MJ critique class: would you?

[David Bailey]

Honestly, I would not care one bit for this sort of class - I do MJ because it's fun, it's simple, and it's sociable, and I certainly have no aspirations of mastery or perfection. To me that would suck all the fun and reason out of why I started doing MJ in the first place!

Critiques, to me, are a very good way of improving your dancing. In any dance discipline.

And in my experience, the better you dance, the more you enjoy it when dancing socially.

[straycat]

Critiques, to me, are a very good way of improving your dancing. In any dance discipline.

And in my experience, the better you dance, the more you enjoy it when dancing socially.

I do wonder sometimes what people understand by the term 'technique' (or similar) in this context. If you look at it in terms of getting the hand positions right, turning the toes out a bit more... in essence cosmetic things to make a dance look better, I can understand where Mike is coming from.

Looking at it in such terms as improving my connection with my partner, or my core footwork technique (which helps me move better, dance better to faster music, and connect better with my partner) - working on anything like this can only serve to put more fun into my dancing, not take fun out of it.

[NZ Monkey]

I do wonder sometimes what people understand by the term 'technique' (or similar) in this context. If you look at it in terms of getting the hand positions right, turning the toes out a bit more... in essence cosmetic things to make a dance look better, I can understand where Mike is coming from.

Looking at it in such terms as improving my connection with my partner, or my core footwork technique (which helps me move better, dance better to faster music, and connect better with my partner) - working on anything like this can only serve to put more fun into my dancing, not take fun out of it.

But then, I'm also a technique geek and enjoy the first stuff you mention as well. I have a feeling we're in the minority though.

[Andy McGregor]

Honestly, I would not care one bit for this sort of class - I do MJ because it's fun, it's simple, and it's sociable, and I certainly have no aspirations of mastery or perfection. To me that would suck all the fun and reason out of why I started doing MJ in the first place!

I think Mike has the view that's held by most people who dance MJ. Most people who attend MJ lessons seem to like the hands-off approach of the group lessons. The last thing they want is personal feedback. Especially if that feedback was delivered in a public forum.

My heart sinks when a guy asks "what do you think of my dancing?". Especially if I've taught them! I try to get away with a comment about the most obvious area for improvement. This is normally posture. If they push me for more I usually respond with questions like "do you really want to improve or are you happy with the way you dance?" or even "are you up for some constructive criticism?". Mostly I run for cover and change the subject. But if they really do seem to want to improve I ask them to come 30 mins before the lesson starts and give them a private lesson for free.

In my experience, most guys are happy to carry on dancing the way they've always danced. The say they'd like to improve, but they don't want to go through the pain of changing their habits - as they say, it's ten times as hard to shift a bad habit compared to developing a good habit. Especially when their bad habit has given them so much pleasure over the years - bouncing the hand and sticking out their bottom is more of a naughty pleasure to them

[David Bailey]

I do wonder sometimes what people understand by the term 'technique' (or similar) in this context. If you look at it in terms of getting the hand positions right, turning the toes out a bit more... in essence cosmetic things to make a dance look better, I can understand where Mike is coming from.

Looking at it in such terms as improving my connection with my partner, or my core footwork technique (which helps me move better, dance better to faster music, and connect better with my partner) - working on anything like this can only serve to put more fun into my dancing, not take fun out of it.

Maybe we should find a different word instead of "technique"... mind you, I can't thnk of one offhand.

[Andy McGregor]

I do wonder sometimes what people understand by the term 'technique' (or similar) in this context. If you look at it in terms of getting the hand positions right, turning the toes out a bit more... in essence cosmetic things to make a dance look better, I can understand where Mike is coming from.

Maybe we should find a different word instead of "technique"... mind you, I can't thnk of one offhand.

I think that straycat is talking about decorations. Those things that make the dance look better.

However, hand positions for leading or following hands are technique. It's what you do with your free hand that provides the decoration.

In workshops I sometimes talk about learning to dance being like building a house from scratch. When you're putting in the foundations and putting up the walls you don't need to be choosing the fabric for the curtains. But you need to make sure you've got windows in your plan so you've got somewhere to hang your curtains.