Micro-dances

I love micro dances – and by micro dances I mean dances which use tiny, intricate movements. I love them because they have given me so much body awareness and control over the movements I can make, and consequently, I feel that I:

• can control my body to a finer degree

• am aware of many more movements I can use to create effects within my dancing

• am also aware of aches, pains and inabilities to do certain movements, or to feel certain parts of my body.

• become aware of stresses that I keep within my body. Once I am aware of where I hold stress in my body, I can then begin a process of releasing that stress and freeing myself up to flow more.

So what type of dances am I talking about? Two in particular spring to mind for me personally; belly-dance and locking/popping street dance.

Firstly, belly dance has so many fine movements in the core of the body. From intricate movements of the hips, belly (obviously) and the chest, shoulders, arms and fingers, and that's only what I've discovered from a very small period of exploration.

For me, popping, locking and similar associated street dances are not only heaps of fun and create really cool effects, but have helped me discover how each individual part of my body is connected to the next and how movement of one part affects another, which is totally fascinating.

This discovery and awareness of these things has infinitely helped me when it comes to my partner dancing. It's helped me be able to isolate parts of my body for musical expression or to move a body part without affecting my partner's lead. Isolation and body awareness helps when it comes to making micro movements or body rolls with your partner in blues dancing or kizomba. I find the diversity it gives me very exciting. Also, small, micro movements that are perceptible only within your partnership creates an intimacy within the dance which is totally delicious. All great reasons to explore!

This has been my joy in learning these dances. I hope it inspires you to explore these styles, or any other dances based on micro movements.