Last lesson I learned...

[QPO]

OK, I'll bite: why 5&11 ??

If you stand facing a clock then your hip is pointing towards 5 o'clock and your head is pointing towards 11 o'clock. Your head faces straight forward as if you are looking at the clock behind the man and it often feel like you are looking at the man's ear.

should the man do the same thing?

[pinkstuff]

..about emphasizing beats so that I don't just dance through them as though they didn't exist.  Quite hard!

Head weight - when I am in the correct position, makes life so much easier, now just to stay there!!!

[elisedance]

..about emphasizing beats so that I don't just dance through them as though they didn't exist.  Quite hard!

Head weight - when I am in the correct position, makes life so much easier, now just to stay there!!!

both great stuff - amazing how you can change the dynamic of a step or sequence just by rotating your head.  Its really the steering wheel

[Dora-Satya Veda]

Hmmm but if he changed all his pictures and the TV would the hangings have the correct effect on him too?

No that wouldn't really work as the man should be at "6 & 12" so it really only works for the lady to have the pictures and TV at "5 & 11".

[QPO]

how does that work. if the man is at six and twelve would his head not then be straight ahead  I thought they had to be to the left also?

[elisedance]

don't know Q - have to wait for an answer..

[dlgodud]

Quite surprisingly, I really dance for fun. What I mean is that I care for improving my technique, but without having fun while I am dancing, it is really a torture. 

[cornutt]

Hmmm but if he changed all his pictures and the TV would the hangings have the correct effect on him too?

No that wouldn't really work as the man should be at "6 & 12" so it really only works for the lady to have the pictures and TV at "5 & 11".

Are you guys discussing dancing or Dr. Pepper?   

[cornutt]

..about emphasizing beats so that I don't just dance through them as though they didn't exist.  Quite hard!

I forget: are you dancing Latin or standard?  One of the things that took me a long time to get used to (well, actually I still don't think I've gotten used to it  ) is that in the smooth / standard world, the down beat (1 beat) is not a particular point of emphasis.  It's the 2 in waltz, and the 3 in foxtrot, that get most of the emphasis.  Around the 1 beat, you are mostly working to set up things that are going to happen later in the next bar or two; you may be doing a lot of work, but the audience does not perceive it as a point of emphasis.  Hmm, I need to go think about this actually... could explain why my "standing starts" are so awkward. 

Head weight - when I am in the correct position, makes life so much easier, now just to stay there!!!

You get an amen from this corner!  Stupid head weight... if I could just keep it where it is supposed to be... and when it comes to that, I've got the easy part!  I don't know how you follows do it.

[QPO]

how does that work. if the man is at six and twelve would his head not then be straight ahead  I thought they had to be to the left also?

bring this up so DSV might see it I am interested to know the answer to this question. 

[Dora-Satya Veda]

how does that work. if the man is at six and twelve would his head not then be straight ahead  I thought they had to be to the left also?

bring this up so DSV might see it I am interested to know the answer to this question.  

Well, there are three planes of looking at it (the top line should be three dimensional just like the dancing). From as far as I could understand from ee original post she was only thinking from a vertical plane and not at the horizontal plane.

If you stand facing a clock hanging on the wall and look at the hands then imagine the man head being at 12 o'clock and his feet at 6 o'clock. Still looking at the clock the ladies head would be at around 11 o'clock (depending on the height difference), her hips would be at 5 o'clock and her feet would be at 6 o'clock. The elbows would be at 3 and 9 o'clock for the smallest person in the partnership. Hope this makes it clearer. I must admit I often find it a little difficult to explain what I mean with words as the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. I do however not have pictures to show you.

This principle is at the 1st level of the 20 basic rules of the Body School so therefore very important for Body School dancers. Most Body School dancers learn this principle within the first 3-6 month of dancing.

DSV

[QPO]

well you are right, but that also depends on who is the teacher!. My teachers have not gone into that much detail. Because we started at a social school they just teach to the lowest common denominator. then we moved to a better social school who provided better informtion but nothing too deep. And then by the tme we are at our school who does do comp dancingm they have not disucused it in that way. In hind sight it would have been great to get the right information from the beginning but at least we get it now!

[Dora-Satya Veda]

I know several schools both in the US and in Europe where the Body School system is taught at every level both social and competitors.

I sometimes go to some of the schools that use the Body School system in the US to teach. After the first year most of the students in the social side knows at least 8 of the 20 basic rules (doesn’t mean they can do them as of yet) to the second level. It is very seldom that the vertical clock rule is news to them when I tell them unless I get to them before they have danced for 6 month. 

DSV

[elisedance]

.....One of the things that took me a long time to get used to (well, actually I still don't think I've gotten used to it   ) is that in the smooth / standard world, the down beat (1 beat) is not a particular point of emphasis.  It's the 2 in waltz, and the 3 in foxtrot, that get most of the emphasis.  Around the 1 beat, you are mostly working to set up things that are going to happen later in the next bar or two; you may be doing a lot of work, but the audience does not perceive it as a point of emphasis.  Hmm, I need to go think about this actually... could explain why my "standing starts" are so awkward.  

...absolutely, which is the reason for the prep step.  This allows you to get some movement, but more important some rotational swing so that you can put the power into step 1...

You get an amen from this corner!  Stupid head weight... if I could just keep it where it is supposed to be... and when it comes to that, I've got the easy part!  I don't know how you follows do it.

Its not a curse for us its actually our secret weapon.  Just a turn of the head and you fly off in a different direction

[QPO]

I know several schools both in the US and in Europe where the Body School system is taught at every level both social and competitors.

I sometimes go to some of the schools that use the Body School system in the US to teach. After the first year most of the students in the social side knows at least 8 of the 20 basic rules (doesn’t mean they can do them as of yet) to the second level. It is very seldom that the vertical clock rule is news to them when I tell them unless I get to them before they have danced for 6 month.  

DSV

Well I feel jilted! but you don't know what is right when I started I struggled to find the right information about what they should offer. Well I am learning now and am like a sponge (soaking all up)