The 5 A’s…of blues improv?
San Diego Fusion this January was one of those mind-bending-and-dance-game-changing experiences–probably the biggest one for me since Swingout Northwest back at the end of 2006. One of the best things about fusion, especially of the blues-contact-improv variety, is the openness with which it treats the lead-follow connection: you’re encouraged to bend and play with the usual conventions.
After getting back in the “fusion mindset” after an intensely fun time last week at David and Diane’s Night and Day Dance blues practicum/party, which got several of us who went to Fusion as well as a lot of other likeminded people together, it occurred to me that one of the hardest but also most rewarding parts of blues fusion is maintaining a state of mindfulness–to both the music and to one’s partner. This got me thinking about David Richo’s book How To Be an Adult in Relationships, which among other things outlines a “5 A’s” model for mindful loving. Seems that the 5 A’s of a good dance partnership might roughly mirror Richo’s 5 A’s for romantic partners:
- Attention: noticing, observing, and responding to what’s going on with the music, what your partner is doing, and what others are doing
- Acceptance of one’s partner and the current state of the dance; being open to possibilities and not blocking (except, of course, for creative effect)
- Appreciation of the potential and limitations of the space, your abilities and your partner’s abilities, and being willing and able to accept creative challenge
- Affection in respectful ways for your partner, the dance, and others
- Allowing your partner and yourself to each bring something of your own to the dance and to allow the dance to unfold as it may
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