Thread: Ever let yourself down in class??

I was so in a mood yesterday night after my lesson!!

I had practiced and practiced all week every night since the previous lesson.

I went to my class last night and completely felt rubbish!! I didnt feel like I could do the movements at all and I kept loosing my shimmy and I felt so stiff.

The hubby reckons it could be me over practicing and using moves I might not of been taught (sub conciously)and so I think Im practicing when Im not.

Or...is it confidence in front of your teacher??

Anyone else ever get stuff looking good at home but then just flop in class??

I think everyone here would probably admit to "letting themselves down in class".

But actually, one of my teachers once gave me some prime advice that sticks with me always. Class is where you're supposed to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. So I routinely use class as a place to take risks and learn from them.

Don't get discouraged...once you can take that self-consciousness and make it work for you, you'll be a really powerful dancer!

thanks Kat :) I guess my trouble is maybe not taking risks or not having a laugh with it as much as I should....sometimes being too focused is a bad thing...I truly believe that because sometimes you push yourself too hard.

My friend says I am pushing myself too hard and forgetting the basics which is to be sexy with it! I think Im being too focused and again this is my previous ballet training.
Everything there was very sharp and focused and rigid. I have soooooooo much unlearning to do!!!

Originally Posted by Fatinah_bellydance

thanks Kat :) I guess my trouble is maybe not taking risks or not having a laugh with it as much as I should....sometimes being too focused is a bad thing...I truly believe that because sometimes you push yourself too hard.

My friend says I am pushing myself too hard and forgetting the basics which is to be sexy with it! I think I'm being too focused and again this is my previous ballet training.
Everything there was very sharp and focused and rigid. I have soooooooo much unlearning to do!!!

Being sexy is not really one of the basics! The idea is to feel the music and use those emotions. Anger, sadness, happiness, joy and yes, sometimes sensual. But not necessarily sexy. Just my opinion.

There are times I rock at home and suck in class. Or at least I think I do. When I go to my instructor personally and say what I am I doing wrong with this she says..."nothing, it is fine." It is more my perception of what the move should look like on me when I see what it looks like on others. Moves will not always look the same on you because you are a unique human with your own build. Shimmies are just sometimes hard to relax through as well. When you find you are getting too tense, slow down, relax your glutes, remember to breathe and try speeding back up. It all takes practice and there is nothing wrong with being sharp or focused. Those can be great traits!

Keep it up, it just takes time. You didn't learn ballet in just a few months did you?

Originally Posted by Linnyg

Being sexy is not really one of the basics! The idea is to feel the music and use those emotions. Anger, sadness, happiness, joy and yes, sometimes sensual. But not necessarily sexy. Just my opinion.

There are times I rock at home and suck in class. Or at least I think I do. When I go to my instructor personally and say what I am I doing wrong with this she says..."nothing, it is fine." It is more my perception of what the move should look like on me when I see what it looks like on others. Moves will not always look the same on you because you are a unique human with your own build. Shimmies are just sometimes hard to relax through as well. When you find you are getting too tense, slow down, relax your glutes, remember to breathe and try speeding back up. It all takes practice and there is nothing wrong with being sharp or focused. Those can be great traits!

Keep it up, it just takes time. You didn't learn ballet in just a few months did you?

Your quite right!! I didnt mean to imply one of the basics is to be sexy...I was meaning just to let myself go a bit and loosen up.
Complete wrong choice of words on my part!

There's times when I feel like I'm dancing 3 feet off of the ground - and other times when I couldn't do a step-hip without screwing it up.

In class, in practice, and even in performance. That's the nature of the biz.

Class is the best time to screw up, of the available alternatives...

I often find it's 2 steps forwards one step back. I was practicing once and realised I couldn't seem to do an egyptian shimmy in an arabesque position anymore, then I realised I couldn't do an egyptian shimmy at all, then I got all tense and it got worse. It came back again though (and that lesson I layered that shimmy for the first time too), and now I am used to stuff going when I am tired/stressed and coming back when I chill and let the movement find me again.

Yeah, what everybody else said. There's always going to be times when you do well and times when you feel like you just haven't got it.

I went through a period, during the process of advancing to a higher class level, where for not just a time or two but for weeks I felt like I couldn't do anything in the class. I felt so discouraged I almost quit -- I actually decided one night, "OK, this is just not fun anymore. After I use up this class card, I'm going to stop." The following week the biggest thing that had been driving me crazy suddenly fell into place. I immediately banished all thought of quitting.

Nowadays I recognize that there's an ebb and flow of one's sense of ability in class, and at times when I'm doing poorly, I dust off my favorite motto: This too shall pass.

I am the worlds best, bar none, kitchen dancer that ever moved.

Originally Posted by anala

I am the worlds best, bar none, kitchen dancer that ever moved.

Amen sister! I can even rock the shower!

^^^hee hee^^^

I must say in ballet I felt this way. I practiced and it just wasn't coming out. I can't believe I lasted. :D

In the beginning of belly dance I messed up, but after awhile I just got it for some reason.

oh I have had that problem

as soon as someone is watching,
all of the sudden I have 2 left feet

Here is what gave birth to me...A starry night in New Mexico around a bonfire with my troupe sisters and 20 other dancers and 10 live drummers. Oh - and a half gallon of my home made mead. My troupe mates said they had never seen anyone go from 3 months to 3 years in 2 hours before.

Hi Fatinah,

Don't force it. Let it be as Paul McCartney once said.

My piano teacher used to work me hard (I'm not a proper pianist or anything lol, I only got as far as grade 2 but that was only 4 years ago and I intend to pick it up again soon - but this has nothing to do with my tinkling abilities, ramble).

Yep, he worked me hard. Shouted at me. Hit me a few times. I used to go into a cold sweat when I got nervous and got things wrong. He was this bolshy scary old bloke who I loved and who I used to have evenings doing whisky tasting sessions with and he was a very wise man. He taught me a lot about Sufism.

Anyway I went away on holiday for a fortnight, came back, went to my lesson, and played almost perfectly, and with style. He shouted at me occasionally but I just shouted back at him and we laughed.

He told me later that when the body is learning motor things (like typing, driving, complicated things sometimes, things that eventually become an autopilot thing), then the brain needs time to digest this learning and tell the body all about it. It happens in your sleep, when you are in the bath, any time your body has time to recover and recharge. So do give yourself time to relax too. It all helps.

And it isn't a race so do enjoy the ride!

ALWAYS!!!! I feel great when it's just me and things start to come together. THEN I get to class and everyone else is smaller then I am and I end up feeling like a fat blob trying to do the moves. I feel so clutsy and unattractive and so far behind from everyone else. But I just keep going and doing my daily workouts to lose the weight and I keep performing. I know deep down that I am capable of doing it all and it's just my stupid ego and self-image issues getting in the way. SO I keep plugging away.

I tend to want to go from "0" to 60 instantly too. My instructor is in her 50's or 60's and looks so smooth and effortless that I feel like a startched shirt moving around. Just keep going and enjoy yourself. That's what I do. You'll get it. My thing is I just get the hang of a move and then lose it. grrrr

I have down days in class too.
Last night was one of them, I just couldn't get into it.
Sometimes I just sit and watch class.

I think I can safely say that I have never, ever pulled off my best in class. Scrutiny and class politics can make me uncomfortable and nervous which doesn't help but most of the time I find its because I am one of those learners who has to understand something fully in principle and then go off and sleep on it (sometimes quite literally) before I can pull it off.

I have noticed this with my students. The moment I am looking straight at them they lose it. But...I watch them out of the corner of my eye and see them getting it. For beginners I think the concept of an audience (particularly that of your teacher) is a bit intimidating! It will come with time.

Everyone struggles with moves from time to time, no matter how experienced. That's why even those of us who have done this for years still have teachers! And I get flustered in class too. Hope that helps.

I agree with the audience thing. We have done improv as an end of lesson thing where the teacher dances and the class can either follow her, improv, or mix it up (following her when they run out of ideas) - every time I even consider the fact that someone might be watching me, I lose it and can't improv at all, but when noone's watching I just go with it and it comes together.

[QUOTE=Linnyg;194452]Amen sister! I can even rock the shower![/QUOT

Im sorry but I am the best toilet dancer going!

[quote=Fatinah_bellydance;194986]

Originally Posted by Linnyg

Amen sister! I can even rock the shower![/QUOT

Im sorry but I am the best toilet dancer going!

I'm the best...in my dreams....,r:; ..l;,

there is a saying which is both literal and ironic - you will keep screwing up until 5 mins after you get it.

Something I learned as a Ballerina - when I was little and I didn't get something, it was okay. I was patient enough to know that eventually I would. It was only as I got older - Uni age - that I started to be hard on my self, "knowing" that I should be able to do something, get something.

Now, this actually helped me in Belly Dance because my first teacher was of the Follow the Bouncing Butt school. And I became frustrated very quickly because I "KNEW" I should be able to get the moves. This caused me to search out better teachers who were willing and able to explain to dynamics of moves, etc, to me.

{{{HUGS}}}

It is the pattern of human learning to go forwards and back - for everything. First yo have to learn something - then you have to know how to do it. Without thinking.
Incidentally, I attended a talk about dislexia. The theory was to get them to do at least 2 things at once to improve ability to focus the mind. I thought wow Welcome to Bellydance!

Originally Posted by jencUK

It is the pattern of human learning to go forwards and back - for everything. First yo have to learn something - then you have to know how to do it. Without thinking.
Incidentally, I attended a talk about dislexia. The theory was to get them to do at least 2 things at once to improve ability to focus the mind. I thought wow Welcome to Bellydance!

dyslexia..sorry couldn't resist!..g.:

2 things at once..is that all...we women can do that every minute of the day!

why you get upset for? it's a happy and giving dance. you should be happy. just enjoy the music!
i used to take things too seriously (still do sometime.) and get upset when i'm not at my best. but now slowly i understand that it's just a dance! it's just a class! i'll do better next time! and my teacher always says to us that no one likes to watch a stressed dancer. when you can relax and take it easy, all your hard work will come out.
just have fun!

Originally Posted by lizajuk

dyslexia..sorry couldn't resist!..g.:

:tongue:

I'd like to know who stole half my shoudler shimmy yesterday..c::

Left was fine, right did not want to play, it kept wiggling it's way down my arm.

You know, you might be practicing too much during this time when you are developing the correct form. Especially is you are jumping ahead a little bit. Then when you are in class the moves feel different too you because what you are doing at home in all those hours of practice is somewhat different than what you are working on in class where you are modeling your form after your instructor instead of from memory.

Shimmies take strength and endurance but in a kind of relaxed sort of way. Getting that relaxation part takes a while and when you get that activated but relaxed feel the shimmies will just come pouring out.

Souzan

everyone loses their shimmy sometimes. i find that when i'm upset or stressed or something i have a much more difficult time finding it. then i just try to rev it up like a lawn mower. that makes my students laugh and helps me relax