy watching the improv at the end and seeing all the different rhythms being danced to.

Beautiful Technique: I downloaded the pdf file from Autumn's website, and I think it would be very helpful if I could print it out...having just the digital file is a little cumbersome if you like to flip around to different parts.

I was really intimidated by the format of this video at the start. I think she intended to take pieces from different parts of the DVD and then put them together for the practice flows at the end, but for me, this was a lot of skipping around and not intuitive. What I did several times before attempting the suggested structure is watch it all the way through (not necessarily working with all of it, but at least watching it). Then I started to see more or less how everything fits together.

One caveat about this video, it is very technical (duh). By this I mean, Autumn talks a lot, and it is very cerebral. As long as you are aware of this and it is what you are looking for, it should be fine. I find it ok in little bits. It is easier to just take a chunk and then digest it. I think she gives a lot of info about each particular move, and this would be good, especially for teachers who are looking for different ways to explain things. One thing I don't particularly like about it, is that the moves lack context. Often she will say, "don't do THIS, that's a completely different move," but then doesn't explain anything about the "different" move, or where/when it would be applicable. It's not very dancey, but then again that wasn't the aim of the DVD.

While I think it would be useful, I don't think I will use it the way it was intended. She seems to explain certain things in a contradictory way to what I was taught, which is fine but since I don't understand WHY certain things are different, I'm hesitant to forsake what I've learned just to go along with the DVD.

Right now my DVD collection is limited because I've just moved and most of my stuff is in transit, so I'll make do with what I have now until I get my vids back and/or find a nearby teacher! I'm just glad I'm moving around again!

 

[teela]

On days I do not feel like dancing, I adopt the 5 min practice from Nadira Jamal's blog. I find when I do it, I end up practicing at least 20 mins. Sometimes once I've started, I end up doing a full hour. Other times I throw on a 10 min regular aerobics or similar workout and I"m ready to dance.

 

[da Sage]

On days I do not feel like dancing, I adopt the 5 min practice from Nadira Jamal's blog. I find when I do it, I end up practicing at least 20 mins. Sometimes once I've started, I end up doing a full hour. Other times I throw on a 10 min regular aerobics or similar workout and I"m ready to dance.

Thank you for pointing me to Nadira Jamal's blog! I've linked to the referenced post here, for those who would like to check it out. There's lots of other really insightful stuff there as well.

Although I haven't been practicing often or much, during tonight's practice with Cocktail I found that my fluidity has improved, while my isolations are still not up to par. I'm wondering whether to continue, or to move on to another video. I really would like to try a simple Sadie video, but that would require that I lay out some cash. I wish I knew where my old Rachel Brice video is.

What is everyone else working with right now?

 

[lexiconlush]

It has been really hard to find time to constructively dance (you know, not just me dancing to what is playing on the radio). I use Cocktail every once in awhile, but I have been using the DBQs and Coco's drills on Youtube (I think her thread is in the Videos subforum) when I don't feel like firing up my cd drive.

The 30-day belly dance improv challenge | RAQS and the City: Najla's Belly Dance Blog

This has been going around the belly dance tag on Tumblr. It's a nice way to motivate me to practice and it will help me at the end of the semester ethnomusicology concert. I have to step up my game from last semester's social dancing, lol.