I'm trying to work the man's mutanze from the passamezzo in Caroso's Il Ballarino into my feet, and the words to call it them into my brain, so that I can teach them.
I find it hard to learn both at once, so this is a useful technique for me.
- experiment enough that I have a plan for how I think the rhythm goes write down a plan for calling that, including each beat and rest
- record myself calling to the music - I usually call every second repeat, so I have time to breath, and/or dance passeggio, between mutanze
- practice dancing to my own calling
- revise rhythm and calling pattern as needed, rinse and repeat
- begin to experiment with subtle alterations to the rhythm (moving beats by a fraction, anticipating and delaying for style rather than moving an action to another beat entirely) with the on-beat calling track to keep me from getting lost
So far so good. If I keep making these and finding them useful, I'll put them up online.