The four dials we turn
Usually one at a time, and usually without making a fuss about it.
- Control
- The same exercise, slower, with a quiet carriage and no lurch at either end. It’s the first thing to improve and the last thing anyone masters.
- Range
- Taking the movement further, once you can hold the position all the way through rather than just at the start.
- Steadiness
- From lying, to sitting, to kneeling, to standing. Each one takes away a point of contact and asks a bit more of your balance.
- Spring
- Often less rather than more, so the bed holds you up less and you hold yourself up more.
Quietprogress,week by week
What good actually looks like
It rarely looks dramatic. Someone who has practised for years doing footwork looks much like you doing footwork, right up until you watch the carriage. Theirs travels at the same speed in both directions and stops exactly where they meant it to.
That’s the whole game. The exercises that look impressive are a result of control, not a route to it.
A realistic path through our classes
Start in Foundations and stay there until setting up feels like second nature. That’s usually several weeks rather than a couple of classes. Move into Classic when you can follow a whole class without needing the bed explained.
Active is intermediate to advanced, and it assumes you’ve already got that base. There’s no prize for getting there early.
Nobody has ever regretted spending an extra month in the beginner class.