5 Sources of Dance Inspiration You Might Not Have Considered.
Nod if you feel me.
- It seems like I’m always doing the same moves over and over again.
- When I make time for practice, I’m not sure what to practice and it turns into a freestyle session.
- I want to get to the “next level” of my dance, but I don’t know what that looks like.
If you have all of the above covered, go write an article on Medium and link me to that shit, cuz I wanna read it.
If you’re nodding, keep reading.
We’ve tried a bunch of new music. We’ve tried watching other dance videos. We’ve tried seances (yes, I had to look up how to spell that word) to wake the spirits of dancers passed…and even after getting advice from MJ, we’re still left stumped and frustrated.
Time to play video games, right?
Fuck that. Check the list.
1. “Children’s” Toys.
Toys made for children are typically built to fuse 2 valuable purposes together: Entertainment and Education. Why society at large has dictated that adults should no longer use these resources, I’m not sure, but to creative people like dancers who see beyond the literal reality of a situation, toys can easily be turned into tools — Tools that are much more fun than hammers and drills. Here are some my favs:
- CubeBot. This is a toy that starts as a wooden cube and through a series of unfolds becomes an action figure poseable specifically into 90 and 180 degree angles. Where my tutters at?
- CMS Magnetics Sets. Geometry is the name of the game with magnetic toys and CMS outshines the rest with a simple design of sticks and balls. This toy will teach you more about 3 Dimensional Geometry than a college math course and if you haven’t figured it out yet — all dance forms are rooted in shape.
- Roller Coaster Tables. One of my favorite dancers, Houdoken (like his page!), introduced this to me after recalling trips to the Dentist. Here’s what he has to say on it:
“…at the time Falsify and I were talking about how new concepts come to be and I was examining the LPC foundation that we knew and combined rails with builds (more solid objects) and it immediately /felt/ like I was playing with one of those toys. So I chose to use that visual metaphor as a sort of anchor to the combination of those two ideas. At which point you can play with the metaphor instead of focusing on the technicality of combining “moves”. I didn’t really realize that at the time — it was just easier to remember as the dentist’s toy.
Ultimately the idea, I noticed, was comprised of just a small set of rules as to how it should behave. Follow those rules and the thing happens. Break the rules? Maybe no one will notice or care, but you can feel it. It feels better to flow with when the rules are maintained. You feel like you’re succeeding.”
2. Animated Gifs
Weird right? Just go with me. Gifs have come a long way from the days of Geocities and even Myspace. Gif art is an official movement. From original 2D and 3D masterpieces to cinemagraphs to memes, gifs are the original artform of the Internet. Holding attention using simplicity, repetition, pattern and pop culture references, there’s no shortage of good ideas buried in today’s gif art. Don’t believe me? Check this series of gifs and frame them in terms of dance. It’s an exercise that can gamify your practice, turning work into play.
Remember, imitation is the highest form of flattery. The difference is that a gif won’t call you a biter.
3. Personal Development Books
How to improve at improving. That’s the name of the game with Personal Development. The PD movement has spawned websites like 99u.com, Youtube channels like SmarterEveryDay, hundreds of great blogs including Seth Godin’s and even more books on the topic. Here are some recommendations:
- Making Ideas Happen (Belsky)
- Drive (Pink)
- The Power of Habit (Duhigg)
- The Willpower Instinct (McGonigal)
- Mastery (Robert Greene)
Not into reading? How did you get this far into this post? C’mon now. It’s not the chore that school taught us it was. Reading is a gateway drug to knowledge. 10 minutes a day. Do it for your art.
4. Auxiliary Hobbies
As much as I love dance, it’s not the only thing in the universe (just the most important). And as much as I want to dance all day, every day, 6 years into this journey I recognized that this is the path to burnout. So what’s a person to do with the extra time spent not dancing, resting, or working?
Netflix, of course!
Fuck that. Check the list.
Find another hobby. It doesn’t have to be anything specifically to related to dance. You will find over time that /everything/ connects to dance in some way (I learned one of my most important lessons in dance by reading about architecture). The more auxiliary hobbies you take on and get proficient in, the more you will see the truth in that statement. Here’s some ideas from my own collection:
- An Extreme Sport. Skateboarding, Inline Skating, Snowboarding, etc. They all have a similar quirk where the same movements are done by the entire niche. Everyone who Skateboards does Kick Flips. Everyone who does Inline Skating does Soul Grinds. Everyone who Bikes does Turndowns. This is very similar to the dance world. Lockers do Whichaways. Poppers do the Old Man. B-Boys do the 6 step. The thing that separates one person from another is not the moves as much as the style by which the moves are executed. Taking on an extreme sport might just tune you into that personal style of your own, not to mention the obvious athletic boosts. Just don’t injure yourself in the process. That’s not going to get you anywhere with dance.
- Design. Typography. 3D Modeling. Architectural planning. Landscaping. The Design world is as wide as it is deep. In fact, we are designers of our dance. That fact alone and the methodologies by which we can do it may become more apparent to you as you start studying design from other perspectives. If you aren’t consciously designing what you want your dance to look like and you’re just “feelin’ it,” this one is for you. There’s a whole world out there that goes beyond stumbling into new dance ideas. The world of Kinetic Design.
- Object Manipulation. Some people call it Flow Arts. Some people call it Juggling. I call it dance training. Not only does the act of manipulating objects directly tie into the kinesthetic comprehension of space, pattern, and systematic movement, but the communities involved are stellar, filled with passionate, fun-loving folks dedicated to their crafts and more than willing to share their knowledge.
Consider being a Jack of many trades when the Mastery of one is falling short.
5. Drugs.
Yeah. I said it. I’m a bad person. I’m not a good role model for children. I get it. Drugs can ruin lives. Two of my very close friends have killed themselves while under the influence. And it’s my personal opinion that had they not been using drugs, they’d still be here today. There is a dark side to substance [ab]use, largely in my opinion to drugs acting as an escape mechanism and a magnifying glass to our own lives in disarray.
And still, here I am. Not only using drugs to break creative boundaries, but recommending others try them as well.
Pro Tip: Before considering the use of performance enhancing drugs, take a hard look at your life and make sure it’s in order. Here’s a checklist of basics to get you started:
- Do you have a stable source of income that isn’t dealing drugs in the first place?
- Do you or your family have a history of addiction problems?
- Do you have a network of friends and family that can act as objective third parties to give you feedback about concerns in personality change?
- Do you have an intent to use a substance as a tool and if so, a vision of what you plan on building with it?
- Do you have a legitimate understanding of the consequences of using these substances — physical, mental and lawful?
Education is key. Knowledge is power. Check out erowid.com. Read up on people’s experiences. Some drugs increase coordination, others increase the potential for creativity, others the ability to train for longer periods of time through increased energy and focus. Drugs would not be banned in Olympic and Professional sports if they had entirely negative affects. It wouldn’t make sense to ban a substance that gives its users no increased edge over the competition. The good news? No such rules exist in dance (yet?). Use that to your advantage, but of course, keep everything in moderation and absolutely consider the law into this equation. Do not get addicted or arrested for trying to be a better dancer — it’s not worth it.
