The following tips have helped me learn new dance routines. You will need to have some knowledge and skills for the dance style.
- Dance routines are made up of combinations. Learning the basic ones will also help pick up variations more easily.
- Focus on the cues to help remember dance combination sequences. These are the steps that come before and after transitions of combinations.
- Note the position of your arms, legs, head, and so on as you move from one combination to the next.
- Watch a video of the dance in slow motion (if you can) and pause at parts as you write the number of beats and moves. This will help keep them in your motor memory.
Tip: VLC players have options for slowing the video down.
- Take special note of the most challenging parts of the dance. Practise these more than the others.
- Practise the end of the dance as much as the beginning. This will pull the dance choreography together and have a confident ending.
- Listen to the music and visualise yourself dancing.This advice is based on my experience learning new dances. Different methods may suite different people. Feel free to share ideas in the comments section below.I get exposed to the dance and drill the skills in class. But I don’t have the motivation to do this on my own. Limited space is another challenge. Writing the steps in a notebook is like talking the dance through with a friend. Knowing it well also helps me make connections when the teacher explains a key area of the dance. I get the most out of my dance practice.
I do at least 5 hours of dance practice in one session. This is because I rarely get the chance to practise and when I do, I get so involved that I forget all about the time. I feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards and feel at ease that I will be prepared.
After I’ve mastered the dances, I practise sets of combinations and drill the key skills I need to improve on. My focus at the moment is balance and footwork. What are some key areas that you’re working on?
I set up my notes by writing the steps and position of the feet, arms, and head. It helps as a reference to go back to though I find that once I’ve ingrained a dance in my memory, I don’t need to. Starting a blog or a journal helps reflect on what I’ve learned and the where to next. This is why I started my blog. Talking to other dancers helps a little but I find it hard talking to others about my goals. Not that I keep secrets. I prefer to have fun chatting about other things at dance practice.
Try practising the dance with and without the video. With and without the music. Do you hear the music in your head as you visualize the dance?
Feeling accomplished helps me enjoy performance more. After learning the dance well, I can focus on hair, makeup up, costume and parties! Being your own teacher doesn’t mean you don’t need dance classes. Especially when you’re starting out. It’s a way to gain the knowledge and skills you need to get the most out of your dance classes. It also accelerates the pace of the classes, which means you will move on and learn more. Workshops are more intensive and educational, and you can learn more about yourself. The teacher usually gets up close and personal, more so than in a normal dance class.
I hope you got some value from my blog post today. I sure did- reflection is an important and fun part of the process. Plus don’t beat yourself up on what you don’t know. Performance time? What you know is ‘what you know’. Make the most of it- enjoy – and focus on presentation, stage presence and smile!
