Posted on September 09, 2013 by Jenny Cromack

“…..and Freestyle….”

It’s as if the room had suddenly become full of stone statues. I think maybe one person jumped around (until they realised no one else was joining them) but the rest stared at me as if suddenly they had fallen asleep and this was their worst nightmare. And the funny thing was that moments before they had been copying every favourite, silly, awkward and wayward move I did; but now left to their own devices…..absolutely nothing – the music just plays away.

Asking people to suddenly “freestyle” enables me to share a little something of me with the class – that is how it starts for the instructor too. When we have pick new music or create choreography for a freestyle class, we also stand there (mostly in our front rooms) equally looking bemused. We too are scared that our creativity may get laughed at, or that it won’t work, or that people won’t get it. It can’t be done just because someone says “GO!” It takes a long time to come up with something which “fits”.

Right now, I’ve hit that creative block. Having been forced to take time off to rest my back, this would be an ideal time to come up with an all singing, all dancing series of routines or compilation of music to make my grand entrance back to my classes. But here I am, mimicking a stone statue. I’m trying to find some amazing tunes for my Spin classes – but I have listened to all my cds, and gone through everything I have in iTunes, but found nothing that I haven’t used already. I have the music I want for Zumba® but cannot decide on any moves other than the same old same old for the tracks. It’s almost as frustrating as my back pain!

And I know that this creative block occurs for a lot of people in their jobs. So I wanted to share how I normally get over it..you never know, it may come in useful.

• Take a break and go for a drive: No word of a lie – my best Zumba® routines have been choreographed whilst I was driving (safely of course). They are still tracks I use today because they were so successful. It’s amazing what catches your eye, what you listen to or what you think about when you are in a mode of transport
• Listen to something new: Whether it’s a new radio station that you’ve never listened to before, or an album a friend lends you…changing it up a little does make you look at things differently.
• Read a book: Seriously seriously seriously!! I can’t remember which book it was, but the narrative described the song that was playing in the background and I remembered that I used to love it. I searched it out, downloaded it (even then bought the album) and now use it as an immense hill climb in spin!
• Try a different kind of exercise: You knew that exercise would come into it somewhere right! Do a different class to normal, change your gym routine, walk somewhere you normally drive to. Think of all the hormones pumping round your body when you raise that heart rate. Think of the different people you would meet – the different conversations you would have, the different physical challenge, the different order of routines and music. It will honestly take your mind off your subject and boom….inspiration will hit.
• Type something random into YouTube and see what happens: I think I once typed “flapping arms dance” and after watching hours of amazing hiphop dance tutorials (which I still can’t do), I found a fantastic track to use for a class.

Hope it helps!