John Wooden was born in 1910 and is the first person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and coach. In his 40 years at UCLA, he has mentored legends such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mr. Wooden has created a model, the Pyramid of Success, in order to teach his players to be victors in life, not just on the court. To do this he treated them as an extended family; emphasizing that winning was more than scoring and his definition of success is as follows: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
Below is an talk that Mr. Wooden did back in the early 2000’s where he explains his meaning of success and urges us all to achieve our personal best.
I believe that the most important lesson that one can take away from Mr Wooden is that you should not be concerned with being better then anyone else just the betterment of yourself. We as dancers, myself included, get caught up in being the best that there is and not necessarily being the best that we ourselves can be makes it difficult when attempting to judge ones progression.
In order to truly figure out if you as a person or dancer are reaching your potential think about your own abilities and goals. Don’t set yourself up against another person, look at how far you have come since you have started and where you would like to be. Ask yourself if you are doing what needs to be done to reach your goals? If you realize that you have already reached your goals you may have set them too low and have yet to fully utilize your potential.
Traveling around and dancing in different scenes I have noticed some things that both leads and follows do which can make a dance awkward for either person. Here are several pet peeves of mine in no particular order.
1) Wearing black dress shoes and white socks…drives me nuts. Also dancing in shorts while wearing dress shoes and white socks pulled up. I’m sorry but the aesthetics are just very displeasing to me
2) Asking a person to dance by grabbing their arm or hand and walking them out onto the floor without actually asking them. This is just extremely rude and usually involves a person who you don’t really know doing it. Guys are the people who I see do this the most but I have seen some instances where ladies do this as well.
3) Lindy Hop is not just about you on the dance floor and how good you look. This is a partnered dance and is about your ability to dance with each other. If a person is unable to follow what you lead or is extremely thrown off when you attempt to do some musicality please take a moment to consider that they may be uncomfortable with what you are doing or that something is wrong with what you are attempting to do.
4) This last one is aimed mostly at follows but can apply to both roles. Please do not assume that you know what the leader is going to lead next.Followers please don’t also rush through your steps. Just because you think you might know what you are supposed to do next don’t do unless led into it. This can lead to A.B.G’s and/or awkward confusion between both people. This can be prevented by leads leading clearly and committing to whatever it is that you choose to do. Do not switch moves halfway through another one.
5) Personal space…..You know that little bubble which everyone has called their personal space? Well that still exists when you are out on the dance floor. People should not feel like they are being violated while dancing with another person. Please take the hint that if it seems that your partner is trying to create space that you may want to give them some.
These are just a couple which have always bugged me and that I have experienced or seen happen lately. What are some of your own pet peeves?
