Silly selfie with Mikolay!
As promised, I’m excited to share with you another coach interview! I recently had the joy of working with an amazing coach, Mikolay Czarnecki. He had a great perspective to share on some of my rhythm routines, and while he was in the studio I asked him to share his perspective on how to make the most out of coaching.
What advice do you have for someone to make the most of their coaching? How would you recommend preparing for a coaching?
The Basics
“I don’t think, generally, you need to prepare. You cannot be scared of taking the coaching. You should be excited for learning something new, and you cannot be afraid of making a mistake on a coaching. You’re getting some information that is new, and one suggestion that I have is to not overthink. When you hear information, you actually have to take it and understand what the coach says. Like if he says, ‘Take 3 steps forward,’ then you take it in your head and say, ‘OK he said 3 steps and he said forward.’ So, just physically try to execute the 3 steps forward. No matter how it feels, just take 3 steps and physically feel it. Some problems with the step or how you do it may be very complex, so there are stages of learning it. So in the 1 coaching lesson, you can get through the 3 concepts of 1 movement, but you have to try to physically execute the information you hear. So let’s say you do the 3 steps, and then the next concept is do the 3 steps, but do them all on the toes. Then the next concept is: the first step is on the heel then the next 2 steps are toes. I don’t care how you actually execute it, meaning if you wobble or not, but you still do that heel and then toe, toe - even if you stumble. That’s what I would generally say. You cannot prepare yourself generally, but let’s say you’re going to take a lesson with a coach. You need to practice what you’re going to work on before, so when you come to the lesson you don’t have problems with the routine or some stuff because that’s an additional stress. If you don’t practice, you’ll be focused on what it [your routine] was supposed to be, so then you don’t think about how to execute the step and what the coach wants you to do. That doesn’t work. Especially if you’re working with coaches you’ve never worked with before, you don’t know what to expect, so in the back of your head there is sometimes coaching that you’re not satisfied with in the end. That doesn’t have to be the student’s fault, but it can actually be the fault of the coach. The coach could be an amazing dancer, but he doesn’t explain or teach clearly. He asks you to copy the movement, but you still don’t understand the concept of how to do that step - how to copy the step. So it’s not being scared and have expectations of the coach, but not of yourself. Just go there and basically do your best. That is my suggestion.”
For Advanced Dancers
“For advanced dancers, the explanations are more detailed, so if I work with you, and come back in 3 months, I expect that you’re going to work hard in between the coaching and try to execute whatever you heard the best you can. If not, then of course nobody’s going to yell at you, but deep inside the heart of the coach there’s a disappointment. I haven’t felt that many times, but that happens even with my own students. I know when they practice and when they didn’t. Even when they practice wrong, I can see that they tried to do something about it and then I can always fix it more easily. If you don’t do anything then I need to start from the beginning.”
In Summary
“So that’s just my suggestion; don’t be scared, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced. There’s no difference between the two; it’s basically the same. If you’re taking a coaching, you want to improve your dancing, so you should be excited about it. If it’s a good coach, and they explain enough, then you should feel really good. Sometimes you have a bad day, but [if you] still take the coaching with your teacher, then the teacher will remember. Even if you are falling off your feet and it’s a bad day, still try to do your best. I’ve had a situation where I go to a coaching and nothing comes out, and I get pissed off and it just goes downhill. My coach will stop me and say, ‘Listen, OK you have a bad day. That’s OK, it’s your decision.’ I just told a student it’s your decision. Either you can make it worse, or you can make the best out of it. So that’s my view.”
Bonus: Physical Preparation!
“It’s important to physically prepare, too. Stretch. Go through the motions of the dances you’re going to do. Go through the basic motions of the dance you’re doing and the routine if you’re working on that. Make sure your body is warmed up whether you do stretches or some cardio or go through your dance.”
What advice do you have for someone to make the most of their coaching? How would you recommend preparing for a coaching?
The Basics
“I don’t think, generally, you need to prepare. You cannot be scared of taking the coaching. You should be excited for learning something new, and you cannot be afraid of making a mistake on a coaching. You’re getting some information that is new, and one suggestion that I have is to not overthink. When you hear information, you actually have to take it and understand what the coach says. Like if he says, ‘Take 3 steps forward,’ then you take it in your head and say, ‘OK he said 3 steps and he said forward.’ So, just physically try to execute the 3 steps forward. No matter how it feels, just take 3 steps and physically feel it. Some problems with the step or how you do it may be very complex, so there are stages of learning it. So in the 1 coaching lesson, you can get through the 3 concepts of 1 movement, but you have to try to physically execute the information you hear. So let’s say you do the 3 steps, and then the next concept is do the 3 steps, but do them all on the toes. Then the next concept is: the first step is on the heel then the next 2 steps are toes. I don’t care how you actually execute it, meaning if you wobble or not, but you still do that heel and then toe, toe - even if you stumble. That’s what I would generally say. You cannot prepare yourself generally, but let’s say you’re going to take a lesson with a coach. You need to practice what you’re going to work on before, so when you come to the lesson you don’t have problems with the routine or some stuff because that’s an additional stress. If you don’t practice, you’ll be focused on what it [your routine] was supposed to be, so then you don’t think about how to execute the step and what the coach wants you to do. That doesn’t work. Especially if you’re working with coaches you’ve never worked with before, you don’t know what to expect, so in the back of your head there is sometimes coaching that you’re not satisfied with in the end. That doesn’t have to be the student’s fault, but it can actually be the fault of the coach. The coach could be an amazing dancer, but he doesn’t explain or teach clearly. He asks you to copy the movement, but you still don’t understand the concept of how to do that step - how to copy the step. So it’s not being scared and have expectations of the coach, but not of yourself. Just go there and basically do your best. That is my suggestion.”
For Advanced Dancers
“For advanced dancers, the explanations are more detailed, so if I work with you, and come back in 3 months, I expect that you’re going to work hard in between the coaching and try to execute whatever you heard the best you can. If not, then of course nobody’s going to yell at you, but deep inside the heart of the coach there’s a disappointment. I haven’t felt that many times, but that happens even with my own students. I know when they practice and when they didn’t. Even when they practice wrong, I can see that they tried to do something about it and then I can always fix it more easily. If you don’t do anything then I need to start from the beginning.”
In Summary
“So that’s just my suggestion; don’t be scared, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced. There’s no difference between the two; it’s basically the same. If you’re taking a coaching, you want to improve your dancing, so you should be excited about it. If it’s a good coach, and they explain enough, then you should feel really good. Sometimes you have a bad day, but [if you] still take the coaching with your teacher, then the teacher will remember. Even if you are falling off your feet and it’s a bad day, still try to do your best. I’ve had a situation where I go to a coaching and nothing comes out, and I get pissed off and it just goes downhill. My coach will stop me and say, ‘Listen, OK you have a bad day. That’s OK, it’s your decision.’ I just told a student it’s your decision. Either you can make it worse, or you can make the best out of it. So that’s my view.”
Bonus: Physical Preparation!
“It’s important to physically prepare, too. Stretch. Go through the motions of the dances you’re going to do. Go through the basic motions of the dance you’re doing and the routine if you’re working on that. Make sure your body is warmed up whether you do stretches or some cardio or go through your dance.”
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