2020 - the Corona year of Forró frustration, the standstill in dance and the longing for non-virtual times. You're probably asking yourself: 'What insights can there be that are relevant to anyone?'
But: they exist. And in this article I have summarized my 5 most exciting and relevant forró insights since March 2020!
1) Ingenious partner change alternatives!
Changing partners is sacred to the Forrozeir@s. Since this is difficult at the moment, my girlfriend and I looked for alternatives and found two cool ones:
- Switch roles after each dance (Leader/Follower), this comes very close to changing partners, because you have to adapt quickly. We take turns!
- A similar effect can be created by mirror dances: So consistently. Ie we start with the mirrored basic posture, do the basic step mirrored and everything else too. It's a challenge and brings a breath of fresh air!
The two alternatives can be combined and then alternated:
- Leader Philip, normal
- Leader Stephanie, normal
- Leader Philip, mirrored
- Leader Stephanie, mirrored
If you then dance musically and each dance gets its own touch, you hardly notice that you are not at a Forró party! I love this and could do it for hours!
2) Your mind is like a parachute!
Before Corona, I would have said that I understood the figures in my repertoire very well. I'm glad this opinion has changed (yet again):
When it came to shadow dancing (dancing with an imaginary partner), only my absolute basic figures worked, if at all. With many others, I completely lose my bearings without followers. It took some practice to increase my shadow dance repertoire. I had to 'relearn' a lot of the characters. That way I got to know the movements a lot better!
My initial mindset reminded me of a quote from Jim Kwik: “Your mind is like a parachute. It works best when it's open!" (Your consciousness is like a parachute. It works best open.) Before Corona, my consciousness was closed - I was convinced that there was not much to improve, at least with the basic figures from my repertoire. But there is always something to improve and the shadow dancing made me realize that again!
3) Disappointed workshop expectations?!
We have all gone to a workshop with high expectations and been disappointed. Our explanation is often “if you can dance well, you don’t automatically make a good teacher”.
I think during Corona there were even more disappointments. One could conclude: "Whoever teaches well does not automatically teach well online."
That's correct.
BUT: Forró teachers also learn! I was rather disappointed in many workshops in the first lockdown, but later I took part in impressive online workshops - with the same teachers. I'm not saying everyone can do it, but it's worth a second (or third) look, especially for the ambitious!
4) We have extremely interesting Forró personalities in Germany!
Interviews, interviews, interviews. Because of a university project, I started interviewing enthusiastic Forrozeir@s in the fall. The project is long over, but my appointments aren't. Because it's just great!
We should engage with each other more. Not just dancing, but also listening and exchanging ideas. And that can also be done via Skype! Why not skype with someone you love to dance with? About Forró – and about everything else! Making plans together, exchanging ideas, playing games. Maybe this post is the impetus for it! 🙂 It's worth it!
5) What you don't know, you don't hear!
The most exciting realization for me came during a walk on a cold autumn day and an intensive discussion with my girlfriend: I couldn't understand how she manages to intuitively align figures so far in advance and so reliably to upcoming breaks.
Impossible. Except…
Well, unless there was one incredibly ingeniously helpful structure in the music, which she uses intuitively. One whose traces I have not discovered in dance workshops, nor in more than 20 years as an active musician, nor at any other time.
We listened to dozens of songs looking for signs of the existence of this mysterious structure. And we were actually able to identify them!
After a bit of training, we were both surprised at how helpful she can be with musical dancing. But the structure we encountered is not the main finding. Only afterwards did I realize why many Forrozeir@s find it difficult to dance to music: If you don't know musical patterns, you can't dance to them. You can't even hear them!
In our case, these were the strong and weak bars (more on this in the musicality course). But everyone has a differently developed musical understanding, and thus the ability to recognize musical patterns is different.
For me, this realization was one of the main motivators for the music analyzes and the resulting musicality course. I am already looking forward to new patterns that I am not yet familiar with. Until then, I'll try to share the ones I know!
Speaking of sharing: If you liked the post, I would be happy if you share it with friends who might be interested in the topic! Muito Obrigado and see you soon! 😉
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