TIPS for Connection in WCS

Let's talk about connection📷

When I just started WCS, the connection was why I loved WCS, and it was also the most mysterious part. People talk and teach it very differently. Of course, there are preferences and no right or wrong (I guess📷). But since the beginning, I was constantly searching for how to explain the connection in particular exact words so even kids would understand.

I would like to share some details I love in connection and find the most effective according to my understanding of this dance I am having now. It might/will change with me growing.

I will give tips and where to look for them.

📷First, the most critical: connection should be SAFE. No move is worth the injury. No win is worth the injury. Love your partner, don't use your partner to win. It should be physically and mentally safe. Further tips will help you with that.

📷pliable frame connected to your center

📷be attentive and adjust to your partner

📷you should stand on your own legs

📷wide frame, elbows a little out, not down

📷low grounded frame "into the floor," ideally on the level of the follower's hips

📷resisted release (Robert Royston)

📷countering (Robert Royston)

📷Myles and Tessa elasticity challenge (they give not less than 44 drills to develop elasticity. Very effective and fun.)

📷Emeline and Jakub intensive on the connection (how to create this fluid matching connection)

📷remove all the noise and do less work but in the most effective way

📷I don't like neutral. Yes, it opens up the opportunity to create but sacrifices togetherness. I like it when we are constantly deeply connected and transfer information about the movement to each other center through arms, feeling it without even watching, dancing with eyes closed.

📷I need to feel count 4 to use the connection to dance 5&6, not just step backward to establish stretch. A floating anchor is great, but not when it's 100% of the time.

📷Handhold. Do you close your fingers or keep it so open that leader and follower can slip at any moment, especially to fast songs.

📷breath together with your partner

📷Browly has a fantastic way of explaining the connection. He is on another level of understanding movement. I highly recommend working with him. Be careful! Might change your views and values in a great human way. We all need more human kindness, love, and compassion. And we can show it through our dance. I wish Browly and Inga to teach at every event in the US.

📷Jesse Lopez's philosophy of the importance of touch. Reminds me a lot of Browly. Great. Must hear and learn.

📷When a leader applies those tips, it makes me feel like he/she got me in any dance moment. No matter what we do, we are connected. With such a leader, a fall will never happen (only if I do too dangerous unexpected nonsense📷). Our weight transfers and body shapes match. We are together. We are one.

📷I often hear that social dancing is always great in Europe and could be more consistent here. So what would give us more joy during social is the quality of our connection. It doesn't matter if you have danced for 10+ years you need to get teacher feedback from time to time to know where you at. Knowledge and conscious practice with teacher feedback on every detail you do is a good idea.

📷When I get asked during social about feedback, "how it feels?" I am honestly scared to give feedback. Because usually, it's not a 1-minute talk. And a generic answer will not help you. We need to know details and drills, which takes time. Totally worth it, but it's usually not a 1-minute fix. Also, I will be very gentle but sincerely honest. Honest feedback might hurt. We have to use kind, respectful words to give feedback (I have students traumatized by feedback from others on social when they even didn't ask for feedback). We don't know people's backgrounds and what they are going through, so we should be more compassionate. Also, most people take critique personally, not as a way to grow. So they will just get offended if they don't hear "you feel perfect."

📷So if you wanna feel great in your connection no matter what level you are, if you want all the partners to say, "That was the best connection I felt in comps and social this weekend," make sure that you have an open mind (even if you are an All-Star and you assume you feel great), check with the teacher about feedback and make an effort to be humble enough to try things differently. Nobody wanna offend you. Teachers want to give you ideas on how to grow.

📷I want to set up a higher level of connection standards in our community. So we all know what good should feel like and aim for greatness. And we all have just a great time in comps and social. I want European people to visit and say they had a great time during social events. It's crazy that a Novice leader who does those tips feels better than All-Stars who don't do that. It's just my humble, honest, brave, maybe not popular opinion. I don't wanna fight or argue. It's only my vision. But I am a teacher, and I care.

📷It makes me wanna dance all night social at events when I feel connected, even if we do just basics. I LOVE basics. But with a quality connection. It drains us when we don't feel connected.

📷We bloom and show our best in the good quality connection. P.S. All that post is coming out of love. I appreciate all the teachers in the community who teach quality and ethics.

P.P.S. Could you share with me what you love in connection and why?

Much love, Maria