Category: music

Daily Movement Prompts, Monday November 7, 2016 edition:

Sometimes you just want to warm up and get moving. Here’s one of the two songs I use for warm up: “Ali’s Mizmar” by Phil Thornton from his album “Nexus Tribal.” https://youtu.be/AaA_VZIWbIc

How did you do moving this past week? Are you ready to move this week?

Lookee there! You had yesterday off from any Prompts! How was your Saturday? Did you drill any dance? Did you take a rest day?

Daily Movement Prompts, Sunday November 6 edition: Toes and Ankles and Balance

How are your feet doing lately? Have you done any toes/feet exercises lately? Let’s put on a song and do some of those warm up exercises from class, rising while keeping balance, good posture, and a relaxed smile on our faces. Try both feet together, one in front, and the other in front. Try stepping right, left, right, left on your toes. Try keeping both feet at the same level (rather than one high, one low, like a trotting horse mime).

Daily Movement Prompts, Friday November 4, 2016 edition:

NEW VIDEO – CaySwann Dance: Level One Shimmy Drill [private video only for CaySwannDance members]

This is a short drill and it might be hard to follow at first because there are not very big cues. I am demonstrating LOTS OF SHIMMIES — some are half-time shimmies, some are full-time shimmies on flat feet, some are full-time shimmies on the toes. Occasionally I used an Arabic to give my arms a break. But this is one way you can drill working those hips and then those toes.

Of course, this drill is designed to be very different from the seated, arms-only drill. I hope you enjoy the challenge to shimmy for about 2.5 minutes!

The music is the song “NaeNae” by the artist FrontJunk from the album “Muse Melodic.”

NEW VIDEO – CaySwann Dance: Arms Only, Level One, Seated Drill
[private video, only for CaySwannDance members]

Sometimes your feet, ankles, knees, quads, hips, or just legs in general are not up to dance practice. There’s still plenty you can do to rehearse at home. Posture in your torso and stamina in your arms still need to be exercised.

This drill uses only Level One Slow Moves Arms postures and is performed with almost no torso movement (you’ll catch a tiny bit sneaking in if you watch closely). It is intended to help you have a seated drill to build those arm postures.

The song is “Detni Essekra” by the artist Khaled from his album “Sahra.”

Daily Movement Prompts, Wednesday November 2 edition: Transitions.

How do we do those transitions between moves? And how can we drill them?

One drill idea: *Name* the next move and then *count* to make the transition. For example, you are dancing a Shimmy and you say, “Egyptian, 2, 3, 4.” You would move your arms up on 4, and the Egyptian first right hip would move on 1, the downbeat of the next phrase. Now that you are in the Egyptian, you could say, “Arabic, 2, 3, 4.” Your arms would move down in front of your face and torso on count 4, and your right foot would step out to start the Arabic on 1.

Daily Movement Prompt, Monday October 31 edition:

I will admit, my legs are exhausted today. Between some wonderful fun in the studio and heading to the Park for a Día de los Muertos festival and then navigating mud and rain at the end of the festival, there’s just more fatigue than usual for a Monday. So today, I plan to do some Arm Work. Would you like to join me?

My suggestion: Put on a favorite song of yours. It can be slow or fast, just something you enjoy. You can stand in good posture *OR* sit on the edge of a chair (with good torso posture and your feet flat on the ground). Be sure to add a bit of that “dance angle” spiral to your torso. Try practicing your Arm Undulations, Arm Floreos (both overhead and moving to the midline as well as Sweeps). The goal is to build good arm and hand awareness, smooth motions, and stamina.