Tai Chi principles and Salsa dancing
This article is purely based on my personal experience. People with physical limitations are not recommended turning without proper instruction from a professional. Please discuss with your health care practitioner before following any examples."
Tai Chi has the right principles and internal strength, dancing is just mindless moving and Tai Chi principles is simply alien in this group." A very common, most erroneous statement from those who practise Tai Chi without any connection to the real world. My salsa teacher Oren has proven that it is totally different.
In the first lesson he emphasized on relaxation of the mind and the right posture without technical words like jing or qi. He and his partner were humourous and entertaining, but their teaching was thorough enough to give the students what they expect. He was standing back on to the students, exactly like a Tai CHi teacher.
From his teaching style he reminds more of a Tai Chi teacher than an emotional dancer. HIs explanation of the single turning could have come from a Tai Chi instructor. He broke the movement into three parts. The first part was placing the left foot for the ladies in front of the body. In the next part, the students should pivot on the ball of their feet from their centre(he pointed at the dantien).
Shift weight from left to right where he placed high emphasis on. Prepare for the next 180 degree turn. " You can't turn on a foot when there is no weight on it." he said. Turning should be on the ball of the foot with some weight, but not so much that the foot is planted in the ground. Maybe he does practice Tai CHi because this is taught in many dance studios. No difficult words like yin, yang, little yin in the yang and vice versa.
The gentlemen needed to give slight pressure in order to lead their ladies into turning, while the ladies needed to give slight resistance despite relaxation."No spaghetti type of relaxation." said Oren.The arms well-angled but the ellbows should not be too much out. No words like song and qi.Pink Barbie pushed a little bit too hard and her partner tumbled over very slightly.
The legs should be bent but the knee should not protrude over the foot. Hey.....very familiar. The body will become well-balanced when the hands and feet are in the right position.
Our body responds with the same natural angles to physical motion, so dancing is certainly an excellent way to obtain many of the Tai CHi principles. On the other hand, Tai Chi teaches us so many ways to apply principles and internal strength in our life.
Tai Chi has the right principles and internal strength, dancing is just mindless moving and Tai Chi principles is simply alien in this group." A very common, most erroneous statement from those who practise Tai Chi without any connection to the real world. My salsa teacher Oren has proven that it is totally different.
In the first lesson he emphasized on relaxation of the mind and the right posture without technical words like jing or qi. He and his partner were humourous and entertaining, but their teaching was thorough enough to give the students what they expect. He was standing back on to the students, exactly like a Tai CHi teacher.
From his teaching style he reminds more of a Tai Chi teacher than an emotional dancer. HIs explanation of the single turning could have come from a Tai Chi instructor. He broke the movement into three parts. The first part was placing the left foot for the ladies in front of the body. In the next part, the students should pivot on the ball of their feet from their centre(he pointed at the dantien).
Shift weight from left to right where he placed high emphasis on. Prepare for the next 180 degree turn. " You can't turn on a foot when there is no weight on it." he said. Turning should be on the ball of the foot with some weight, but not so much that the foot is planted in the ground. Maybe he does practice Tai CHi because this is taught in many dance studios. No difficult words like yin, yang, little yin in the yang and vice versa.
The gentlemen needed to give slight pressure in order to lead their ladies into turning, while the ladies needed to give slight resistance despite relaxation."No spaghetti type of relaxation." said Oren.The arms well-angled but the ellbows should not be too much out. No words like song and qi.Pink Barbie pushed a little bit too hard and her partner tumbled over very slightly.
The legs should be bent but the knee should not protrude over the foot. Hey.....very familiar. The body will become well-balanced when the hands and feet are in the right position.
Our body responds with the same natural angles to physical motion, so dancing is certainly an excellent way to obtain many of the Tai CHi principles. On the other hand, Tai Chi teaches us so many ways to apply principles and internal strength in our life.
Labels: balance, Tai CHi principles
posted by Travel and Tai Chi stories @ 9:42 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:14 AM,
Anonymous said…
Great connection between taiji and dancing. I made a similar connection after my first lesson in ballroom dancing. In fact, I heard TT Liang was quite an accomplished dancer in his day. I feel both compliment each other nicely.
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