The Chaotic Stage Of Dance
Over the years I’ve seen street dancers of all level’s from the elite world class level to complete beginners, as someone who is completely self taught in dance to an elite level I have a unique insight on beginners. Here are the worst mistakes I see beginners and some advance dancers make.
1. How to Stop Looking Down When Freestyle Dancing (and Why It Matters).
Looking down in general is a common mistake for freestyle dancers, truthfully this is an expressive mode that reveals a lack of confidence, which ultimately is a result of lack of coordination. However, looking down is subject to misinterpretation.
A lot of advanced freestyle dancers are sometimes seem to be looking down. Many dancers unknowingly practice Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) by partially closing their eyes and focusing on their breath, or more accurately, their internal and external sensations. This is an advanced practice some street dancers use to embody movement or express advanced concepts. For the more novice practitioner this usually indicates a lack of confidence or in their coordination, and this mistake often comes in combination with many more mistakes ill talk about.
2. Fixing Chaotic Freestyle Dance Movements: Moving One Body Part at a Time.
Avoiding the “Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Guy” Effect
The 2nd mistake beginners dancers make is moving multiple body parts at once. This often leads to the wacky waving inflatable arm guys effect. Where a person is moving to many things to often at once. This leads to a chaotic dance, and represents the unrefined style that has yet to emerge out of the person. At the beginning for novices this just may be them ‘doing moves to the music’, they haven’t fully developed the consciousness to direct their intentions or feel the music.
So the option here is to pick a foundation of a street style and follow their principles. An exercise I use to practice fixing this bad habit is by forcing myself to dance using mostly one arm, etc no double arm waves (this is a big mistake to do all the time). You can also hold your phone or something in your hand, this forces you to lead with one arm while the other arm is complementary. This will give your dance much more impact.
3. Narrow Stance creates a lack of balance and dynamics.
Stuck in the mud.
This is a mistake many beginner freestyle dancers make when they dance. Ive seen beginners dance their whole rounds in 1st position (ballet) and not move around and change their feet position.
Often beginners focus way too much on the hands and arms. Your feet and legs root you, giving you balance. You generate everything from the ground up, since only your feet constantly touch the earth. When beginners dance in 1st position the whole time its indicative of a lack of expression. They are expressing their upper body and their logical mind more than their heart and passion.
I advise beginners to release their arms and dance solely with their feet, so that the arm movements naturally result from the feet.Its has way more impact to try dancing in the 2nd position first, by having a wider stance your moves have more confidence and significance. Having a wider stance while dancing will greatly improve your mobility over time. Think of the horse stance, you don’t have to take this to an extreme and dance with an extremely wide stance, but shift through positions, take up space in your dance and walk around.
4. The Biggest Mistake In Dance Not Breathing!
A pretty obvious mistake right breathing is important right? Not breathing while dancing is a mistake that usually comes in combination with all the other mistakes. Which leads to this chaotic stage of dance that many beginners experience. Breathing should be smooth and constant and involuntary, only to become voluntary if used for specific techniques, such as chest pop or dime stops. Breathing is much of part of the spiritual experience of dancing. Years of practice allow me to dance for an hour straight without tiring. Not breathing is going to exhaust you obviously, but it also prevents you from entering a deep practice and deep understanding of dance. So this is potentially the biggest mistake you can make.
Also breathe through your nose always never your mouth.
5. Moving Too Fast.
Moving too fast, and attempting to move multiple body parts at once, are common mistakes for beginners. Because the mind has so many thoughts and intentions, like your trying to do things that look cool but it doesn’t appear concrete but chaotic because there is no true vision. Its ideal for you to have a clear mind and let ideas rise naturally as you dance and the time to perform them will be at the right moment (intuition). Personally my mind is clear during dance and the only things that exist are feelings, emotions, and vision (style). There is no need for thoughts during a freestyle, it’s more useful for further iterating on your vision or creative ideas.
6. Focusing On Doing Big Flashy Moves.
Beginners frequently attempt large or flashy movements. This is a misguided approach that often leads to injury. Dance should be a safe activity. Any injury sustained during dance indicates flawed technique. Your goal is not to impress people, and big moves require conditioning and practice, never throw out big moves you cannot do.
Conclusion
That chaotic phase of dancing? It’s all about no coordination and no clear path. Bad habits sneak in easily, especially when you’re self-taught. Avoiding these mistakes saves you a ton of time. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel where I plan to bring more high quality informative dance content!
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