What is Agency anyway? And how does it conquer the Spaghetti Factor?

I have spent a lot of time in my life feeling overwhelmed. There was always so much that had to be done, YESTERDAY! All the things squshed together like a big plate of cold, congealed spaghetti. You get that image, right? A solid block of spag-shaped starch. I couldn’t even contemplate it. I couldn’t make a decision about which one of the many screaming tasks came first. I felt sick when I tried. So I put out the most flagrant fires. The rest of the time I played solitaire and read novels on my phone.

Agency is the opposite of overwhelm

Agency is a nice hot plate of fresh pasta rich with olive oil (and maybe a little sautéed garlic ; ). Every strand is separate, easy to pull out and manage. You have choices. Options. Confidence. Ataraxia. Ahhh!

The word Agency comes from the Latin. Its root means doing. Agency, according to Napper and Rao (they wrote the book The Power of Agency), is “the ability to act as an effective agent for yourself–reflecting, making creative choices, and constructing a meaningful life.” They go on to explain that folks who feel more agency also feel less anxiety and overwhelm.

What’s the Number 1 problem dancers tell me about improvisation?

Fear. Anxiety. Overwhelm. What to do next? I freeze on stage. I can’t remember any moves. What if I am boring? What if I do something wrong? They hate me!

Building agency (and thus confidence) helps fend off anxiety and overwhelm.

What is Agency? The ability to make confident decisions in the moment, which is, coincidentally, what improvisation is. Improvisation is baked into Oriental dance. Even if all we were ever taught was choreography. One of the most basic principles of our dance is improv.

And this is what Agency means for us, as dancers: We have all the power in our dance. We dance what we feel from the music in the moment. WE make those choices. No one tells us what to do. The musicians follow us.

So if we want to improvise with effortless ease, we want to increase our Agency.

Napper and Rao give seven principles to increase agency. We’ll look today at the very first, which they say is maybe the most important of all.

Reduce Stimuli

The more random things we have to track, the less attention we have. The more fear, anxiety, and overwhelm crowd our brains, the more we try to remember our entire dance vocabulary so we can decide what to so next, the less we can be in our Zone.

How can dancers reduce stimuli?
We focus on the music and the present moment. Everything else is a distraction. Thinking, remembering, is a distraction. So what do we do?

Part of it is practice. Part of it is prior building of Agency. But here’s something we can use in any moment, without any previous prep.

Creative Limitation

That sounds like an oxymoron, right? Limit our creativity? WHY? Isn’t that what daily life is for?

Well, yeah, but intentional limitation can be a wonderful thing. All of the little pictures that I draw have intentionally limited palettes. I use only a few colors–often only three, rarely more than five. After I pick the line color and draw the squiggle, I test that color with a bunch of others, and pick the few that most resonate for me.

When I practice, I focus on one thing at a time—sometimes for only a minute before moving on, but just one thing–the connection between my feet and the floor, or the orientation of my ramii bones, the initiation of my undulation, my breath–whatever. Something will come into my head to notice, and I will focus on that only for a while. Then move on to something else.

Limiting our options is a way to diminish the overwhelm of too many choices–while increasing our creative expression!

Templates

Templates are patterns of qualities. Qualities are dynamics, like fast or slow, heavy or light, flirtatious or serious, traveling or stillness. Shapes can work, too. Circles, for example. Circle… Circle… Circle… Accent Accent Accent. Pretty much any part of our body can make a circle. Or an infinity. Or an accent. So we get to relax and enjoy all the variation and surprising discoveries within Circular movement.

Templates are an intentionally limited palette of options.

In the Free Mix and Match class last Saturday (the recording is available until May), we looked at Quick Quick Slow, a classic pattern for Oriental dance. Quick and Slow are qualities. Quick Quick Slow is a pattern. It can repeat. We can dip into any color on our palette–move quickly for a while. Move slowly for a while. We also explored qualities of being, generating our Glorious Dance Self. Affect is another quality. We can Imperious, or Flirtatious, or whatever quality the music brings to mind. Just one thing at a time. In our current Mix and Match 5-week series, we explore different qualities every week.

Specific movements don’t matter–any movement can be infused with any quality. So we can let go of trying to think and focus on one simple quality. Attending to quality brings us into the present moment.

When we let go of worry about which move will show up, and just let them come, we get more in tune with the music, our own bodies, and the present moment. We have time to be playful. We have time to interact, to relax, to enjoy ourselves.

We have time.

And isn’t that a lovely thought?

As I worked towards health, I taught myself to notice when I felt overwhelmed. I visualized that clump of cold spag, and I drizzled a little olive oil on it. I let the ease of that olive oil seep into my consciousness. Over time, that clump began to loosen up around the edges. Individual strands began to emerge. And one day there it was! The image of a hot plate of yummy fresh pasta. That’s when things really started to change for me.

They can change for you, too.

With love,
Alia

I hope you will check out the recording of the Free Mix and Match class. It’s up until May 5, 2022. Please do sign up, and please do share the link with friends. https://alia-thabit.ck.page/ec91673801

Here’s what folks had to say about our Mix and Match class..

“I just finished your recorded quick quick slow template class. It was Amazing! My body felt so good doing it! Thank you so much!”

“That exploration really opened up something new for me. That it really is powerful to just work with qualities, taking my time, owning the space, and not having to actually “dance”. I really enjoyed it. And when I watched you, Alia, I could totally see the power in it. It was compelling to watch”

“Feeling my individual dancing spirit free to shine through!💗 “

“Thank you for the experience……So much for me to think (and feel) about!”

“Going more into your own pleasure and then bringing it out/sharing it with audience.”​

“I feel more confident about performing!”

“It reinforced the the value of trusting myself.”

Please also consider the 5-week Mix and Match Templates FUN Class! I just posted the first recording. So you have plenty of time to enjoy it before the next one ; ).

Registration for Mix and Match is open for a little longer. More info and register here: https://aliathabit.com/mix-and-match-templates-for-improvisation/

How to Build Confidence so you can Dance with Joy

Smile, honey!

SmileHoneyTake a walk in any big city. Walk like a boss–and listen to the catcalls rain down upon your head. Mmm, baby! Gimme some of that! The more confident your walk, the more demanding the comments. Smile, honey! Why don’t you smile? Something about a confident woman inspires endless commentary. An appreciative glance is always nice, but who likes to be the object of unwanted attention? No one.

Still, the catcallers have a point. Smiling is magic. Especially when we smile for ourselves. A smile lifts mood, melts stress, and ripples outward to lift up those around us. It is part of the secret sauce of self-love that brings us confidence and joy. And one great place to smile is in the mirror. That’s right–smile at yourself!

I learned this from Bobby Farrah. It took me a looong time to understand its value–and longer to put it into practice. Bobby gazed at himself lovingly in the mirror. I mean, yeah, he looked at us to correct us, too–but when he looked at himself, as he did going across the floor and at many other moments, he damn near simpered. It was pretty interesting. Now I see (as I do with so much of Bobby’s material), how advanced and amazing his models were.

Think about it. Most of the time when we look at ourselves in the mirror–particularly doing practice–what do we do? We squint accusingly. We watch ourselves like hawks for any mistake, deviation, or flaw. And then we berate ourselves for them. We are always looking at ourselves with mean, narrow eyes. And we all know that what we do in practice, we do in performance. So those mean eyes go out into the world with us. We frown in concentration when we dance. At our guests. At our friends. Yikes!

So what can we do?

Smile! Now, when I practice, I don’t look at myself for flaws–I beam at myself! I give myself flirtatious glances! I laugh with myself! I treat myself like a loving friend and share joy with my reflection in the mirror. And you know what? It works. It’s far easier to express joy when I practice it every day. My dance is more confident. My affect is more welcoming. My practice is much more fun. And the warm feeling I get lasts into my day.

Try it! When you look in a mirror, give yourself a flirty wink. When you dance in front of a mirror, focus on flirting and laughing with yourself. Twinkle your joy at every opportunity. It may be hard at first, but persevere. True learning is uncomfortable. But gaining joy is well-worth the effort.

It’s okay to love yourself. You won’t turn into a narcissist, and you won’t suddenly become a schlub, either. It’s okay to feel good. It’s okay to smile. Maybe not for catcallers, but certainly for yourself and your friends. We could all use a dose of confidence. We could all use some more fun. And we could all use joy. Let’s make it a habit to give that to ourselves.

Breath helps bring the joy. Breath has become such an integral part of my dance, I can’t imagine going back to the way I was. Last call for the early access to The Road to Joy: Step 1, Breath.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do.

 

Love,

Alia

Fake smiles good and bad

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/health/22really.html?_r=0

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/post/fake_it_till_you_make_it

How to Trick your mind for Happiness

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_trick_your_brain_for_happiness

 

PS We have some friends who could use some love. 

PS In the 2012 and 2013 90 Days, Dawn Schmidt Ventimiglia gifted us with buckets of love, insight, and great improv prompts. Dawn’s beloved husband is surgery bound. If you’ve been wishing for some of Dawn’s wonderful painted bowls, glamping lamps or other bright, whimsical creations, now is a very helpful time to buy.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/EclecticDawnArts

PPS Someone unlocked my cage, so I will be running around loose much of the summer. It’s not all set yet, but it looks like I will be in

If you might be around, please hit me up. I’m available for parties, coffee breaks, workshops, and private lessons.

 

Lots and LOTS of love!

Alia