Monday 3 June 2013

On making mistakes.


Something I am working on a lot in my hoop dance practice right now is fluency.
I’m not great at making mistakes. That is, I make plenty of them while I’m hooping but I don’t deal with them well. They interrupt my flow. I feel like I’ve failed. I stop and sigh and wish for the day when I’m a great hooper who never makes mistakes…
But the more I watch hooping videos [and I’m watching a lot these days] the more I realise great hooping is not about not making mistakes. It’s about taking mistakes in your stride and learning to incorporate them into your flow – or, at the least, not allowing those mistakes to interrupt your flow. One of the videos that helped me come to this realisation is this one of the beautiful Tiana Zoumer, who hoops with grace, speed and passion.
I love this video because although Tiana’s hooping is spectacular, it’s not perfect. She makes mistakes and she recovers from them. She doesn’t get upset that she’s made a mistake; she just keeps on moving.
So, inspired by Tiana, I am determined to keep moving through my mistakes. When the hoop slips I change direction. When the hoop hits the floor I pick it up and carry on. It's not easy - old habits die hard - but when I do keep going, I’m surprised at how right it feels.
Happy hooping,
Anne-Marie
PS. I wonder how many of the moves that are now part of the modern hooping repertoire came about because of mistakes?
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4 comments:

  1. dancewell3 June 2013 at 21:45

    I love this! It's so important and not just in hooping - dance too. It's something I find challenging in ballet centrework in particular.

    I bet that lots of moves were created from mistakes - I suspect this the case in contemporary dance too.

    P.S. It's purple magnolia but I'm commenting with my new dance blog link and therefore in my own name, Brie.

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    Replies
    1. Anne-Marie4 June 2013 at 20:16

      Thanks for your comment, Brie. Lovely to put a name to the face :-) And I'm glad you've started a dance blog!

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    2. dancewell8 June 2013 at 17:09

      Thanks! Anne-Marie. It actually feels really good (if a little bit scary too)to be blogging in my own name!

      Delete
  2. Lisa11 June 2013 at 04:31

    I once read that "a mistake is just another way of doing something". This has freed me immensely from the right/wrong, paralyzing, self-critical nature of making them!

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