Partner practice 101: co-op mode


Partner practice outside of social dances can certainly just be 'more useful floor time', time spent with a partner with whom you don't feel like you'll develop odd habits dancing with, or a safe space to social dance but try things that you might not have when surrounded by other people on a crowded floor. 

But, adding a bit of structure can be useful. 

I've been advising this rough outline since about 2017 and I think that it's still a great place to start. It's primarily designed for two people to practice together, but works in a small group setting as well. 

You'll start with whatever personal warmup you need to feel present in your body, aware of your partner and ready to have a productive practice. This might be joint mobility exercises and some stretching, walking your basic patterns by yourself, or doing some planks and resistance band exercises to wake up your muscles.
 
Then, dance 3-4 songs of different speeds and genres together. It makes sense to start with 'just basics' the first song, and either get more ambitious or have more of a 'normal' social dance on the others. This will establish your baseline for this practice, with this partner. Even if you social danced the night before, or practice with this person often; today is different and it's best to take stock of where you're both at with a fresh perspective. 
 
Now, you can look at your personal checklist of things you want to work on, and rearrange the priority list as needed. It's okay if you can't work on your #1 current project with this partner, today. 
 
If needed, take a few minutes each to introduce the main concept you've chosen and how you would like them to help you--is it receiving feedback ("let me know when I'm doing B instead of A"), using a certain type of connection ("I need to practice countering if a follower's 6 is much heavier than their 4"), or a specific interaction? ("could you lead a lot of outside turns to this mid tempo song"). 
 
After warming up, establishing your baseline and what you would like to accomplish, the remaining time is split equally between the partners, switching who you're focusing on every 5-15 minutes. 
 
10 minutes is a nice, middle of the road amount of time to think about something specific before switching. If you have trouble maintaining your focus, 5 minutes is totally fine. If it requires more in depth feedback from your partner, take 15 and use the first part of that time to be clear about how they can help you. However much time you take, they'll get the same amount on their turn. 

Taking the time to get everything set for the highest efficiency possible might make it seem like there isn't much time left to "actually practice," but knowing what you're trying to accomplish and working together toward that goal is usually going to pay off rather than just social dancing a bunch. I feel like the 'just dance a lot' is more applicable if the partners are two very different ability levels, where the 'higher' dancer can be aware of whatever their priorities are while still being able to provide some feedback to their partner. Still, a more orderly approach is likely going to help both people more. 

In a small group, the general warmup would include dancing 1-2 songs with everyone so you can all adjust your lists of what you want to work on accordingly -- e.g. I want to think about this today dancing with you and this other thing today with this other person. You could rotate every 10 minutes, but with each partner giving each other half of that time. 

With uneven numbers of partners, or with some people both leading and following, a more flexible approach might be necessary but the basic premise of warming up, consciously choosing what to work on with whom, and taking turns prioritizing each person's topic still applies.




...I just came back from a fantastic workshop weekend in Calgary that I taught with Kristen Wallace. I might write a blog just about that experience, soon! 
 

 
*****
 
As always -- love your dance, and be good to each other. 
 
Shoot me a message via email or social media about video critiques, lessons or just to talk shop :)  


 

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