PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.
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Dear Shira |
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Dear Shira:
How Can I Learn to Improvise?
The Question
Dear Shira:
I have been a belly dancer for about a year now. I know how to dance very well, the only thing I am not too good at yet is improvising with various moves. When we go into a circle and it is my turn, I seem to hit a blank and end up not doing as many moves as I would have liked. My first performance my teacher wanted me to do a solo and she told me to improvise if anything.
I tried at home and found I couldn't do various moves, and only when the music stopped do I realize what other moves I could have done.
Could you please give me any advice on how would a person improvise on the spur of the moment and be able to use various moves so that the audience will not think you do not know what you are doing, or are very poor at what you are doing?
--Caught In Choreography
Shira Responds
Dear Caught:
Improvisation is a skill that comes naturally to some people,
while others must learn how to do it. The good news is that it can be learned.
Start by choosing a song that you absolutely enjoy dancing
to. It's easier to improvise when you love the music you are
using.
Before you put the music on, take a moment to think about
the moves you like to do. Pick two moves that you especially
enjoy doing, that you think you can do very well. Call these
your "Now What?" moves. Put the music on and begin
improvising, trying to avoid those two "Now What?"
moves. If you suddenly find yourself unable to think of a move
to do next, do one of your "Now What?" moves. This
will buy you time to think about what to do next. The next time
you're stuck, use your other "Now What?" move.
Remember the "rule of 4's", which applies to most
music, including Arabic. This means that frequently the same
musical pattern is repeated 4 times before the song goes on to
something else. As a dancer, you can repeat the same move 4 times
with it before changing to something else. As you become more
experienced, you can end the fourth repetition with something
different from how you ended the earlier three, to show you've
completed that musical "thought" and you're moving
on to something else. The first time you do a move, the audience
will miss what you did. The second time, they'll be with you
and catch it. The third time they'll appreciate your mastery
over it, and the fourth when you add the slight modification
it will offer a sense of closure, like the period at the end
of a sentence.
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.
Practice many times using the two "Now What?" moves
as I described above, and remembering the rule of 4's. After
you feel like you really understand the first song, move to a
different one and try it all again. Practice until use of the
"Now What?" moves feels automatic and comfortable to
you with several different songs. Once you reach this point,
you're ready for the next exercise. |
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Pick two more moves that really interest you. They don't need
to be ones you have completely mastered just yet, they might
be ones you enjoy which you hope to master in the near future.
Think of these as your "Required" moves. This time,
when you put on your music to practice improvising, "require"
yourself to insert the "Required" moves periodically
throughout the dance. Of course, you can continue using the "Now
What?" moves for their intended purpose. Don't forget the
rule of 4's. Practice many times, until it becomes natural to
you to incorporate the "Required" moves into your improvised
dance. After sufficient practice, these moves will become a natural
part of your improvisation and you will no longer need to think
about intentionally using them.
Continue using the "Required" moves methodology
to add one or two more moves at a time into your dance. After
adding each pair of moves, practice frequently until they come
into your dance naturally without your needing to think about
them. Allow yourself to continue using moves that were "Required"
in the past that now naturally enter into your dance as you improvise.
Over time, you'll reach the point where a variety of moves find
their way into your dance as you practice.
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Michael Baxter, Santa Clara, California.
The above might work for you, or it might not. So here is
an alternate way to approach improvising: while you are dancing,
let your brain wander to various choreographed dances you have
learned in the past, and slip combinations from those other dances
into your improvisation while you're performing.
But really, the most important thing you can do to develop
this skill is to practice, practice, practice improvising itself.
The more you practice it, the more easily it will come to you.
--Shira |
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About this Column
Shira has received many questions from readers over the years related to various aspects of the dance. In this column, she picks some of the more interesting ones to answer publicly. Details contained in the questions are sometimes removed or disguised to protect the anonymity of the person who asked the question.
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