The CEO v. The Surfer Girl

September 11, 2014

The CEO v. The Surfer Girl

Sometimes you just got to let the body do its thing.

Other times you need to micromanage every muscle.

I don't actually have a multiple personality disorder, but over the years of dancing I have developed two problem solving personalities. Of course, they are polar opposites of each other. I like to call them the CEO and the Surfer Girl. The CEO is a real hard ass. She has to be in order to get things done, right now and with ultimate precision. There's no time to waste. She needs to know when everything happens, how everything happens, why everything happens so that she can make the best choices for the future. The other personality is a person who has extreme patience, waiting for the perfect wave. Then when that wave comes, she snatches the opportunity. She lets the wave take her towards the shore. She knows that she is not in complete control. The ride stops once she makes a mistake or the momentum of the wave fades away. Until that moment, the only thing that matters right now is the ride.

When it comes to dance, I find myself in either mindset or a mixture of both. Some people favor one or the other, but I find there are strengths and weaknesses in both. It really depends on what I'm trying to achieve. When I'm learning a new technique or combo, the CEO in my brain internalizes the information and asks the questions, but she gets frustrated easily when I can't get it right. That's when the surfer girl steps in. She says, "Shut up and just do it." Oddly enough once I silence my mind and just listen to the music, I can execute the move. There are also plenty of times when I'm just in the flow, but once that CEO steps in, all of the sudden the movement has more power and definition.

Certain movements cause the body to react unconsciously. When you spin really fast, your eyes will blink to keep you from getting dizzy. When you shift all of your weight into your left leg, your upper body will slide to the right to keep you balanced. In belly dance, there are a lot of moves that take advantage of these unconscious reactions like the taxeem, for example. Though when dancing to drum solos, it's obviously necessary to have precise control of your muscle contractions and releases.

I find myself noticing the relationship between the CEO and the Surfer Girl in other aspects of dance too, especially in writing choreography and dancing ATS®. It is one of my favorite tools as a dancer because it gives me two completely different approaches for the same situation. They each provide a unique solution for me to choose or to blend and form another choice altogether. It's perfect for me because I love having lots of options and variety.

The two methods at work...