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Let's start by unpacking the several questions you have. FWIW, I'm 6'3", tele 10+ years, 4 on ice in New England.

• G4 Explosiv. This ski is terribly outdated, and probably above your tele level. It's a stiff ski, and you're light, skiing on cable bindings. This all adds up to mean you need great technique to get a lot out of that ski... but the price was right. I'm not saying that you must upgrade, but in order to reach your goals, that ski is holding you back. A stiff ski is less forgiving in trees and bumps for a beginner. It takes good form, lots of "cuff pressure", and good decision making to tele in tight trees.
  
  
• Rocker. What is rocker? It's a change in tip or tail profile to be more upturned, to allow for easier planing in deep snow. Rocker is often combined with reverse camber or reverse sidecut. Reverse camber means that the ski is U-shaped, with no camber that you can load into a turn. Reverse sidecut means the ski is widest at the middle, and you don't want that. You're right that rocker shortens a ski's effective edge, which is important for grip in firm conditions. However, the tradeoff is the ability to make fast pivot turns. Rocker in tight trees is amazing.
  
  
• Try skis with tip rocker, camber or flat underfoot, and no tail rocker. This combination maximizes effective edge while giving the benefits of tip rocker. I find on tele skis the more tail rocker I have the easier it is to get my weight back, and get into an unrecoverable "tele-wheelie" that results in a crash.
  
  
• I'm guessing you still have alpine boots? This makes it much easier to try skis. There is no such thing as a telemark ski anymore. The distinction is between "touring" and "alpine" skis. Touring skis are lighter, and tend to far worse on hardpack. Try the Sin 7. Consider also the Dynastar Cham 97, Volkl Mantra, or whatever your local shop is demoing. You're tall and skinny, so you may not want a ski with 2 layers of metal.
  
  
• Try other tele bindings. The god news is that 75mm bindings adjust universally to all both sizes. I found my off-piste skiing unproved when I switched to the hammerhead (a more active binding) from my G3s. Same with moving to 4-buckle boots from 3-buckle. But that may not be true for you. Try it if you can. I am not fond of the G3 binding.
  
  
• Have you taken a lesson or done any drills? Mike and Allen's telemark book has a lot of great drills. I think the best drills for new skiers to focus on are pole planting, big toe/little toe pressure in the boot, and the tele-shuffle drill.
  
  TLDR: Tip rocker with camber underfoot ~100mm waist is a great all conditions New England ski if you keep the edges sharp.

Alright, cheers!

Is this the book you're refering to?

Is there any specific telemark gear that helps with Alpine turns? I assume hard boots are better than soft boots. I'm mostly interested in skiing pistes(riding lifts, not walking up hills) so weight isn't really an issue.

This! "Punching" down the hill can really help you remember to keep both hands out in front.

More tips:

1. Try taking your uphill hand and tapping it on your downhill knee. It's an old alpine trick to get your upper body in the correct position.
   
2. Put both poles together and hold them horizontally in front of you. Now try to keep them nice and level.
   
   Also, a necessary heads up for Allen & Mike's telemark book. There are a bunch of suggestions in there for a trailing uphill hand.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Really-Backcountry-Revised-Better/dp/0762745851

For stomping around in the woods, consider something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rottefella-NNN-BC-Cross-Country-Nordic-Bindings/dp/B000LGYXGK/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1452237445&sr=1-1&keywords=nnn+bc

http://www.amazon.com/Rossignol-BC-Skis-180-Mens/dp/B00FK9X2RO/ref=pd_bxgy_468_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HBR7MYA66CBGYDD7KTD

http://www.amazon.com/Rossignol-BC-Backcountry-Touring-Boot/dp/B00HDZHJXQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1452237415&sr=1-1&keywords=nnn+bc+boots

If you need to travel long-ish distances to get your dog some exercise, then forget about turning stability and go with something like above, value mobility over downhill skills, and get your kicks at the resort later on. Plastic boots are way overkill for anything that's flat and groomed, there is no need to trudge them around when a lighter setup will do the job, especially if it's mostly flatish.

Note that the above setup is robust enough to stomp through the trees with and light enough to be tolerable on a groomed XC trail. Folks who ski just XC would consider this a "heavy" setup for groomed trails.

Garlands, Slow lead change, Lead change at different parts in the turn, Shuffling/lead changing the entire time, Side-slip w/in a small corridor, Monomark, Whirly-birds. (In inc difficulty order).

I can do some of those things...lol. These 2 books were a God-send for me as well: https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Really-Telemark-Revised-Better/dp/076274586X, https://www.amazon.com/Free-Heel-Skiing-Techniques-Conditions-Mountaineers/dp/0898867754

Or just ski like these guys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WebwrYZR5Tw

Also, you're looking good!

This book is great for learning the mechanics http://amzn.com/076274586X

Getcha one of these books!

https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Really-Telemark-Revised-Better/dp/076274586X

I use this on days when everything is skied out and I have some time to goof around very useful drills and practices in there

You should pick up Allen & Mike's Really Cool Telemark Tips.
https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Really-Telemark-Revised-Better/dp/076274586X

It helped me get sorted out when I was learning. I still roll through a list of them in my head. Keep your skirt on, frog gigging, big toe/little toe. I need to pick it back up and refresh...