Practica Notes: 17th May 2011, Radlett

(Also see notes for the previous week)

We did a number of exercises at Tuesday's practica in Radlett. Here's a list of them, to use as aides-memoire for you.

(This week's theme was "Pivot practices" :) )

Exercise 1: Ochos - solo

Forward and backward ochos, by yourself, slowly and in control.

Benefits:

  • Forces you to power all these movements by yourself, rather than use your partner for support or energy.
  • Helps work on dissociation and control.

Exercise 2: Ochos - shoulder holding

We all partnered-up, with the "follower" in front and the "leader" behind. The leader holds the follower's shoulders forwards whilst the follower does forward ocho movements.

The aim of this exercise is to ensure the followers kept their chests facing forwards whilst doing the ocho movements.

We then reversed roles, and then did the same with backwards ochos (with the leader in front this time)

Benefits:

  • Forces followers to dissociate
  • Forces followers to power all the movements on their own (as the "leader" is not actually leading)

Exercise 3: Giros - chairs

Walking around chairs: we practiced doing the grapevine movements in a circular pattern, in both directions.

(Forward -> pivot (180 degrees) -> Side -> pivot (180 degrees) -> Back -> Side -> Forward -> etc.)

Benefits:

  • If the follower can do this on their own, it's much easier to do it with a partner.
  • Works on balance, dissociation and muscle memory

Exercise 4: Giros - partnered

We did the same exercise, but partnered-up (with both partners doing the same pattern, both walking around a central point)

Benefits:

  • Balance and stability for both partners
  • Walking around a central point (using a shared axis of rotation)

Exercise 5: Ochos - partnered

Both partner doing forward ochos.

Benefits:

  • Men get to do footwork
  • Helps work on dissociation

For more information

I'll be doing more work on the area of pivots for the "Smooth Tango" workshop on the 21st May.