The preflight checklist part 1: pick and choose

Something that a lot of people struggle with when dancing is, simply, applying what they’ve learned while actually dancing. It’s often easy enough to access a new skill in an isolated drill or during a practice with an instructor, to a very slow song or no music at all. But out in the wild on the social floor, or even during a practice wherein you’re actually improv dancing, things just… fall apart. 

I think that this is largely thanks to trying to do too much. Maybe the 'too much' is simply in terms of information overload. Maybe it's too many differing and maybe diametrically opposed instructor points of view. Maybe it's highly qualified instructors giving tips that are more of a technical analysis than actionable cues, I talk about that a little bit here.

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The first antidote to trying to do too much is... focusing more, on fewer things. As with many other aspects of how I think about west coast swing, the initial idea came from Fae Ashley. Essentially, she would focus on one (ONE, [1], single thing) for as long as it took her to feel that it was more or less ingrained in her dance. This might take weeks, or months. Then she would move on to the next thing. Combined with her savant-level ability to understand how our dance works, this very direct approach resulted in an incredible ability to raise her overall ability level. 

My approach is a little bit different, since I do not really have the ability to build habits that I can then 'forget about'. Everything requires some small degree of thought/awareness/mental effort, even after nearly eight and a half years. 

I think of my process as a preflight checklist. 

These two dances are probably the best I've ever gotten on video. Maybe it's the flannel....

The preflight checklist is a short list, usually only 2-3 main ideas, that define what I'm working on in my dance. They're specifically chosen to put my dance at the highest, most consistent level possible. 

For example, if I've been struggling with the quality of my weight transfers I might first try to figure out why. Is it an alignment issue? Do I just need to stack myself better over my receiving foot? Or is it more about muscle engagement and grounding once I get there? (For me it's usually one of these two.) 

These 2-3 ideas are organized according to priority. That is, the first thing that you focus on should be the single most important thing to help you improve your dance right now. It should also probably help set you up for the second thing on the list. 

Here's an example for a newer follower: 

1. wait to be led forward 

2. hold your frame 

3. step on time during the second triple of each basic pattern

Now, in an absolute sense I'd probably put personal timing above connection in terms of importance. But for this particular person, the main struggle that often put them off time was that they started self-leading forward early. 

So for this person they would, every single dance and at all times, focus very carefully on not coming forward until they were led. On top of that and only as a second priority, they would think about frame (which for them was an awareness of whether their shoulder was coming out of its socket). Continuing to triple on time was the third priority. But the goal was to be aware of all three things at once. 

Here's an example for an upper intermediate (in WSDC terms) leader: 

1. Be aware of your head weight and shoulders/top line being level, and how you are using your sending foot to move this piece toward/away from your partner

2. Fill space away from your connecting hand from your ribcage

You'll notice that at this point, we have slightly more complex, layered cues for the preflight checklist! But this is only because each cue is still a singular tactile goal/sensation. How these layers develop is something I'll go into in Part 2. 

By the way, these two cues are summarized as 'one: triangle. Two: banana.'

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The second antidote to the trying to do too much, perfectionist, I-need-to-think-about-18-things-to-step-on-one: a positive, growth mindset. 

It's easy to self-flagellate over not doing that one thing, or not doing it well, or it not feeling good in your body. 

Here's the success mindset. If you are successful with this cue on the checklist, keep thinking about and trying to do it. If you don't think you're being successful? Well (wait for it...) keep thinking about it and trying to do it. A lot of the time, especially if it's something relatively newer for you, you won't be able to tell whether you're doing it all that well, which is fine. So it's important to keep trying! And if you have gained the awareness that you might not be doing it as well as you could be, that's great too! It's all just information. Conscious incompetence is an important step forward as well. 

Part Two will go into layering/chunking these cues together, and how to keep track of them. 

As always, love your dance and be good to each other. Happy Holidays :)