It can be confusing.
You keep getting that one comment in class and at competitions even though you're thinking about it when you dance.
You've drilled at home, made some improvements, but you get your feis results back and HELLO, there's that pesky comment again.
Here's 6 Tips to Help you Fix Corrections in Irish Dance
Understand the correction Get real with yourself for a minute. Do you actually know what the correction means? What to do: Double check with your teacher. When they ask you to make a correction, make sure that you're interpreting what they mean. Show them, "like this?". And perform it in the way you're interpreting the correction so that there is clarity between you and them.
Understand how to make the correction
Do you understand physiologically HOW to make the change? Understanding how you're body moves and where to initiate the movement from can make a world of difference when working on corrections.
What to do: Check out the TT blog for a vast variety of free resources to understand each correction or subscribe to the TT Online Institute to watch and complete training videos on each specific correction.
3. Identify where you need to make the correction
Sometimes when a dancer receives a correction, it's not that they need to do that correction at all times when they're dancing. Rather, there are specific moments when they need to make it. Maybe you keep getting "arms in" comments to realize, it's just when you jump or kick that your arms move.
What to do: Watch recordings of your dances in SLOW MOTION and identify the exact areas where your arms are moving or legs aren't turning out. Then work through your dances and drill those pieces.
4. Drill the correction
Drill at home to retrain your body and brain how a certain correction should look and feel.
What to do: Break each piece down into micro-movements. Small pieces, bit by bit. In each piece, apply the corrections. This will feel weird because it's not what your body is familiar with. That's typically a good thing. If it feels normal, you're probably doing the same thing you've always done. Change will always feel a bit weird. Embrace it.
5. Work your strength, stability, flexibility and mobility
If it was as simple as just making the change, we'd all be World Champions. It's hard work to make lasting corrections. Dance class and drilling is not enough to elicit the change needed for many Irish dance moves. You need to work on your strength, stability, flexibility and mobility so that making specific corrections is doable and safe.
What to do: Develop these areas through a program like the TT Online Institute (TTOI). There's a free 14 day trial of the TTOI where you can try it out!
6. Learn to love the journey
Remember that Irish dance is a continuous journey. Learning to love and enjoy the journey of working on your art and craft is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
Happy Training!
Ellen
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