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Dancer demonstrates a Jade split from the floor while on stage.

3 Tips to Overcome a Movement Block

I teach a LOT and I always feel (whether it’s true or not!) the pressure to be learning and teaching new things.

Fortunately, I love learning but sometimes I get stuck and have no idea what moves I want to learn, practice, or lesson plan in any given day. Because I always over schedule myself, time to explore and play is at a premium, so I’ve had to develop some techniques to get my creative juices to deliver on demand.

Check my top 3 tips to overcoming a movement block and see if you can add any to your own practice!

1. Reverse it.

As Missy Elliott once said:
“Is it worth it, let me work it
I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it
Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup I
Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup I”

Take a combo or a sequence and reverse it. Instead of going from flatline to apprentice, can you go apprentice to flatline? Sometimes re-engineering combos can make them easier for you and your students to understand. Sometimes you can instead find some unexpected and interesting transitions if your body doesn’t know how to “flip it and reverse it!”

2. Take three moves you like.

Take those three moves and try to brainstorm different ways to put them together in a combo or sequence. If that feels too easy, you give yourself an additional challenge: maybe one move must be on the floor and one move in the air. Or you must do all your moves while keeping your eyes closed. Or you must do your moves never getting off the floor, or never getting onto the floor! Experiment with these moves you like and see what interesting transitions and ideas you come up!

3. Freestyle.

I hate to freestyle. Really, really hate it and I never do it. So, this past year, I challenged myself that at least once, every week to put on any song and just dance to it. Maybe it would be awesome; maybe it would be crap. But no matter what, I could find 3-5 minutes every week to freestyle. The more I did this, the easier it has become. Sometimes I get some really cool movement ideas. Sometimes it just feels good to move. Sometimes I mixed it up and changed apparatus. Sometimes I just wind up repeating the same three moves over and over. No matter what happened during my freestyle, I’m still moving, practicing, and growing as a mover!

What other tips and techniques do you use to overcome a movement block?

Colleen
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