2733  Fast-track Teaching Apilado, Part 2

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 17:52:11 -0600
From: Brian Dunn <brian@DANCEOFTHEHEART.COM>
Subject: Fast-track Teaching Apilado, Part 2

Dear List,

Thanks for all the comments, public and private, to the original message.

<continued from previous message>

From our experience, the important reasons these exercises work include the
following:

1) Adapting to the "asymmetrical commitment" between follower and leader
2) Connection point is a contact between the vertical parts of your bodies
3) Follower "owns" the connection, and gives this gift to the leader
4) Leader accepts the gift of connection, and directs its motion for her
while preserving it
5) Both partners share responsibility for the connection, and both know the
moment it's gone

1) In our view, in apilado the leader stands steady, strong & reliable,
without needing the follower for basic support. The follower commits more,
commits her axis (slightly and lightly) to the leader's solidity, and with
this expresses her trust in him, and her willingness to step where & when
the leader should indicate. The leader requires more solidity than she does
in order to provide this gift of safety to her.

2) The coin is a device to prove where the contact point is. We think the
best contact point is somewhere between the sternum and the belly button,
when people are more or less of compatible heights and of medium builds.
Because our plane of contact is VERTICAL, we can make contact anywhere along
this range of our vertical axis that social propriety allows, and still
safely and comfortably make the connection/hold the coin. By picking this
body area, it becomes more likely for most people that our spines will find
a vertical position. With relaxed knees and hips, our feet and legs will
find their way behind our plane of contact and out of the way.

BUT...if dancers try to connect (i.e., she holds the coin) higher up, like
over the heart or between the breasts, then we see them support their
centers AWAY from each other, with tilting spines, using the muscles in our
lower back - owww - when they could simply let their centers relax against
their partners, wherever they touch along their vertical spines.

3) and 4) All the exercises stress that the follower "controls the coin".
In terms of class behavioral management, the follower keeps the coin and
holds it against herself (or him) to avoid the possibility of the male
leader making unduly familiar contact with the female follower in a class
setting sanctioned by the teacher(s). But more deeply, we really feel that
the "asymmetrical commitment" we're asking of the follower is balanced by
reinforcing in class this way that this unusually intimate form of social
contact is very very much a gift from the follower, given at the follower's
discretion. It's a respect thing. In our experience, doing it this way
lets followers relax more, during class and during the dance, which is what
it's all about for us. Similarly, the leader will work harder to keep
brutish or insensitive leading under control if he knows that it will
probably make the coin fall.

5) Keeping the coin in place becomes like a party game we played as kids,
with all the accompanying relaxed fun & games associations. But, just like
when we were kids, there's a little tiny edge of fear in all the fun,
because we don't want to be known as "the ones who are always dropping the
coin", and everybody can hear it when it hits the floor. So BOTH leader and
follower will put some extra effort into holding the coin there, which is
the whole point. But then very quickly, both parties discover that it's not
that hard - it's just a decision to do it - just like making and holding a
good connection, if that's what you're after. Repeat as necessary...and
have fun!

All the best,
Brian Dunn
Dance of the Heart
Boulder, Colorado USA
www.danceoftheheart.com