2 Things Beginner Dancers Should Start Doing Today
My dancing is not quite there.
What can I do to improve?
~ Dance beginner ~
This type of questions is popular in the dance forum. I personally get this question often.
People who have just started dancing are uneasy. Even if you take lessons, you cannot move like an instructor.
It is difficult to do even the foundation's foundation. You cannot do it eve after many times. Then pleasure of dancing disappears. It gets harder. It gets tiring. You slowly fade out. There are quite a few such patterns.
Dancing is a combination of music class and physical education. So musical sense is important and athletic capability is also important.
No matter how great the musical ability you attain, nobody can see that if your body cannot follow physically. Likewise, if you cannot move according to the music, it will end with a mockery of dance.
Moving according to the song seems to be simple at first glance, but it is actually pretty complicated.
One thing that is for sure is, dancing is not something that improves over night.
In order to improve, it is necessary to accumulate experience every day just like dieting or learning language.
Just because you practiced 10 hours one day, it is not something that will come out as an explosive result the next day. (Please let me to know if you have such magical method).
Even if you run a marathon of 100km one day, you will not lose 20kg weight.
Even if you study for 15 hours one day, you will not be able to master French the next day.
You get the point.
Dancing is the same.
Characteristics of people whose dance is not quite good
Unfortunately, there are always people who are taking classes but never improve that much. Even though they are attending through 3 classes simultaneously, the pace of progress is quite slow.
There is one point that is absolutely common to the slow learners.
There is no practice time (short)
Getting a lesson is very important. If you are a genre other than breakdance power mover (see "Stop going to classes if you are a break dancer"), your progress is faster if you go to the classes.
Lessons are input time. What you also need is output (practice) for improvement.
What you need to get better is how much you can practice inbetween classes to master the move you have learned from the instructors.
People who are not quite successful do follow a similar pattern where they take many classes and end there. There are many cases they unconsciously think that their dancings automatically improve as long as they are receiving classes.
That is why they go through so many classes. They assume attending to classes is the same as improvement.
Mr. A moves his body only one hour a week during the lesson.
Ms. B receives one lesson per week, and adds 2 hours of self practice every day until the next week's class.
That is why there exists a ridiculously huge difference in 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year after even the two people started starts at the same period.
Working hours of people who only dance in classes
Let's compare A and B above in detail. Let's call A John and B Sarah.
John dances only 52 hours a year from the studio alone. On the other hand, Sarah has practiced 52 hours from the studio, and on top of that worked on dancing for 730 hours (2 hours * 365 days).
There is a difference of 730 hours in one year!
It is not about the difference between their physical capabilities. It is simply the difference in time they have spent practicing.
2 things a beginner should do to improve dancing
If you are thinking of becoming good at dancing, there are two things you should do. If you do these, things surely will improve better than it is now.
Increase practice amount
There is no way to improve your dancing other than practice.
Secure practice time in addition to the regular dance classes. Repeat the choreography or steps you have learned during the class until you can execute it well.
Dancing is like a bicycle. It is difficult at first, but once you get a nack of it, your ride will be as smooth as ones imaginable. If you reach that stage, the challenging move comes natural to your body flow, and the fact that you could not do previously would feel like a lie.
Let's do it many times until it comes natural to your body. There is only one way - repetition.
While it is important to set the number's goal, that is not enough. You might be saying "I did this 100 times", but if it is a mindless iteration practice, it is meaningless altogether.
Difference between repeating the move 100 times with trial and error, and repeating it 100 times without any thinking, is 100 miles long.
Let's practice using your brains at full capacity. Practice your move while observing and analyzing your body carefully.
It is only about crushing one obstacle at a time. Easy!
Record your move
There is no habit of regular practice for those who claim their dancing is not improving.
Just because you increase the amount of practice for instantaneously, it will not get better overnight.
Continuation is essential.
It is necessary to build a habit to practice outside of your dance classes.
Good dancers generally have a long time dancing in one way or another, and they tend not to think of their dancing as practice. They have a good routine like after school dancing.
Unless practicing becomes part of your life, it will take more time to get better.
It applies to everything, but the best way to turn things into a habit is to record it.
- Practice content
- Practice time
It is ok just to record these two.
Just like dietting, it makes it easier to continue this by recording it on a piece of paper.
Use video filming to your advantage
On top of paper, it is also recommended to record your practice on videos.
Since you can see yourself objectively by watching a movie, it is easy to find a part that is not being done well. You will be able to pick up the bad habits every dancer goes through as well.
It may be embarrassing at first, but you will get used to it in the 3rd or 4th time.
It is that important to see your own dance form yourself.
What you need to do now
The absolute amount of exercise is missing from beginners who are not getting better.
But the opposite is true fortunately. As long as you put in conscious practice, your dance will undoubtedly get better.
Now you simply lacks the time for the output. It will not get better automatically. You will never better by watching Game of Thrones or playing Walking Dead.
How many hours did you spend dancing out of 168 hours a week? This is all.
It is necessary to put in quality practice with your brain wide awake, thinking how to be able to do the move.
Practicing and increasing the number of possible move one at a time ensures you will get better. Then, the dancing becomes fun. The practice becomes fun. Everything will be all fun eventually.
Because the accumulation of daily practice decides everything, let's do our best every day.