No need to suck it up

Candace Cox is town this week. I met Candace last fall when I signed up for one of her workshops and did a private lesson with her.  People like Candace are helping me to navigate not just the dance, but my body.

Candace doesn’t teach tango, she teaches the Alexander Technique. She helps performers, singers, dancers, actors and regular people like me, loosen up. And by loosening up, I mean getting rid of the kind of tension that can leave you dancing like a stick man. This time around I only had time for a class on how to warm up the AT way. In a sunny studio on the south side, ten regular people, not performers, ran like five year old children, making buzzing sounds with our lips. We swung our arms as we skipped around the room. We lay on the floor with our knees drawn up, and hummed a sound from the top of our heads to the bottom of our diaphragms. No sweating involved. For the first 15 minutes all I did was yawn. Even on my days off, I was unconsciously holding tension in my shoulders, back and neck. And with every exercise Candace gently cajoled, "Let your head lift off your neck, let your bum sink to the ground, let the ground support you." Candace says she’s not against exercise. But she is against holding tension in our body while we exercise. And that’s when the light bulb went off for me. Once in a while, a dance partner will tentatively suggest that I relax. I always reply, “I am relaxed”, because mentally I feel at ease. And hugging and holding a strange man for 12 minutes is no longer a cause for panic. But I do try to suck it in. I draw in my stomach muscles and pull my shoulders back to straighten up my posture. Some of my partners, here and in Buenos Aires, do the same. I feel their soft bellies retreat at the start of the dance. But we're not supposed to be trying so hard. The effort makes us tense. And tense muscles makes it hard to move. “Stand as if you were a queen.” “Let your legs hang from your hips like they’re on hooks.” “Lift your head up as if there’s a balloon tied to the top.” And my personal favourite “Ladies, pee on the floor”, which is about relaxing your pelvic muscles. Where there is a tango class there are metaphors. But the metaphors, don’t tell you why. Being relaxed means being able to easily understand and receive the lead’s invitation to move.   The metaphors don’t tell you how. Lift your head off your neck, slightly bend your knees and hips, let your bottom feel heavy. That’s it. No need to suck in. Try it. Let me know what you think.

I'd rather be dancing

I'd rather be dancing!

First step - create blog.
Second step - change the design.
Third step - pull out hair.