Dancing Trolls

I have a new favorite image for pretty much any tonalization. Elaine Fine writes a wonderful blog I have started to read, and she suggested there the idea of imaginary trolls that live under the bridge. By using the "mental image of directing the vibrations of the string towards the bridge," one finds rich deep tone. The idea holds potential for so many creative variations, such as 'feeding them' the vibrations or 'paying them a toll' in order to enjoy the rich sound, or just trying to 'make them dance.' 
Anyway, for me, the idea of directing the vibrations toward the bridge or trying to send them into the bridge makes me want to play close to the bridge, and wanting the most vibrations possible makes me try to balance heavy weight and speed almost automatically. I've tried it with a few students already as well, and it just works so much more easily than saying things like "play really close to the bridge and keep a full sound." It also has this simple and rich cue built in that can work as a quick reminder: "make those trolls dance!" Try directing the vibrations and get those trolls dancing.