{"id":2504,"date":"2015-09-06T17:07:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T17:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/?p=2504"},"modified":"2025-03-24T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T17:46:10","slug":"8-weird-things-your-dance-teacher-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/blog\/uncategorized\/8-weird-things-your-dance-teacher-says\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Weird Things Your Dance Teacher Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Nichelle Suzanne<\/h2>\n
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September 1, 2015 12:11 PM<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dance teachers say and do some crazy things (like tell you a few little white\u00a0lies!), but even their\u00a0strangest sayings are meant to help you become a better dancer.<\/p>\n

From using oxymorons to requests that seem impossible (\u201cclose your ribs\u201d\u00a0sound familiar?!), here are eight\u00a0odd things you may have heard your dance teacher say:<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out of the mirror!\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Spending too\u00a0much time looking at your own reflection in the mirror? Your teacher is going to call you out\u00a0if it\u2019s starting to affect\u00a0your dancing \u2026 and not in a good way. Here are a few tips on how to use the studio mirrors to your advantage and how to avoid common reflection-gazing pitfalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet your eyes off the floor.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>No, your eyeballs aren\u2019t rolling around at your feet. Your posture and stage presence will be better if you look up and out while you dance\u2014especially if your choreography includes\u00a0pirouettes and other intricate turns.<\/p>\n

\u201cClose your ribs.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0If your dance teacher\u00a0<\/strong>is talking about your ribs (not the food!), she\u00a0is saying your spine is not aligned and it looks like your rib cage is sticking out. Of course ribs don\u2019t close, but this image can help fix your placement.<\/p>\n

\u201cLace up your abdominals.\u201d <\/strong>Engage that core! A strong core\u00a0not only plays a key role in finding your balance and stability, but can help keep injuries at bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cDance beyond your bubble.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0A dance teacher might use this expression or the fancier-sounding, \u201cdance outside your kinesphere,\u201d to get you to perform with more confidence, dance bigger or to get your eyes off the floor and project out to an imaginary audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay up in the air. Don\u2019t come down!\u201d <\/strong>If only dancers\u00a0had that option!\u00a0<\/b>Play with the timing or position of your leap so that it looks like you are floating in mid-air for a moment. To master any leap,\u00a0here are six important elements you\u2019ll need to practice and perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t sit in your heels.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Instead of standing with your weight evenly spread across each foot, your weight is shifting over your heels.\u00a0If your base is wobbly, it\u2019s more difficult to hold a long balance.\u00a0Give your ankles some special attention\u00a0by strengthening muscles that allow for the side-to-side movement of the foot (supination and pronation).<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think.\u201d <\/strong>Uhh, is this an oxymoron? While\u00a0you can\u2019t turn off your brain while dancing even if you wanted to, you may be getting so caught up in the details of the combination or worrying about messing up that your dancing is stiff. Try to relax. Dance class is the place for mistakes.<\/p>\n

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By Nichelle Suzanne September 1, 2015 12:11 PM   Dance teachers say and do some crazy things (like tell you a few little white\u00a0lies!), but even their\u00a0strangest sayings are meant to help you become a better dancer. From using oxymorons to requests that seem impossible (\u201cclose your ribs\u201d\u00a0sound familiar?!), here are eight\u00a0odd things you may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/mystic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}