 the male dancer
written by Dancing Doc             on 15.07. at 23:05:05 - as answer to: The more I can't do it, the more I can't do it by Dancing Fool>Now my question has evolved into something a little more cosmic - when you are faced with having to do something in class that you find really really difficult, even impossible, and that gives you the jim-jams even thinking about it, what do you do? And just what, if I may ask, is your own dance bete-noir? Dancing Fool: There's something called ballet or dance "imagery" where you focus on letting the dancer inside of you out, to express the dance rather than "technique" the dance. The theory is that once you've worked out the technical aspects of the ballet movements and "toned" your body, let the mind free itself to do the work, without having to talk through the technique to yourself. It's kind of like the theory behind speed-reading, where you known your mind knows all the words so you don't have to "speak" them to your brain as you see each word. (e.g. When you see and "EXIT" sign, you don't have to look it over, read out the word, then figure that's where you want to go, You normally just go there!) I was told about this technique many years ago, and it worked with me (until I was in an accident while riding a crazy horse. I stopped dancing for a few years, and never worked at picking up the imagery again.). There are books on the topic that I've seen at my local Border's, but I haven't tried to read any of them yet, so I can't recommend any. I would say "Try this!" Once you input the technique into your mind, just let it come out, with expression. Don't over think the dance. One comment about your "spotting" problem, I've talked to a few teachers. One (She was a little girl at the studio where I first started my ballet classes; now she's a very accomplished young teacher, choreographer and performer.) suggested the following exercise. Face the mirror, any mirror (You don't need much space to do this.) Start by focusing on your face or forehead. Then start marching to the right, keeping that spot on your face in focus as you turn towards the back. Once your body is about to face away from the mirror, turn your head quickly to the right, all the way around, to catch sight of that spot on your face, while you continue to march the body around to the en face position. Repeat several (e.g. 4) times. Then do the same exercise to the left. I would also suggest working with exercises of the neck to build up its strength and flexibility. Good luck! Answers to this message: 
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