Falling

[elisedance]

DSV has talked about this earlier - as an element of fundamental dance technique.  I think I just 'learned' how to fall while dancing - or more preciisely stopping myself from staying erect!  Its the hardest thing to do - in essence poject yourself (in this case) backwards with great speed - but very little energy and for me its following my head but keeping its weight over my leading foot. 

[SwingWaltz]

Um...falling as falling over on the floor? Cause I do that all the time! Give me a dance and a floor, and I'll find a step that I most likely fall over in. 

Ok...that's not what you are really talking about is it? 

[elisedance]

No.  Its falling during the step - I fall stepping forward and I fall stepping backwards - I move by a transfer of weight beyond the standing foot and then just fall - its the most efficient way of moving I can imagine...  Pro has been telling me to do this for weeks now but it was only during the last lesson that it clicked - dancing is not really about the feet but about the body: the feet do whats necessary to keep your ballance you don't move your body to ballance on your feet but place your feet to accomodate the motion of your body.

[Dora-Satya Veda]

Um...falling as falling over on the floor? Cause I do that all the time! Give me a dance and a floor, and I'll find a step that I most likely fall over in. 

Ok...that's not what you are really talking about is it? 

I actually think you are more right on then you think.

Yes, I do teach all my students to fall flat on the floor. All my students do the falling exercise sooner or later; it is a must not a choice. The kids love this exercise. They especially love parent-day, when they have to show the parents the falling and then teach them to fall. It is amazing seeing a parent fall and a little kid brake the fall and everybody laughing because of the exhilarating feel it is.

You ask any of my students and they will show you how to fall.

The students basically learn to fall forward and/or backward with a partner to break the fall. Most learn the forward fall first and then learn to fall backward later. Good dancers dance "on the edge" and to do that with no fear, your do need to learn to go to the edge and beyond/over the edge with no fear. Many people have a fear of falling and most people can't even remember when they fell the last time (except you, SW ). That means they are letting a fear control their action/life and they can't even remember when happened last time. Once they have learned to fall flat on the floor, they are not afraid of going to the edge and even beyond. This means they will be experiencing a sensation of free fall for a split of a second, helping them to move further and with less effort.

When you then get to the point of no fear of falling then you need to learn to "fall across" the floor rather then falling down.

I would say it is an absolutely essential thing to learn (to fall) to achieve great dancing.

Dora-Satya Veda

[SwingWaltz]

Yes yes I think I understand 

When we practise our New Vogue, our coach always tell us to shape until we lose our balance and begin to fall over, then just take it back a bit. That's what dancing is about, go look for those boundaries and push them. Even in standard, in the Waltz. Swing as if you are going to lose balance and fall, the just take it back a bit. Letting gravity do the work, fall across the down step then regain control in the rise. Thanks to the beautiful float floor pro has in the studio, we can go nuts without having the fear of hurting ourselves. 

[elisedance]

Kinda odd that one can fall - and yet be in ballance at the same time..... 

[Dora-Satya Veda]

Yes yes I think I understand 

When we practise our New Vogue, our coach always tell us to shape until we lose our balance and begin to fall over, then just take it back a bit. That's what dancing is about, go look for those boundaries and push them. Even in standard, in the Waltz. Swing as if you are going to lose balance and fall, the just take it back a bit. Letting gravity do the work, fall across the down step then regain control in the rise. Thanks to the beautiful float floor pro has in the studio, we can go nuts without having the fear of hurting ourselves. 

Sounds like you have a great teacher/coach.

[Dora-Satya Veda]

Kinda odd that one can fall - and yet be in ballance at the same time..... 

Why is that odd??.......wasn't that what you did when you were a kid, learning to walk??

[elisedance]

yes - but then I fell on my nose, or rather my 'horns' as my mother called them (the corners of my forhead).  Thats surely what I am avoiding in dance  

Falling is certainly a big part of movement - diving is perhaps the most extreme example and also watching skaeteboarders on the big U-shaped frames - but I associate it with something that comes with confidence, at the other end of the spectrum compared to learning to walk...

[Dora-Satya Veda]

I am not sure this is clear but “falling” is not a separate thing from “walking”. Walking is the overall principle and “falling” is just one of the ingredients “the walk”. When you then break down the action of walking, falling is a big part of it.

This is what is believe and done in both the Body School and the Square School. I actually watched a DVD yesterday of the founder of the Round School and he said the same thing. The round school has moved away from this principle lately but the founder was basically saying the same as is believed in the Body School and the Square School about walking and falling.

The Body School actually breaks down all basic ideas and principles of movement. They have exercises that help the mind and body to define and practice each action separately. When the mind and body are then conditioned and clear on what to do, then the actions are put together to form the whole. This is how my teacher trained me and how I train my students. It is actually fun to travel to different studios around the world and see them all do the Body School exercises.

Dora-Satya Veda

[elisedance]

So do you have a different term for putting yourself on the edge? 

[Dora-Satya Veda]

So do you have a different term for putting yourself on the edge?  

In the Body School, we use the term "falling" for the going over the edge. We try not to stay "on" the edge as we might take up too much time and space.  

[elisedance]

Gottcha!  The 'challenge' then, if there is one, is to go over the edge while maintaining your dynamic ballance... thats what I think I achieved last lesson.  Incidentally, I did it with DP too (who has had no training in body or any other school) and he loved it.... Sometimes I wonder if he is actually a natural dancer....

[cornutt]

Falling is certainly a big part of movement - diving is perhaps the most extreme example ...

Interesting that you bring up this example.  I did a little bit of competitive diving when I was a teenager, and I don't recall ever thinking of it this way.  It was more along the lines of, thinking about transforming yourself into a projectile.  That might have been because I only did springboard (no platform diving for me, nuh-uh!), and a lot of the energy for the dive comes from your launch from the board.  There might be an analogy to rise and fall here -- I'll have to think about that. 

[TangoDancer]

So do you have a different term for putting yourself on the edge? 

Yes. I absolutely despise the term "fall" as it is most commonly used in dance. There is a huge difference between the "lower" that happens as a recovery from the rise, and a fall that happens during a walk and/or as the recovery from a movement. I urge all of you to try to use the term "rise and lower" rather than "rise and fall' when referring to the technique, and save the word fall to refer to the falling feeling at the end of a walk or movement.