| Article | : | "Dancing Tid-bits" Issue #111, Thursday, July 18, 2002.
Today's Topic: Natural Top, I am getting dizzy?
"I am getting dizzy". I don't know about you, but I hear it quite often from my beginning students when they learn to do the Natural Top for the first time.
What is Natural Top? The Natural Top (Back Spot Turn) resembles the movement
of our childhood toy the "Top". You give it a whirl and it keeps spinning to the right till it looses momentum and falls. As it turns to the right we called this step a "Natural Top" Classically, 9 steps starting with first step RF crosses behind LF, then LF to side and repeat etc till on 9th step man closes RF to LF. Lady just follows the man naturally. It is Bronze level figure, of course.
Why do I get Dizzy?Let me tell you a little bit about physiology of dizziness. We have an inner ear called the Labyrinth which is responsible for our balance and orientation in space. There are canals and lake like space in
this labyrynth.Then there are bunch of "sea weeds" like structures called Cilia floating in a Fluid. These Cilia are usually standing upright and send
us the information of posture, sway, balance, turn etc etc. Like the wind swaying trees, if we keep turning at a constant speed on a spot, these cilia tend to sway in one direction. As westop, it seems the fluid is going in one direction and the cilia are trying to straighten out again and going in the other direction. This discrepancy confuses our brain and we get dizzy.
Of course as dancers we train ourselves to fight this natural dizzy feeling but really there is a very scientific way to eradicate this phenomenon. Many of you know this by the nameof "Spotting". For sake of brevity let's discuss Spotting Technique in the next issue of Tid-bits.
Sorry I didn't mean to give you a lecture in human physiology but well, that's the way I am...Best Wishes..Max |
