Practice makes progress

Welcome to my third entry in the self-improvement blog series where I'll be sharing to you practice tips. Coincidentally, BjP's physie blog published a blog entry a few days ago with the same title. I have been drafting this for a while though so what am I to say? Great minds think alike.
Here are 10 tips for physie, dance and for performances in general:

1. Finding your right way to practise - Everybody is different and we each have our unique ways of learning. For some, practising one routine per day in depth can be effective while others may find that they need to go over each routine daily. Be sure that you find your practice style in order to maximise outcomes.
2. Rest and recover - Don't practise when you're tired because your body will not work efficiently. Make sure you have regular breaks and have a few days off before a major competition. 
3. Drawing or writing down your counts - This is like visualisation on a piece of paper. The example shows snippets of three of the ladies' routines. I've written in cues from song lyrics to help with visualisation. 

   

   Visualising a routine on paper
   Top to bottom: Exercises, warm up, swing

4. Observing others - This requires no effort for physical exertion. Watching others is a great way to see how others do it since it's difficult to watch your teacher/other peers when you are dancing.
5. Practise in sets of 8 counts - They say that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. As with any large task, smaller goals have to be attained in order to fit into the bigger picture. 
6. Practise until you can't get it wrong (rather than only practising until you can get it right). 
7. Slow it down - A lot of the routines are performed at a moderate to fast tempo, so slow it down in your personal rehearsal. (I know your physie teacher does this in class too because it works). 
8. Don't always start from the beginning - Going from the beginning every time will probably make your start really good, but remember that the endings are equally as important. 
9. Changing up the songs - Okay so I've taken this tip from my physie teacher. Instead of the 2016 soundtrack she used songs from previous years to test how well we really knew the moves (keeping in mind BjP renditions of songs means that tempo and number of counts are the similar year after year). 
10. Practise at the time of day when you will be competing. This is extremely important as you want to prepare your mind and body to work at that time of day. Knowing that you can do your routines at the scheduled time of day gives you one less thing to think about. I'm glad that the beginner ladies are scheduled at the same time I have my lessons. 

Above all, find something that works for you. If you don't see improvement after a while (it can take 4-6 weeks), then change the way you are practising. Everyone is different.

Countdown to competition season

Physie-goers all around the country are now gearing up for competition season. Towards the end of July until September, there are competitions to prepare girls and ladies for the zone championships, these include interclubs and club competitions. Interclubs as the name suggests are between clubs and dancers may only enter into two (BjP association, others might differ). Club competitions are intra-club and give an opportunity for the club community to see each other dance.

Here are just a few things that I have learnt:

• Impulse - one of the hardest manoeuvres to execute gracefully. The movement has to be fluid and it works the abdominal muscles. This move has been included in the 'floordrill' and 'advanced' routines. 
• Toe rises require a lot of balance and should be practised with a chair/barre.
• I have learnt that in marching, the thumb should be slightly bent to ensure that it doesn't create a gap with the rest of the fingers.
• All positions should be done in front of a mirror so that you know that it creates the desired lines and illusions. Sometimes you think that you are making a straight line when in fact it does not appear that way.

Attire

• My made-to-order leotard has not arrived yet, it'll turn up later this month. 
• A club jacket (optional) makes sure that make-up does not transfer onto your leotard, keeps you covered up, provides warmth and certainly a sense of belonging. 
• The BjP ladies' championships are not done on a lit stage but rather a sports centre. This means that you needn't go ridiculous with make-up. Remember, BjP also bans certain make-up products for juniors but there are no restrictions for seniors and ladies. 
• Tan, well I'll see about this one. Physie in this era has banned the tan for juniors and is optional for seniors and ladies. Dancers all have their individual complexion and BjP promotes positive body-image. 

I've saved the most important point last and that is to take care of your health.

• Have a healthy, nutritious and balanced diet which will provide your body with physie fuel. 
• Stay hydrated! Always have a drink bottle at every workout and avoid fizzy drinks for physie.