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The Missing Link: Turning Studio Time into Mastery (S05 Ep71) · ZoukNerds • Learn | Build | Belong

0:00
Practical in a summary is where you can really just stop, start,
0:05
go back, record, watch. It's a moment that we have to
0:09
just repeat something over and over again until it's embodied.
0:14
Instead of after class social, let's call it after class
0:17
practice session or as we call it practica because then we can
0:21
ask the students to stay around and practice those things.
0:25
The class ends, but you don't end the vibe the class.
0:31
Having songs ending actually encourages people to be more on
0:36
a practice mode because we're just used to this thing that
0:40
when the music doesn't stop, we just keep flowing.
0:43
People really don't know how to. And realizing that now is
0:46
perhaps is the reason why people leave when the class is over and
0:49
you still have 30 minutes of practice.
0:51
But people leave because they might just not know what to do.
0:54
You know they are there, but they don't know how to hold a
0:56
practice session. Why so many dancers plateau
1:03
after leaving the classroom? Is a practica just a mini
1:07
social, or is it the missing link to true mastery?
1:13
And how can just a few simple shifts in your environment turn
1:17
a frustrating practice into a transformation?
1:22
Well, let's find out. Hello.
1:24
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Zook Nerds.
1:27
In this episode, Gibrada and I dive into our strategies for
1:32
running a successful practica. We'll explain why you should
1:37
avoid DJ sets and instead use individual songs, as well as how
1:44
to use specific prompts to keep students engaged and how to
1:49
teach them the art of practicing.
1:52
Whether you are a teacher or a student, we are sharing the
1:56
formula to turn your studio time into true integration.
2:01
So let's go. Hello everyone, my name is
2:13
Alison Sanji and let's welcome back our beautiful Co host GI
2:16
Brada. Hello, GI.
2:19
Hello, Alison. Hello everybody.
2:20
Welcome back to Look in the HERDS.
2:23
Welcome back and happy New Year. I think this is already the
2:26
second or third episode of this year, but because we record
2:30
this, you know, sometimes ahead, we didn't really get to say
2:34
this. So happy New Year, everyone, and
2:37
we hope that this is going to be a great year for your life.
2:41
Dancing and lots of Zook nerds. Yeah.
2:44
Happy new, everybody. I don't know if you have any New
2:47
year resolution things that you do, but if you do, I hope you
2:50
accomplish at least some of them and may 2026 be a very
2:55
productive and successful year for everybody.
2:59
And for today's episode, we are going to talk about something
3:03
that we are really, really passionate about, which is to
3:07
run our practice. For those of you who have not
3:12
heard the episodes earlier when we talked about this, we talk
3:16
about the learning progress, but as well as the practice progress
3:22
where you have practice in class and then you have a dedicated
3:26
time to practice, get feedback, corrections, revisions, and all
3:31
of those things. And then the social.
3:35
So when a lot of people come to us and they say, hey, you know,
3:38
I want to get better at dancing and I'm not sure what to do.
3:42
What should I be doing that most of the times comes from the
3:45
students, but also when teachers come to us and ask for help and
3:51
say that their students are not improving as much as they would
3:54
like to see or something seems to be missing because they never
3:58
go to social. And then that's where we always
4:02
talk about the practice, which is basically an in between,
4:08
between the class and the socials.
4:12
For us, this is such, such, such an important part of the
4:18
learning process and of the integrating process.
4:23
Because practical in a summary is where you can really just
4:29
stop, start, go back, record, watch.
4:33
And for some, you could even call it like a training session,
4:38
but in this case, it's done as a group, almost like a social, but
4:44
a social without the pressure of continuous dancing and no
4:49
stopping, no asking questions, no asking for feedback, Right?
4:54
Those are a few of the things that I feel that is really what
4:59
describes and the important things about practica.
5:02
How about Yogi? How do you see that in the
5:04
learning and integration process?
5:07
I agree with everything that you said.
5:09
I think that the practica is perhaps the most important part
5:13
because it brings the integration of everything people
5:16
have been learning because, as you know, there's learner that
5:20
you are. We have movements that they
5:23
immediately resonate with our body and we incorporate those
5:28
movements right away. There are some other movements
5:30
that we do need to repeat them over and over again in order for
5:34
them to sink in. So the practica, it's a moment
5:39
that we have to just repeat something over and over again
5:42
until it's invited. The practica as is its own
5:48
thing. I think actually it's a pretty
5:51
hard thing to run honestly, because you need to have several
5:57
elements existing for the practica to run in the way that
6:02
we are describing it right now. A place where people come, there
6:05
is music playing, there is people in the room, and then you
6:08
go, can we practice this thing here over and over again?
6:12
Can I make a video? I brought on a tripod.
6:16
And that space is hard to create because the moment that you
6:20
start playing music and there's people in the room, it's very
6:24
easy for you to become a very small, short social.
6:27
So the environment of the practica, I think it's pretty
6:31
challenging to create. We have tried that in DCA couple
6:36
times and we realized that if there needs to be at least one
6:41
person who is engaged in the task of making that a practical,
6:47
of making that a time that people don't just social dance,
6:51
that they are also able to give and receive feedback, for
6:54
example. Because the moment that it
6:57
becomes a short social, a small social, the elements of the
7:01
practical slowly disappear. And those who are wanting to
7:05
practice, they feel self-conscious about the matter
7:08
of practicing and then they also start social dancing.
7:11
So for the environment of the practical to exist, I think
7:15
there needs to be certain elements and perhaps the most
7:18
important of them is to have at least one person in the room
7:23
that is engaged in the idea of keeping it as a practical.
7:28
Actually, I haven't seen a proper Zook practica in all my
7:34
years of teaching. I have seen dingo practicals.
7:37
I have seen all the practice sessions, practice sessions that
7:41
we scheduled and then we got together to practice.
7:45
But I haven't seen, for example, go on a schedule of somewhere
7:49
and see, oh, there is a practical on Tuesday at 7:00 PM
7:54
and then I get there on Tuesday at 7:00 PM and people are
7:56
actually practicing. It's almost always a small
8:00
social. I don't know if we've ever seen
8:02
Alison a practica who was actually a practice session, but
8:06
there was books by the school. Well, to be honest, I have to
8:12
agree with you. It's really, really hard to
8:16
think of a place where there was a consistent practica that rent
8:21
as a practica. I have to say that we have
8:23
tried. We have tried in DC every Monday
8:27
we try to run it as a practica or in other places that I taught
8:32
before. And I think it does run well.
8:37
If there is a certain instruction or input from
8:43
somebody in charge, such as when the practica starts, we actually
8:49
welcome everybody and we put the intention forward and say, hey,
8:53
guys, this is a safe space for you to practice.
8:56
And if there's anything that is not happening, please go back,
9:00
try again. We have teachers, assistants,
9:03
helpers in the room. Please ask us.
9:07
We're here, we are available if you want to do with us or if you
9:10
would just want us to watch and give you some feedback.
9:14
Also, for anybody who would like to spend this time practicing
9:18
alone, please feel free and welcome to just practice alone.
9:23
No pressure to be here and having to social dance with
9:26
anybody. I would actually encourage that
9:30
when you're waiting for a partner, just go and practice
9:33
alone. And for those of you who see
9:35
somebody practicing alone, instead of just assuming that
9:40
they are waiting for a partner, please go and ask, hey, would
9:43
you like to continue practicing alone or do you want to social
9:46
dance with me? Because there is also this thing
9:49
that a bit of a sidetrack here, but in practice sessions that
9:54
ran well and worked well. I heard a feedback that there
9:58
was people who wanted to social dance practice alone, but they
10:05
felt like they couldn't because they were constantly
10:07
interrupted. So they felt that pressure to
10:10
actually dance with other people instead of just having that time
10:13
for themselves. Now a few things that I think
10:17
that can help and make this successful is to after the
10:23
introduction, you can give them prompts of things to think about
10:30
to work on. So let's say you introduce the
10:33
practica to everybody, introduce the concept because maybe there
10:37
are new people there. And then you ask everybody, hey
10:40
guys, for the 1st 30 minutes, I'm just going to play some
10:44
music that has a certain beat or a certain feel or a certain
10:49
dynamic. And let's just focus on this one
10:51
thing, OK? So everybody, You Can Dance as
10:55
much as you want, as late as you want, as basic as you want, or
10:59
as challenging as you want. Well, let's focus on this one
11:02
thing. For example, if we want our
11:06
students to focus more on timing and practice timing.
11:09
So let's just put some traditional music with constant
11:13
beat, not too many breaks and very clear rhythm and then ask
11:19
everybody, hey, everybody, for the next 30 minutes, let's just
11:23
practice timing. So let's avoid stopping too much
11:27
or doing different variations of syncopation and timing and
11:32
rhythm. And let's just focus on our tone
11:35
chick cheek or tone type chick, however you want to call this.
11:40
And then maybe another time you can introduce another challenge
11:44
and go like, hey guys, let's practice traveling across the
11:48
floor. So wherever you start with,
11:51
maybe give yourself 8 counts and let's get to the other side.
11:56
How can you do that? Maybe let's think about some
11:59
Villa genius, Let's think about Sochinos, Let's think about some
12:02
of the movements that you have already learned, and let's use
12:05
that for traveling. And then you can always come up
12:10
with some different topics. It can be multiple topics in the
12:14
same practica or it can can be just one topic for the whole
12:18
practica. It just really depends.
12:21
If it's a Sunday afternoon practica maybe you can do
12:25
different topics and then maybe the last hour no topics Just
12:30
Dance and integrate without stressing too much.
12:33
But if it's like that typical after class social, I would
12:40
actually encourage all the teachers and students out there
12:44
to change this. Instead of after class social,
12:47
let's call it after class practice session or as we call
12:52
it practica. Because then if we just worked
12:56
on bonuses, if we just worked on the elasticity in the classes
13:00
earlier on that day, we can ask the students to stay around and
13:05
practice those things. And as they practice, they can
13:09
ask questions because we are there.
13:11
And then this is going to make their learning, their
13:14
understanding, their confidence and the next class so much
13:19
better and so much easier to evolve.
13:22
What do you think about that guy?
13:23
Do you think that the outside of class practical like a Saturday
13:29
and Sunday or that the practicals right after the class
13:34
are more likely to work better? What do you think?
13:39
It's a, it's a good, good question.
13:41
You know, it's the $1,000,000 question.
13:44
And because when the experience that I have gathered over the
13:48
years, I realized certain things as well as practical.
13:53
So in the way that you are describing requires a certain
13:56
level of preparation, requires some level of preparation to
14:02
integrate the content of the classes or to integrate any sort
14:07
of practice to the practical. So this person in charge needs
14:12
to maybe prepare ahead of time or observing people dancing,
14:18
create a prompt on the fly. It does require some amount of
14:23
preparation. There is also the matter of
14:25
music as well. The easy route is you have one
14:30
hour and a half practical. You look at a one hour and a
14:32
half set, you play the set, your life goes on.
14:35
You just. Sit and watch and dance with
14:37
people, enjoy everybody. If you want to do a practical in
14:40
this way, you might need to be more mindful about the music.
14:45
Choose the songs, create a playlist.
14:47
So all of that is preparation. So on that end, I think that the
14:54
practical right after the class would be easier to do and more
14:59
efficient because you are right after the class and you might
15:03
not have one hour and a half because normally the practical
15:06
is right after class. They have one hour, 30 minutes,
15:09
one hour long. Some places do have in their
15:12
Zook day 19 minute block for the practical like we have on
15:16
Mondays at District Zook, but I know some places have less than
15:20
that. So if you have less time and
15:23
right after class and you just start the bonus, I think it's
15:26
much easier to hold people there a little bit longer.
15:31
There is also the way that you flow into the practica, right?
15:35
I tried that in Taipei a couple times and it really worked.
15:39
Instead of ending the class and say people have a practica now,
15:43
stay over to dance and then you go away and then go to
15:46
something, the music and something the class ends, but
15:51
you don't end the vibe. The class, the class vibe is
15:56
still going. The thing that it worked was say
15:58
we got to move into the practice canal with your partner.
16:01
Practice these variations here as I put the song.
16:06
So you don't close the class, you keep it going.
16:10
The class time is over, but you keep the vibe of the class
16:13
going. So I think that's easier than
16:16
having the practical on a separate day because on a
16:19
separate day you will have people come, but sometimes not
16:23
necessarily the people that you would like to come.
16:26
So if you are in the context of the class already, the people
16:30
are already there, you just create a way to keep them there.
16:35
I was also thinking about the idea of how interesting we'll be
16:39
if we start making or offering actual practicals on weekends
16:44
like you mentioned. And we have a theme in which,
16:48
for example, they know the theme ahead of time, this practical on
16:52
this Saturday, we're going to practice tested 2 songs in
16:55
different styles in different speaks, for example, and see
16:59
what happens. You know, again, I do think that
17:02
will still require the same or more degree of preparation that
17:07
we have for a class, you know, because curating songs, it will
17:12
be the thing. Thinking about the exercises,
17:16
all of that. Are we doing a warm up?
17:17
Are we not doing a warm up? How we start the practica?
17:21
Are we going to have just a teacher there?
17:22
Are we going to have some assistants to walk around?
17:25
How that's going to be like, you know, so I don't know if you
17:28
thought that deep into this idea, but long answer to your
17:33
question, I think that the practice after class are easy to
17:37
pull off in terms of keeping people there, preparation and
17:43
engagements. And there are a couple of things
17:45
that we need to be careful with to make sure that the practice
17:50
is successful. So I would recommend not using
17:54
DJ sets that are too complex or to be honest, don't use DJ sets
18:02
actually have songs that end. This is actually better for
18:07
people to reset and they go like, OK, should I change
18:10
partners? Should we change what we're
18:13
doing? Having songs ending actually
18:17
encourages people to be more on a practice mode because we're
18:23
just used to this thing that when the music doesn't stop, we
18:26
just keep flowing. But if the music starts stop, it
18:29
kind of feels more like a class. That's one thing.
18:33
The second thing, making sure that we don't dim down the
18:37
lights and make everything dark. Yes, maybe if you have the
18:42
control of the lights in a way that you can bring them down a
18:45
little or turn a few of them down so it doesn't feel so, you
18:49
know, bright and like a class, maybe do that, but just a little
18:54
bit. And then third, make sure that
18:57
the music is not super loud or as loud as a social, because
19:03
people need to feel like they can talk.
19:06
Yeah, people need to feel like they can have a conversation and
19:10
basically give each other's feedback without having to
19:13
scream towards each other. Yeah.
19:16
So if you have the music in a way that encourages people to
19:21
stop and start, if you have the lighting, encouraging people to
19:27
actually have a conversation, and the music levels as well
19:31
encouraging people to have a conversation, I think those
19:35
three things are usually the ones that makes a higher chance
19:38
of having a successful practica. Because as soon as the music is
19:43
too loud, turn off the lights. Nah, it's gone.
19:47
It's gone. People went into a social mode.
19:49
It is what it is. You know, like we've tested this
19:52
before doing that at District Zook.
19:54
We're doing that at other locations.
19:56
And yeah, we have to be careful. I've done this in some of my
20:00
weekend. There's where I always ask the
20:02
organizers to have a practical session that is not the social
20:08
because I want to be there to answer any questions.
20:12
And very often when we haven't worked before.
20:16
When we are going into the practice session, I already see
20:19
the organizers doing the things, you know, having a DJ there and
20:24
then turning on the music loud and all the lights.
20:27
And then I have to go there and ask them.
20:29
No, no, no, guys, remember when I told you the practica is to
20:33
practice? So we don't need a DJ, we don't
20:36
need the party lights, we don't need any of that.
20:39
We just need the classroom here open and available and music in
20:44
the background, nice and chill, nothing too crazy.
20:48
So then we can encourage and make people feel more
20:52
comfortable to take it slow. I think that's the point of the
20:56
practica as well. Take it slow and have no
20:59
pressure to actually achieve anything in a certain way.
21:04
You're just there to spend time letting your body absorb the
21:08
material. And as things happen, you will
21:12
have questions like you do in a social.
21:14
And then you can ask, because I think I can speak for every
21:18
dancer in the world, which is not very often, but I think this
21:22
is something that happens to everybody.
21:25
We've all been to a social and as we're social dancing, we wish
21:30
we could do something again or we wish we could have somebody
21:34
that we could ask a question like how can I make this
21:37
different or better or why is this not working?
21:42
Anybody in any social who most likely have had that moment and
21:47
when you're in the practica, guess what?
21:49
You can you can stop, you can do it again.
21:52
You can even ask your partner, Hey, can you do that move again?
21:56
Wow, I haven't done that before or I love something about it.
22:02
I'm not sure what it is. Can you do it again?
22:04
Because I want to pay attention to my body and just have that
22:08
moment. It's so cool.
22:10
And it's something that I think we love because we do so much
22:14
Guy and I, we do it with anybody whenever we can.
22:19
We have a practice session so we can actually talk.
22:23
And just before I give back to guy, I'm just going to say this,
22:27
guys, when we say a practical or practice session in the way that
22:32
guy and I are speaking here, we're not talking about meeting
22:36
up to just social. That's not it.
22:40
I know a lot of people say, oh, but I train every week and I'm
22:43
like, OK, what did you train? Oh, we just, we Just Dance.
22:48
OK, So what did you improve? I mean, we weren't really
22:53
thinking about it. We were just social dancing.
22:57
I'm like, OK, cool. That is one of the trainings
23:01
that you should do. Everybody should do social
23:04
dancing training, but the practical that we're discussing
23:07
here is really the place where you train.
23:11
There are outcomes that you can measure from that time together.
23:16
Maybe the outcome is just, well, I was practicing not to think
23:22
and not to stress. That's cool.
23:25
I have practiced that many times.
23:28
The practice session was to not stress, not to be my head and
23:32
not to judge myself the whole dance.
23:36
That's a practica, you know, So it's not necessarily a footwork
23:41
or a certain move. It can just be something like
23:45
soft skills, emotional and things like that.
23:48
That's true because I too practice a lot in the context of
23:52
social dancing. Just like dance for 30 minutes
23:55
to one hour. In the 30 minutes to one hour, I
24:00
am thinking about something, I have a focus point or some sort
24:05
of challenge as well. We don't turn, we don't open, we
24:09
only open, you know, So the social dance, the non-stop
24:13
dancing practice session, I think it's very useful when you
24:17
do have something that you are focusing on.
24:21
And a lot of the things that I do came out of practicing like
24:25
that. And I really like what you
24:28
mentioned, Alison, about the environment, guys, this makes
24:32
the whole difference. Letting the song end lights a
24:37
little bit, not dimming the lights, you know, letting the
24:41
setting be different from the social, from the party setting.
24:46
So the energy in the place is different as well.
24:49
One thing that I wanted to add is something that I have been
24:52
trying in these workshops this weekend is that I've been doing
24:57
the Masters of Social Dancing where there are practice
25:00
sessions embedded in the training.
25:04
And these practice sessions are in little groups, in small
25:07
groups, or three to five couples.
25:10
And something that has been really interesting to observe is
25:15
the prompts that I give is get together with your group and
25:18
decide what you're going to practice and how you're going to
25:22
change partners. And that has been really
25:25
interesting because I was observing that in this moment of
25:29
practice, you have a group of four people.
25:32
Somehow one couple would go to the sides and just stay with
25:38
each other and don't change partners ever.
25:41
And there'll be this other people sort of like their
25:45
training but not fully integrated.
25:47
And the prompt think about going to practice and think a way to
25:52
change partners has been really interesting to see people
25:55
managing their own training and as they engaged person in the
26:00
room, the person who is facilitating walking around the
26:04
groups and watching them doing their things and giving little
26:07
piece of feedback here and there.
26:10
I have been observing the variety of approaches that
26:14
people are taking to that time of practice session.
26:18
It's not a long time, it's between 15 to 30 minutes, some
26:22
amount of time that we have, but it's in the context of the
26:26
class. But it's not like the practice
26:30
that we have in class where we say high 5 change partners,
26:34
which is going to be the same context of a practical.
26:37
There won't be someone there saying hi, 5 change partners, or
26:41
you can do that in the practice session.
26:43
But again, that level of engagement that we were talking
26:46
about. So if you have the things that I
26:49
just mentioned where you let the song end, for example, that's a
26:53
cue to change partners because you want people to, I mean, at
26:57
least in theory, practice with more people in the room unless
27:02
they come with one partner and they want to use the room, the
27:05
space, the music, and the teacher there to practice with
27:09
this one partner. And that's completely fine as
27:12
well. So I think there is this aspect
27:15
that the practica is also an open environment for you to come
27:21
and practice any way you want. You know, The thing is we would
27:26
like people to have that opportunity.
27:29
Like Allison was saying in the events, when the practice time
27:33
comes, we start lowering the lights and preparing the set
27:37
list and all of that thing. It's such an out of pilots for
27:41
us because I truly think it's the most convenient and easy
27:44
thing to do. You have the time allocated.
27:46
People are really tired of the class sometimes and they
27:49
sometimes just want to dance and we understand that and we also
27:55
want to give them a little bit more time for integration, you
28:00
know, give a little more time for integration.
28:03
So in the end of the day, for you to hold a true practical,
28:07
you might need to think of several elements that it might
28:11
be on autopilot for you at the moment or that will require you
28:17
to be way more engaged in that process than you might be right
28:22
now. I mean, if you're a teacher, for
28:23
a local teacher, if you are traveling and in your
28:26
weekenders, you have that practice session.
28:29
And if you want that to be truly a practice session, you need to
28:33
be there a little bit more in the details.
28:36
So instead of a set a playlist, no dim lights, perhaps don't end
28:43
the class and say, guys, now you have practice.
28:46
Give the prompt right away. In the transition from class to
28:51
practical, ask people to decide what they're going to practice,
28:54
how they're going to practice. You can form small groups of
28:59
practice and then they practice in the small groups.
29:02
I don't know if you can think of other ways.
29:04
I just want to make this something more natural for us
29:09
and also more natural for the students so they understand
29:12
there is the class environment where they practice in class,
29:15
high 5 rotate, high 5 change partners, blah blah blah.
29:19
When they practice right after class, not anymore.
29:22
High 5 rotates but the teacher is still there and I'm still
29:26
practicing the things and the social where I go and then no
29:31
worries about practicing or giving or receiving feedback.
29:35
So I think we gave already several good tips here.
29:39
Yeah, there are certain ways that I schedule things that I
29:43
bring forward when I'm planning something or executing something
29:47
that can help. And two of those things are
29:50
naming it and being intentional when you are in the room.
29:54
So, yeah, when I run my team here in Taipei or when I run my
29:59
Weekenders, I put that part as practice feedback and Q&A.
30:07
So it's in the schedule. It's not that it's an optional
30:11
additional thing. It's like workshops from one to
30:16
three, practice feedback and Q&A from 3:00 to 4:00.
30:21
That's the schedule that you're signing up.
30:23
So right after the recap, now we are moving on to that part of
30:28
the schedule. It's not an additional thing,
30:31
right? And the same thing with the
30:33
team. So the team was a 2 hour session
30:37
plus 30 minutes of practice, feedback and Q&A and that was
30:43
how you sign up. So what time does it start?
30:46
Starts at 8:30. When does it end?
30:48
11? The class officially ends at
30:51
10:30, but the whole commitment ends at 11.
30:57
So I make sure that this is already clear in the way I write
31:02
or in the way I communicate to people about the Weekender or
31:06
the team training. So that's another idea that you
31:09
can do in your classes. You can tell your students and
31:12
say, hey, the class is from 8:30 to 9:30.
31:17
But when you come to the class, you will also stay for the
31:21
practica. It's part of the package.
31:23
It's already included in the price of your class.
31:26
So please stay back because this is time that you get to actually
31:31
ask. So don't just throw it away.
31:34
You know, it's studio time, it's music time, it's teacher time
31:38
because teachers, they could just go home and sleep.
31:42
They could teach a private lesson.
31:43
They could do something. So even on that side of things,
31:48
as a teacher, you have to budget that, right.
31:50
So you have to budget a certain payment for yourself included in
31:57
the whole thing. So those extra hours, they are
32:00
included in the Weekender. That extra hour of practica is
32:05
included in the total pricing on the teams.
32:09
That 30 minutes is included in the total pricing.
32:12
It's something that I'm already comfortable with.
32:15
When I put it forwards, I don't think about, oh, if I do another
32:19
30 minutes, it's time that I'm not getting paid.
32:22
No, because I already did that in the planning phase.
32:25
I've already planned those 30 minutes as paid hours for
32:30
myself. Of course, it's not going to
32:32
paid hours as much as you would if you're teaching a full
32:36
workshop, but there's something there.
32:39
There's something that you already dedicate there in the
32:43
planning phase. So you don't have to even ask
32:46
the students, OK, if you're staying for the practical, it's
32:48
$5. I mean, that is probably a way
32:53
that I don't recommend because then you do create that
32:57
separation. Even if it's $5, you create a
33:00
separation. I would rather tell you, hey,
33:03
make that part of the course. What time is the course?
33:06
8:30 to 10:30. OK, cool.
33:09
And then every class you can tell the students, this is the
33:12
structure. For the first one hour and a
33:14
half, we're going to learn, we're going to get a lot of
33:16
information. For the last 30 minutes, we're
33:19
going to practice. You can even go like that.
33:22
You don't even have to separate the practice class.
33:25
The practice part you can just make it part of the class.
33:29
That's a very fairpoint, yeah. Because most sometimes a
33:33
practica is displayed as separate from the class and then
33:37
sometimes people don't see it as part of the class or as valuable
33:42
as the class. So when the class is over, they
33:44
go home, you know? So like making the practica as a
33:48
part of the whole thing in the way that you presented in the
33:53
1st place, I think already helps you create this mindset that the
33:58
practica is part of the whole thing.
34:00
And when you get this chunk of time of your life, then go ahead
34:04
and dedicate you. This is not 90 minutes of class
34:09
and perhaps 30 more minutes of practica.
34:11
You're getting a 2 hour chunk and then a two hour chunk is
34:14
divided in 90 minutes of instruction time and 30 minutes
34:19
of integration time. Sometimes even maybe calling
34:23
integration is better, I don't know, than calling like
34:26
practica. Yeah, integration or many
34:30
different words that we can use. But I find that the practice
34:33
feedback in Q&A usually attracts people to stay because they go
34:39
like, Oh, yeah. I mean, like, those are the
34:41
things that I think I need to get better.
34:44
I need to practice, I need to get some feedback, and I have
34:47
questions for the Q&A. So that would be good.
34:50
But, you know, it's not easy. It's something that you have to
34:53
educate your students to stay back, not something that you may
34:58
just, you know, tell everybody from this week we're doing it
35:02
because they don't understand why, they don't understand the
35:05
reason. So probably something that you
35:08
can introduce already inside of your regular classes and plan
35:14
your curriculum in a way that you go like in the middle of the
35:17
class. Let's say you have an hour and a
35:18
half class in the middle of the class, we pause the instructions
35:24
and we go like, OK, for the next 15 minutes I'm just going to
35:27
play music and we're going to practice and change partners.
35:29
OK, So I'm going to be around telling you something, giving
35:34
you some feedback, but the main focus here is that you guys are
35:39
going to do the homework in class and practice.
35:43
And anytime you have a question, you're going to call us and
35:46
we're going to come here and help and already teach them how
35:50
to practice. Because that's the other thing
35:52
as well. Sometimes the students want to
35:55
do a practice session, they want to stay back, but they don't
35:59
know how to practice dance. They know how to be in class
36:04
just going like yes, OK, and then do things.
36:09
They know how to be a student following instructions.
36:13
And then if they are already going to socials, they know how
36:17
to do social. And those things are not
36:21
connected at all for them. So to have a place where they
36:24
connect both, you know, for some people, maybe not for some, but
36:29
for most people, they need a little bit of help in the
36:34
beginning on how to practice. Because yeah, I think a lot of
36:41
people don't even understand how to start, how to practice.
36:46
I think you'll, as we get to the end of the episode, you got to
36:51
the core of the issue withholding practices.
36:55
People really don't know how to practice.
36:57
And realizing that now is, yeah, that perhaps is the reason why
37:01
people leave when the class is over and you still have 30
37:05
minutes of practice. But people leave because they
37:07
might just not know what to do. You know they are there, but
37:11
they don't know how to hold a practice session.
37:14
So perhaps in the beginning is creating a system where you
37:20
facilitate the practice time at 1st and then over time you hand
37:25
that to the students as you notice them getting more
37:28
independence in managing their class time.
37:32
In the weekenders that I was talking about in the first ones,
37:36
it was more OK guys, now your practice.
37:38
And then you see them standing for a long time, so not knowing
37:43
what to do, how to start. And I realized, no, I need to
37:48
give them something. I need to give them some
37:51
direction before they go on their own.
37:55
And sometimes all they need to do is a little push.
37:57
You know, that push can come in the form of a task that they
38:01
need to accomplish in classes. Sometimes in these 15 minutes
38:06
that Allison was talking about, the changing partner management
38:11
system is the thing that changes.
38:13
So for example, I play 15 minute long sets.
38:18
These 15 minute long sets, they were curated.
38:22
I asked some DJs to do them for me for warm ups and dances in
38:27
class. So they have easy transitions
38:30
and sometimes they have purposefully difficult
38:33
transitions. So the partner change management
38:38
is for example followers. When you listen the transition
38:43
rotate clockwise to the next leader and then we change to the
38:47
leaders. So this 1st 15 minutes I am not
38:50
managing the partner rotation. They are, but we gave them a
38:54
prompt in what moment to change partner.
38:57
And it's a really fascinating process to see for example, the
39:01
followers who are not that used to listen to the transition,
39:05
they like is it, is it over? So they stop this and they look
39:08
around and they said the other followers are still dancing.
39:10
Then they go back to dancing and then over time, by the second
39:14
transition, they are already flowing.
39:16
There was another prompt that I gave that was really cool as
39:19
well. You know that in class you have
39:22
the circle and either the leader or the follower are rotating.
39:26
So you have either the leader or the follower, you know, sat in
39:30
camp in one position in the room for the whole class.
39:34
So now you not only change partners when the song
39:37
transitions, but you're also rotating the whole time.
39:41
So by the end of the transition, you cannot be in the same
39:43
position. So you have people going around
39:46
and I asked them to rotate partners in the opposite
39:48
direction to leave them even more confused, but they more
39:53
engaged, you know? So like giving these little
39:56
prompts in class, this 15 minutes that you are giving for
40:00
them to practice, they have some form of direction.
40:04
They have something that they are thinking about South, for
40:07
example, the moment that I ask people travel.
40:11
You see something switching their brains and they need to
40:14
consult a library of movements that they have for travel.
40:17
And then most of the times they lose the timing because they
40:21
rush. Most of the times they bump into
40:23
each other because they're rushing.
40:25
And sometimes they lose connection with their partners.
40:28
So you give them a prompt travel and you see them slowly
40:33
adjusting, shoot a new prompt. And then you having people
40:37
practice for craft. You're having people practice
40:41
musically in the sense of paying attention to the music and see
40:45
when it's changing. And you just have people engaged
40:50
in a different way. And this in the context of a
40:52
class. We are still in class.
40:55
After those 15 minutes, we go back to instruction giving and
40:59
receiving. In the context of a practical,
41:02
there is not a class. I think these things could work
41:06
as well. There was an experiment that we
41:08
did in the practical industry where we asked people, for
41:11
example, just to dance with their left hand, just holds with
41:14
your left hand leaders and the follows on the rights.
41:16
And then we had people now just holding their rights.
41:19
And then these things work really well.
41:23
People get used to the idea of having something to practice.
41:27
The only thing in where this can, let's say fail, I want to
41:32
say fail, but like have a hard time continuing is that it will
41:36
require the facilitator to be constantly engaged in the
41:40
process, selecting the songs, making the playlists, thinking
41:45
about the prompts, you know, So if you have one hour and a half
41:48
of Patricka, you might need to think of an hour and a half
41:51
worth of prompts, you know, or like just the first section, I
41:55
don't know. There's so many things you can
41:57
do. The most important one is do
42:01
something. Go get out of the not doing the
42:04
things that we normally do when you have that time for people to
42:07
desk if you want them to have a proper integration practice
42:13
time. And the first thing, like Alison
42:17
mentioned, is teaching people how to practice without
42:22
necessarily, OK, people, this is how you practice, blah, blah,
42:25
blah, blah, blah, but just soft introducing them to the idea
42:29
that now you're on your own, but you have guidance to be on your
42:34
own. You think that alone.
42:36
Start putting people in a new rhythm and when it comes to
42:40
integration, integrating what they just learned.
42:43
And as you go around the room, prompting that again, hey, how
42:47
are you guys doing here? Have you gone that way yet?
42:50
Have you travelled across? OK, why don't you try the other
42:53
direction now? OK, I'll see you on the other
42:55
side and keep going. And sometimes you may see a
43:00
student or two who is just not really going with the practical
43:04
feeling. And then I just go there and ask
43:07
them, hey, what are you guys practicing here?
43:10
And then they kind of like freeze and they look around and
43:13
they're like, oh, we were just dancing.
43:16
And then I'll give them some feedback.
43:17
And I'm like, OK, why don't you practice this part?
43:20
And you, you practice this part, OK?
43:22
Because I was watching your guys and yeah, you need this and you
43:25
need this. And I think this is one last
43:29
thing I want to tell you guys. When you're giving feedback,
43:32
please make sure you give feedback to both.
43:35
Hey, we've spoken about this before, but this is mega, mega
43:39
important for a teacher, for a friend, for anybody.
43:44
Whenever you're correcting, you're correct.
43:46
Both. You never want to leave somebody
43:49
feeling that they are the problem in that partnership.
43:53
Yeah, sometimes you don't have a lot to tell to that person.
43:58
You know, maybe one person is really struggling with the turn
44:01
and the other one is doing OK, but you can always tell them OK,
44:05
think about your posture and really embrace with your arms a
44:09
little bit more to support your partner.
44:12
Everybody anytime in their life of dancing will take that
44:17
feedback and improve their dancing, even if they are
44:21
professional, top of the world, just a little bit more
44:24
consciousness about your body, your posture, your frame, your
44:27
weight transfer never hurts anybody and only helps
44:31
everybody. So that's maybe one last thing
44:35
that I wanted to throw in here as a little golden gift for
44:40
everybody. But yeah, this episode is
44:43
something that we want to do for a long time.
44:46
And we always get asked, you know, how to make socials versus
44:51
study groups versus practice sessions versus, I don't know,
44:55
guided solo training warm up style.
44:59
And yeah, we're going to be doing more of those to hopefully
45:03
help you as a student in your journey or teachers and
45:07
community leaders out there who want to try something new to
45:11
improve their community. And we hope this was helpful.
45:15
Yeah, guys, we hope this was good.
45:17
Gave you some ideas if you wanted to start a practical or
45:19
if I already have a practical going on.
45:22
And I would say just try something.
45:26
I mean if you are a local teacher and local organizer and
45:30
you will right now have a practical going on, just try one
45:34
of these things. And if I would say the first
45:37
thing to try, try changing the set from the set to a playlist
45:43
and just watch. Yeah, I think that'll be the
45:45
first one. So lights on from a satchel
45:49
playlist and see and wander your eyes with what you're gonna with
45:55
this, you know? Enjoy the confusion.
45:58
Mode. Enjoy the confusion, but it's
46:00
going to be fascinating, yes, And just let us know how it goes
46:05
afterwards. That's a huge change.
46:08
And with that, everybody, we want to thank you once again for
46:10
being here. And please follow, like,
46:12
subscribe, share, help us keep growing this beautiful Zook
46:17
Nerds community and we'll see you on the next one.
46:20
Beiges, Beiges, Abrasus and Ciao.
46:25
Everyone.