Tip of the Month

Using Tai Chi Transitions in Class

Guide your students to integrate The Slow Dance into their moves and their lives by using The Three Stages of Practice process: Learn, Move, Energize. Using any move from one of your bodies of work, such as Cha-Cha-Cha, guide your students to Learn the Move, mechanically, including the name of the move. Next, have them Move the Move, continuing to practice until they have a body feeling for it. Finally, have them Energize the Cha-Cha-Cha, moving as a whole, with the energy of Tai Chi: flowing, tender, fluid. Use imagery pearls: “Float like a balloon” and “Move like willow tree in the wind.” For contrast, ask your students to energize the Cha-Cha-Cha with Tae Kwon Do energy: sharp, powerful, and precise or Jazz Dance energy: playful, peppy, and sexy. Return to Tai Chi energy as you guide the transition from Cha-Cha-Cha to the next move, incorporating the gentle, slow, fluid chemistry to support all transitions.