The Cake/Icing/Sprinkles Theory

 

Why more isn’t better.

Have you ever eaten a spoonful of sprinkles?  It’s awful.  They look delicious, but they taste like chalky, sweetened wax.

It was special on the cake, but now it’s just blah.

 

Too much of something special makes it less special.

When you’re performing, it’s really tempting to use all your coolest, fanciest stuff.

I was especially tempted to do this when I was an advanced-level student.  I had worked hard to learn all this tricky, complex stuff, and I wanted to use it, damn it!

But just because I could layer three different things while traveling and playing zils and balancing a sword on my head, didn’t mean I should.

Instead of being impressive, it was a hot mess.

 

If some cool stuff is good, why isn’t more better?

Too much “whiz bang” material is exhausting for the audience. 

They get tired, and then they get jaded.

At best, they stop being impressed.

At worst, they get bored.

So you’re working really hard, but your effort is wasted.

This happens when we focus on impressing the audience, instead of engaging them.

 

So how do you keep them engaged?

Think of dancing like decorating a cake. 

You need three things:

1) Cake

This is your simple, versatile material.  It’s plain, but it’s satisfying.

2) Icing

This is your more complex, fancy material.  On it’s own, it can be a little much.  But it decorates the “cake” and makes it richer.

3) Sprinkles

This is your most surprising, flashy, and impressive material.  The audience can’t handle too much of this, but in small doses, it makes your performance much more special.

The most satisfying dancing has lots of cake, a nice amount of icing, and just a few sprinkles.

Keeping your cake, icing, and sprinkles in balance keeps the audience’s attention.

 

Let’s look at an example

You can apply the cake/icing/sprinkles theory to almost any aspect of the dance. 

Let’s look at how it applies to arm work:

Cake:   Holding your arms in still frames.  This creates clean, pretty lines, and emphasizes your hip work.  But if it’s the only thing you do, it starts to look ordinary.

Icing:  Moving your arms in pathways.  This adds a lush opulence to your dancing.  But if you move your arms all the time, it distracts the audience from your hip work.

Sprinkles:   Big, bold arm accents.  These create drama, and help you emphasize important moments.  But if you don’t budget them carefully, it looks like you’re just flailing your arms around.

 

Dos & Don’ts

Do:  Explore different areas of your dancing to apply this to.  (Moves, musicality, props…)

Don’t:  Turn this into dogma.  This is a tool to help you make decisions, not hard-and-fast rules about the “right way to dance”.

 

Summary

Your coolest material stops being so special if you overdo it.  The audience quickly becomes jaded, and stops appreciating it. 

To keep their interest, think of dancing like decorating a cake.  Balance lots of simple-but-satisfying “cake” material with a nice amount of fancier or more complex “icing”, and a few carefully-chosen “sprinkles”.

 

Next steps

Make a list of movements that you consider cake, icing, or sprinkles.

Try dancing an entire song with movements from just one category at a time.

Now try using them all in one song.
 

Your turn

What are a few of your cake, icing, and sprinkles moves?

Where else could you apply this idea, besides your movement vocabulary?

Do you call them “sprinkles”?  (Here in Boston, they’re often called “jimmies”.)

Share your thoughts in the comments.
 

Want more?

I also talk about balancing complexity in Episode 2 of my video podcast, Taktaba.

You can download it for free, or you can get it on DVD from Amazon.com.

 

p.s. today’s image is courtesy of EvaBlue via Flickr.