2023年12月25日 星期一

The Stillness is not Still


In a dance, the couples or the dancers in general keep moving- an easy fact that eveyone knows as the music keeps going, however there are still quiet moments in the song, as well as in the dance. 

The 'stillness' on the sheet music is represented by different notes, it could be whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, eighth rest, 16th rest, 32th rest or 64th rest. 

Thus in the dance there would be some moments staying still- your coach may tell you to give a pose and hold to extra beats. 

However, stillness is not 'still'. The emptiness on the sheet music is not still, the rest notes occupy time. The dancer's pose is not still, even without footwork, the weight changing, hip settling, and even how deep one looks into the partners... keeps expressing the quiteness.

Theoretically, dancing in the 'quiet' beat makes the dance more musical. 

But theory is not reality. 

Spreading the moves to fully fit the beats so that the settling can be gracefully done is easier said than done. 

One of the commonly used tricks is to stretch spare arm to the fullest length. Ar... Even this is not easy to do, because most people usually just swing out their arms at the start of the beat and that's it!



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