After every audition, there are people who feel disappointed in their level placement.  There are always questions, always appeals, and occasionally even tears.  So to try and reduce the amount of sadness that follows auditions, I wanted to write a little about the reality of auditions/tracks, both from the perspective of a post-aha student and from the perspective of a teacher/judge. 

First things first: the advanced level of a workshop is not Advanced.  It's "the top x leads and follows who auditioned."  Not making the top x students doesn't mean you're not advanced.  Conversely, making the top x students doesn't mean that you are advanced.  Next time I have resources allowing, I'm auditioning all student except total beginner, and calling them shoe, toolbox, windex, and candle.  The different tracks, rather than serving as a global indicator of your dancing, give you an idea of where you are relative to the other students at that workshop.  That is all.  

Also, consider this: once your dancing gets past a certain point, people become delighted to discover you.  You regularly get comments like, "that was awesome!" "you follow everything/everything you lead works" "you're so much fun!"  That point is not the advanced student threshhold.  It feels that way, I realize.  Dancing suddenly works, people give you nothing but positive feedback... rainbows sing and puppies fly.  I know.  That's a really beautiful place.  But it doesn't equal advanced.  When (or if) it happens depends on the dancer, but please don't think it means anything about your level.  And even if it did, remember my first point.

The judges are not amateurs.  Before you decide that a judge simply can't tell how good your dancing is, consider this: dance instructors make their livings by learning to see dance.  We have learned to diagnose connection issues visually.  We can also see move choice, rhythm, posture, musicality, control, balance, and quality of movement.  For follows, don't be fooled by the idea that if you only get average leads, we can't see you shine.  A beautiful dancer will make simple movements shine- they have control, quality and richness of movement.  A lesser dancer will lack the same control, even on nicely led fancy moves.  Quality of movement matters, y'all- it's more than a style thing.  For fun (by which I mean education), go watch the SYTYCD auditions on youtube.  Not only can you pick out stronger dancers during the choreography, where everyone gets the same movements, but you can see on movements as simple as a step, or a hand gesture, during their solos.  Go look!  And then give your judges a little more credit.  


On that note, leaders, what judges want to see at an audition are your.... basics.  We want to see your fundamentals.  We're not looking for which leaders have the fanciest moves.  We're looking for solid leaders.  And, might I mention, it would be nice to see the follows do their fundamentals, but that's reliant on you, boys.  



When I was at Herrang in 07, I was sorely disappointed to be left out of Advanced I.  But after a few days, it dawned on me.  Yes, I had followed just fine.  But the difference was that while Advanced II follows could follow everything, Advanced I follows made it look like art.  And there, children, lies the rub- dancing is about more than just connection.  At some point, very late in the learning process, the visuals matter.  No, I don't care about your styling (yes, judges can see past styling to fundamentals).  What I care about is that after you reach a certain point in connection, the sorting variable becomes about aesthetics, and taking you art past something purely social, and turning it into art.  Don't lose the social- connection is always important- but on top of that, make it yours.  Have control over every bit of your body (and control involves relaxation as well as engagement).  


If at this point, you say to me, "But I don't care how my dancing looks- I only care about connection" then be satisfied with what level you get placed in.  Don't place stock in a placement (such as between the top two levels) that involves a variable you don't care about.  By your metric, your level should be as good as the next, so be happy- and that's not me being snarky.  I truly wish people would enjoy their levels, and make the most of them.  Every moment you think about being in the wrong level is a moment you're not open to learning.  It suddenly becomes about preconceptions and ego.  Some of the best classes I've ever had were in tracks that were too low, or that I thought were too low (which looking back, were right on).  


One last point: it's not only unkind to your possible classmates to put you in the wrong level.  It's unfair to you.  We as instructors want to give you the best chance to learn the most possible.  The instructors are just as good in a lower track, but they're fine-tuning the material to the needs of that group. 


Yes, misplacements occasionally happen.  But they're very, very rare.  And if you're open and working hard, you'll get more out of being placed too low than too high.


With love and good will,
-Mike

I was filling out an online survey recently (no, I didn't win the $10 gift certificate), which asked me if I intended to pursue a higher degree of education, and why.  That's such an awkward question for someone in this line of work.  Dance education is constant.  Every class I teach, every workshop I take, every video I watch, and every choreography I learn furthers my dance education.  None of them, of course, lead to a suffix.  All of this, put in the same five minutes of thought as "what on earth do I blog about next?" convinced me to bare my soul a little, and write about my process so far.

I've come to believe that once follows get past the initial introduction to dancing, they very quickly fall into one of two categories: the dancers and the follows.  Obviously, every follow is both, to some degree.  However, since we tend to have an inclination one way or the other, an intermediate follow is likely to hear, over and over, one of two comments:

1. The follows: "You're doing fine on connection, you follow everything I lead, but I want to see more of YOU in your dancing.  You can start experimenting with styling, start adding to the dance.  Be more spunky, less mousy."  These are the follows who live for connection, and try to be "the perfect follow".  Everything that's led gets followed, but the idea of "just do what you feel" simply doesn't apply to musicality.

2. The dancers: "You really know how to move your body, and your stylings/solo movement/movement-quality are great, but you need to tune into your leader more.  You've got a lot of spunk, but you're limiting your what your partner can lead you through."  These are the follows who rock the daylights out of solo jazz comps, and who have the coolest embellishments, but musicality sometimes comes first, at the expense of the partnership.

Every follower has some aspects of each, and the idea is to pursue balance between them- a well-rounded follow, while still inclined to be one or the other, should be able to tap into both skill sets (an introvert needs to be able to communicate verbally, and an extrovert needs to be able to listen). 

For the first several years of my dancing, I was in hot pursuit of technique perfection, at the expense of everything else but rhythm.  Around 2005, though, I started to change my ideas about following a bit.  For starters, I got told by a lead I admired very much that I was boring.  Ouch.  For another thing, you can only hear the advice above so many times before you decide that while it's not your top priority, or your  strong suit, maybe it's still worth looking into. 

Of course, I'm still pursuing that status of "perfect follow", in a way, but my understanding has changed. For one thing, in order to be able to follow everything that's led on me, I have to know how to move my body in a lot of ways; solo jazz isn't an intuitive movement style to follow if you've only done swingouts.  Additionally, I once believed that at the right "heaviness" and the right ratio of savoy/hollywood, I'd hit the jackpot, and be perfect.  Turns out, the key to being a better follow is not finding the right answer, but recognizing that there is no right answer.  The perfect follow has to embrace the zen ideal of knowing nothing.  The right answer is not a way of dancing; it's versatility (that blew my mind in the summer of 2005). 

As if it wasn't enough that I had to know all forms of movement and attain zen enlightenment, during my first time at Herrang, I watched the difference between the AdvancedI follows and the AdvancedII follows, and noticed that both groups could follow everything, but the AdvancedI follows made it look good.  I realized that the well-rounded follow has to also be a dancer.  In the words of the wise Amy B, immerepher.  So now, I have to have musicality, good movement quality, awesome embellishments, know all forms of movement, and attain zen enlightenment...

Would you like fries with that?

And an answer to world hunger, for that matter?

------------------------
That's going to be all for this installment- you've read a lot for one day.  Go check out a webcomic, relax your brain, and come back tomorrow.  I recommend XKCD.com.

Peace, love, swingouts, and zen,
-m.