123: Improve Your Dance by Mastering Your Mind — Clare Guss-West

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra speaks with Clare Guss-West — a published author, choreographer, teacher, Committee Chair at the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, and Co-Founder and Director of the</span> <a href= "https://danceandcreativewellness.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Clare’s resume is extensive and varied, but most of her work seeks to apply scientific research into professional, vocational, and inclusive dance practice.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Supported by her Eastern movement practice, she provides mindful attention and focused strategies that harness the mind, energy, and effort to empower dancers. These practices allow dancers to optimize their own physical and mental performance. Clare travels the world, sharing her ideas with some of the world’s top ballet companies and performers. On the podcast, Clare dives into her ideas and shares some practical ways that we all can apply mindful techniques to make our daily performance stronger — both on and off the stage.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Moving Quotes:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm going to look at aspects of the movement that would be ideal — that I'd have a great verticality, that I'd fly in my split jump. We need to focus in on those things and not focus on trying to adjust bits of our bodies. And that's when we get measurable differences."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Affirmations are based on the same principle [as setting external focus]. You have an idea that's bigger than you, and you can imagine it. Then it becomes a roadmap for you or for your life where you can relax a little bit. That roadmap guides and facilitates the realization of our goal."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"If you come to mind training very late, it's like learning a new language. We have to start using less effort. It's less effort, act