Comments on: Brain Exercise.

By: Kasia

Kasia — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:22:55 +0000

….and i find this uber-true for stuff like level 2 or 3 suhaila drills. they are a mind f””, , excuse the term, and if you conquer them with your mind, you are 75% of the way there

By: Kasia

Kasia — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:20:58 +0000

sound ssimilar to eric franklins’ philosophy and books. mind over matter, the brain does, even on its own, a whooooole lot more that people sometimes think.

By: Geraldine

Geraldine — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:09:04 +0000

Finally!! this makes so much sense to me. I’ve always done it, think about movements and dance and when i practice i realize that my technique got better just from thinking about it. I’ve tried to explain it to other people but never knew how. This is so awesome!

By: asharah

asharah — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:32:46 +0000

Thanks for the suggestion, Martin! I think that book is on my “to read” list.

And personally, I think that musicians and dancers have way more in common than we realize. Most of my dancer friends are or have been serious musicians. I’d love to investigate the neurology of dance and music and see how they’re similar or if they engage similar parts of the brain. I did read This Is Your Brain on Music a few months ago, which I found absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, though, I no longer have the book because I lent it to my mom… hehe…

By: martin

martin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:58:50 +0000

I can also highly recommend Norman Doidge’s book – The Brain That Changes Itself. It’s packed with fascinating information on brain science.

I’m a musician not a dancer, but I’ve found that even mental training unrelated playing can improve my playing.

Martin
http://www.mindsparke.com

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:29:16 +0000

Oh, yes! I like to listen to our music a lot while driving because I can sort of put my back brain attention on it and will imagine how I’d dance to it. It not only helps me learn the music, the changes and moves that can go in certain parts, I think it really helps me figure out transitions. This has also been my approach to choreography. It doesn’t always work for me to put music on and just move to it to see what comes out. Instead I put it on and zone out try to visualize what I think matches the music, and then take it from there.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:52:01 +0000

Thanks for this post Asharah. I have to admit, I do this *every single night* – yup, I lie there visualising my practice for about 20 minutes before I sleep. I do think it makes a lot of difference, even though everyone else thinks I’m just obsessive. Cheers from NZ!

By: asharah

asharah — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:38:18 +0000

Speaking of mirror neurons… Towards the end of the book, the authors go into just HOW powerful mirror neurons are! I’m reading that part now, and wow… just incredible.

Thanks for posting the link to the NOVA article… I’m going to check that out right now. (The authors of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own cite this capoeira/ballet study on the PBS page!)

In fact, I think I’ll put that link and maybe some others as I find them in a new post. Sometimes really useful and interesting things can get lost in the comments.

Science and dance nerds unite!

By: Lane Ellen

Lane Ellen — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:50:38 +0000

Ok, that book is going on my list. This is something of interest to me as well, sparked by the Creating Passionate Users blog, and a link to a PBS store on mirror neurons. I posted something in Tribe a while ago that I’m reposting here (because it is late and it’s been a while. Mainly, I want the link.)

Frankly, I think this finding also supports the owning and multiple watchings of dance dvds.
___________begin repost______________

The new understanding of mirror neurons brings this all into a little more focus. In essence, just by watching dance, you can make connections clearer in your head. There’s a study that says that watching something stimulates the same neurons as DOING that something. This is how injured dancers are able to “practice” with their minds – by steadfastly going through positions, etc.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html