Karen Hardy and Mark Ramp
In my first lesson with former professional International Latin American Dance Champion Karen Hardy (We were working on Rumba.) She asked me in true English style “If my cup of tea is over there (Pointing to a table with a hot steaming cup of tea approximately 2 metres away.) How do I drink it?” As basic as this question sounds, how easy an answer and how stupid I felt when after a good awkward five minutes I replied “Walk over there and pick it up?” to which she smiled and congratulated me on my fine problem solving abilities. Her 2 follow up questions were far more complicated.
FOLLOW UP QUESTION NUMBER 1:
“How do I walk over there?” It sounds so silly since most of us are lucky enough to learn the skill of walking at an age where memories are sketchy at best. The difficulty overcome to acquire such a skill is so far from ones thoughts it’s almost as if we were born walking. Legendary coach Espen Salberg in almost every rumba lecture I have seen him in. (The latest for me is the 2011 World Congress) Explains 90% of a Rumba is a walking action, whether it be a forward, Backward, side, crab, delayed walk the list goes on. So if 90% of a Rumba is made up of a single action, how important it is to have an intimate knowledge of this step. How important it is in any style of dance, for the dancer too have an intimate knowledge of how they transfer their weight from foot to foot.
Now we could dive too far into this and go into Carbohydrates, proteins and fats broken down in the food we eat, how the body uses them for energy and how to measure the watts per kilo, hence for an aerobic sport it is far better to be lean with low body fat. ( Knowledge worth having, but not overly necessary). The point I’m trying to make, is that any form of movement must begin with power. According to Newton 3rd law of motion “For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.” If you apply this to the relevance of a dance studio, this would suggest the only place that power can be created is from the floor. Also the harder we work into the floor the more power we create. (This is why opposition is so important in dance, it’s why many teachers and coaches will say push down to go up.)
So now you have all this power at your feet and already it will start to transfer through your body. How you transfer this power though your body is the most important part. I truly believe personally this is what separates the good dancers from the weak. Mathematically in most cases the most efficient way from point A to B is a straight line. This is where it becomes more style specific. In International Latin this would begin at the ball of the foot (I would imagine toe for Ballet.) into the ankle, into the knee joint, into the hip. (Not the pelvis but where the femur meets the pelvis.) Then into our centre. The more autonomous this becomes and the more direct you can make this path from power creation to centre, the more control, stature and light and shade can be created for far less energy. The impulse ability alone would be enough to stand out from the crowd.
Now you if you can imagine 1 hour and a half of my dance partner and myself, walking up and down a dance studio. Trying to recognise every action require. Every contraction of muscle in my body needed for me to simply move from foot to foot in an efficient, powerful and especially pleasing manner. My calves burning, my head hurting from thinking too much. Five minutes before our lesson finished Karen asked us.
FOLLOW UP QUESTION NUMBER 2:
“Why was I walking over there?” As cryptic as it is, of course the answer was to drink the cup of tea. (Which was now stone cold.)
Her point was that you always need to know why, as well as the how. This is the beginning of something called PBL or Problem Based Learning, this is the origins of all technique. If you understand the importance if these 2 questions, you will need to know ( As in you will not allow yourself personally not to know) why the technique discovered by earlier generation pioneer dancers are so effective. You will also through PBL need to discover methods of movement that are beneficial for your personality and body shape. In doing so create your own style, and who knows, maybe revolutionize a dance industry.
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