“Imagine that you have a diamond necklace on and you’re trying to show it off to the world!” “Imagine your legs have candy cane stripes on them, and that you’re trying to make them rotate from your hips alllll the way down to your ankles!” “Imagine that there is a string at the tippy top of your head and that someone is pulling it up!”
Each of these phrases, and many more of my Miss J-isms, can be heard in my classes on a regular basis. From an outside perspective it could make me sound a little crazy. If you happen to be a dance teacher yourself, you understand these. It’s imagery at its finest, and it’s an important tool for teaching.
I’ve had many teachers tell me that dance is 60% mental, and only 40% physical. I fully believe in this. A dancer is not just a drone that copies movement. There is nuance and style, but not everyone is born with that. I try to explain to my dancers all the time that we have to be intelligent dancers. It’s easy to fall into a rut and be a mechanical dancer. You want to be both a mechanical and artistic dancer. Much of this comes from the thought process of dance. Not only should you put your hand there this way, or place your foot down on this exact count, but it’s the way in which put your hand this way or your foot goes down. Imagining certain things, and using a diverse and colorful vocabulary can aide your dancers in figuring out how.
What I find most important in imagery is understanding the mechanics of what you are trying to get across. For example, with the image of the diamond necklace on your chest, the idea is to have my students project their chests up and out to the audience, so that their collar bones are exposed, their necks are long, their shoulders are back, and they are lifted. In order to show off a big diamond on a necklace, those are the details of what they must do. Breaking down the technical aspect of what one is teaching can help to create the more creative image. Knowing the minute details can assist in the process, and even inspire the image in an instant.
I’ve had multiple instances in the classroom where I have been explaining each part of a step, and suddenly realized that what I was saying described something else. I have then gone on to explain how what I was describing related to the image I had in my mind. Most of the time this works. In a rare occasion, my students stare at me as though I have six heads and what just came out of my mouth was a foreign language. It’s best to have pre-determined images that are guaranteed to stick in a students’ mind.
Depictions in a dancer’s mind is so important. Imagining what you are doing truly helps in the application of movement. If you can see it in your mind’s eye, then it is easier to embody that action. Seeing yourself being able to battement your leg to your ear is a lot easier than just thinking about technically executing it. Both aspects must be in practice during the execution, but if both are, achievement will be easier. Your leg will technically get closer to you ear if you think about it getting there.
I love imagery in classes. I have even taken whole dances and created full stories for every section just so that my dancers would understand what they were trying to convey. It has always worked for them, and I have always appreciated their effort in understanding my explanations. From emotional understanding, to technical understanding, imagery has always been an asset to my teaching.
