Editor: Doug Bradshaw

Published: Autumn 2006

Number: 47

Download: Newsletter Autumn 2006 (1Mb)

Editorial

Maybe it comes with the fact of living in England that we have an almost obsessive interest in the weather. As dancers the weather can play a major part in the way we view a performance since for most of us performing is an outdoor activity.

But weather is just one factor in the multiple elements that go to make a display of dancing. There’s the surface and the space we have to perform on and in, the size and quality of the team who are available on the day, the size and interest level of the crowd, the musical input, the organisation of the event and more. Each element contributes to a performance. I find it useful to score each element out of ten and then view the overall result.

Perfect tens are rare and wonderful and make for happy memories. But often the lowest scoring item gets all the blame for a “bad” day and it’s never true. The weather is the one element we cannot control. Most others we can in some way influence. So analyse your “bad” days and try scoring the elements, if the same thing keeps scoring low decide what you can do to fix it. Shrugging off a bad day as down to the music, or the learners, or the crowd is never the answer. They’re challenges to be taken on and dealt with.