How to learn a dance fast
10 Tips for Learning & Retaining Choreography — Powerhouse Dance
If you struggle with learning choreography quickly and remembering it, you are not alone! This is one of my personal challenges in dance, and I have heard many other dancers express the same difficulty.
Six of our fabulous Powerhouse instructors have graciously shared their gems of wisdom on this topic. Below are our 10 Tips for Learning and Retaining Choreography (we will be sharing a second part in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned).
Thank you to Bria Walton, Danny Venini, Alanna Campbell, Alisa Iacovelli, Laura Lilien and Christina Dunnington for your contributions!
1. Focus. In order for your brain and body to absorb choreography, you need a clear mind. You must limit distractions. As you enter the studio, leave extraneous mental clutter at the door. Be in the moment. Focus on the task at hand: dancing. Avoid the temptation to think about what you are having for dinner or the email you need to send. Be aware of more subtle dance-related distractions that may surface during class. Comparing yourself to others or making judgments may be a tendency you have to combat. Stay the course and stay focused (see #10 for more on self-talk). –Bria, Jenny
2. Choose your spot in class wisely. This does not always mean standing front and center. You may be most successful standing away from your friends to avoid distraction. You may also want to position yourself near someone who picks up choreography quickly to give you visual assistance. – Bria, Laura
3. Watch closely. Before you attempt to do the step, watch exactly how the choreographer executes it. Pay attention to not only how the choreographer physically moves, but also to how they move to the specific beats or lyrics in the music to understand timing. Once the visual is engrained in your brain, try the movement and trust your body. Watching closely before dancing will give you a thorough understanding of the movement, and a solid foundation upon which to add more choreography.
- Danny
4. Listen carefully. Pay attention not only to the music, but also to verbal cues from the instructor. If a choreographer is looking for something specific, they will often verbalize this more than once. These cues can help clarify musicality, energy, movement quality, and sequence, thus enabling you to successfully retain what they have taught. If you are in your own world twirling in the corner while the choreographer is explaining something, you could miss an important detail that is critical to understanding and remembering the choreography. –Danny, Alisa
5. Ask Questions. If you need to see a particular move or sequence again, do not be afraid to ask the choreographer. Class is your time and the instructor is there for you. It is likely you will need to see a sequence of moves at least 3 times before it truly sinks in, so raise your hand if you need to. – Danny, Christina
6. Repeat the Steps.
Focus on grasping one section of choreography at a time. Repeat the section or the move over and over until your body knows it. This may be hard if the teacher is moving at quick pace, but take advantage of water breaks or moments when the instructor tells you to do what you need to do. Practice that section, and practice it again. Then celebrate when you know it! – Danny, Bria
7. Talk to yourself. Give words to the movement. Whether you scat with sound effects (“boom, gotta gah, skee wap”), or say to yourself “push to the right, step drop it low, and freeze”, talk yourself through the dance. This narration will remind you of what comes next. You can also name the movements. For example, “whirlybird into the karate chop, to the snake into the push the curtain.” This can help you relate the choreography to images you are already familiar with, making it easier to remember. – Danny, Alanna, Laura, Christina
8. Don’t cram for the exam.
Just as it is not helpful to cram for an exam the morning of the test, do not frantically practice the choreography when other groups are dancing. By the time groups perform the choreography at the end class, you probably know the combination as well as you are going to. Trust that the work you have put in will guide you when it is your turn to perform. Watch the other groups instead of dancing alongside and stressing about the choreography. Observing instead of dancing has a few benefits. You will conserve your physical and mental energy for when it is your turn. It will also give you more chances to visualize the choreography without having to physically exert yourself. You may notice something that you wouldn’t have seen if you were focused on reviewing the choreography. Take a pause to let the material sink in while you calmly appreciate the other dancers in the room. -Danny, Jenny, Alisa
9. Turn a blind eye. On the other hand, you may not want to watch other groups dance.
Try closing your eyes and visualizing the choreography in your mind while other groups dance. This can help you remain calm, stay focused, and tune into the music. While running through the choreography in your mind, you may identify trouble areas so you know what parts to review or what questions to ask. – Alanna
10. Be kind to yourself. This is the most important tip of all. Do not be too hard on yourself. Negative self-talk will not help you retain choreography: it will only stress you out, creating mental distraction (hello again, tip #1!). This will reduce your mental capacity to absorb the material. Instead, each time you run through the dance, find one thing you did well (you hit that double turn! YAS!). Even if your forgot a part of the choreography, celebrate the successes! Encourage yourself just like you encourage your fellow dancers. Remind yourself that class is for learning, you are a GREAT dancer, and mistakes will happen. Amen to being human! -Bria, Alanna, Alisa
We hope at least one of these tips helps you! My challenge to you is this: choose one tip to implement in class this week.
Let us know how it goes and if any of these tips resonate with you in the comments below!
Written and Compiled by: Jenny De Tore
Contributions by: Alanna Campbell, Bria Walton, Laura Lilien, Danny Venini, Christina Dunnington, Alisa Iacovelli
About the author and contributors:
Jenny De Tore is the Founder of Powerhouse Dance.
Alanna Campbell is a member of Project Moshen, an all-female jazz dance company based in Philadelphia. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance, focusing on dance performance and physical therapy, with a minor in somatics. Alanna teaches Theater Dance for powerhouse twice per month.
Danny Venini is a professional dancer, most recently touring internationally with SweetBird Productions. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from Marymount Manhattan College and can be found teaching Jazz for Powerhouse.
Christina Dunnington is a guest artist of Project Moshen.
She trained at Central New Jersey Ballet Theater and was a member of Towson University’s dance company. Christina teaches contemporary for Powerhouse.
Alisa Iacovelli is a member of Alchemy Dance Company and she is also a coach of the Stockton University Dance Team. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Dance, and a Bachelor of Science in HealthSciene from Stockton University. Alisa periodicaly teaches contemporary at Powerhouse.
Bria Walton is a Philadelphia-based choreographer, having worked with dance companies and teams including the Sixers Dancers, West Chester University Dance Team, University of Delaware Dance Team, just to name a few. She trained at Academy of Phresh in Philadlephia. You can find Bria teaching hip hop for Powerhouse.
Laura Lilien is a member of the Hood Nation, a Philadelphia-based hip hop crew. She has trained in various styles of hip hop both on the East Coast and in California, where she was a member of Urban FX and Aftashock dance teams.
Laura can be found periodically teaching Hip hop at Powerhouse.
5 Dance Tips For Picking Up Choreography Fast
Being able to pick up choreography fast is something you can train and get better at.
So even if you feel defeated from not being able to keep up and falling behind in class, don't lose hope!
Use these tips each time you learn a piece and you'll notice how you're able to pick up choreography fast, without trying as hard.
1. DON'T watch the choreographer
Do you have a habit of staring straight at the choreographer when you learn, mirroring their moves every time they demonstrate?
And then, once you dance without them, you probably feel lost and confused.
In order to pick up choreography fast, you have to get your body to get used to the movement.
Learn with your eyes, but practice with your body.
This means studying the choreographer first to properly understand their movement, execution, and timing, but not relying on them to regurgitate the piece.
Push yourself to reduce the amount of times you watch the choreographer before you try it without watching them.
You'll start to pick up choreography fast by taking the training wheels off (not watching the choreographer) earlier in the class.
2. Mess up, then move on
The choreographer is in control and sets the pace of things in a class, but sometimes you can’t keep up.
Maybe there’s that one move or combo that keeps messing you up.
Which makes you keep reviewing it again and again, missing the next move, and then the next...
We have a tendency to be fixated on trying to execute every single move perfectly, but sometimes you have to settle for “close enough” and move on.
You can always come back and improve upon it later.
Go over what you need in between gaps of instruction to make the most of your time, but don’t let it stop you from learning the rest of the piece.
3. Don’t dance and
just watchThis is a little counter-intuitive.
.. Don’t dance?? In a dance class?????
However, sometimes there are details your eyes can catch that the choreographer won't explicitly teach.
If they were to explain every single little detail you’re supposed to be executing, then classes would take days.
So catch your breath for a second and really watch what the choreographer is doing.
Not only will you pick up choreography fast, you'll learn to embody the mood, timing, and character much better – which are more important than the exact body placements, anyway.
4. Take multiple classes in a day
When it comes down to it, the ability to pick up choreography fast does require your brain to do some training. Taking multiple classes is a huge strain mentally and physically, and that's the exact how it teaches you to pick up choreography fast.
Don't live around any studios? No worries. Here's How To Learn Dance With No Dance Classes In Your Area
5.
Expose yourself to more styles of danceThere are those moments when you get stuck on a move that everyone else seems to get...
Maybe it's a Loose Leg or a Hip Hop groove – but you’re not trained in that style.
In order to pick up choreography fast, it helps to have an expansive range of dance vocabulary.
Being comfortable with moves from different styles will make it much easier to pick up choreography fast because those moves are already ingrained in your muscle memory!
So practice and perfect any moves you come in contact with, because you’ll never know when they’ll come up in another combination.
Clay and Jessie give more tips on how to pick up choreography fast – watch this video!
Did these help you out? Have your own tips to learn choreography faster? Leave a comment below!
90,000 12 life hacks, to quickly learn how to dance from Mamita DanceDances
Author: Pavel Gather
Psychologist, Lecturer Salsa and Tango
Dances
Author: Pavel Pavel
Psychologist, Lecturer Salsa
on At the start, you always want to get a quick result.
When it doesn't happen, the hypothesis arises that everything takes time. After a conditionally acceptable time, humility comes to mastering pair dances, which, perhaps, is not given, and I will just do what I learned somehow.
This is the most common story of those who believe that the mere act of attending a pair dance class is enough to learn how to dance.
Absolutely not. If you want to really dance well, you have to make an effort outside of the dance class. A good teacher will definitely be needed, but the initiative should be on your side.
1. Listen to music
The most common and accessible advice that is given already in the first lessons. And it definitely works. Music creates a certain atmosphere of the dance and intuitively you want to move to it. It doesn't matter where you listen to music - in the car, on headphones while walking or doing household chores.
An addition that will help you dance better is your active participation in the music.
Sing along, dance or simply beat musical accents with any free parts of the body. In the subway, for example, it is enough to tap out bright moments with your fingers, in the car to sing along with sounds, and at home you can jump for pleasure.
2. Watch videos of good dancers
It's complicated, but also obvious. It’s more difficult, because without recommendations from more experienced dancers, unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find a good quality video on the net (I mean not the resolution quality, but the content itself).
Meaningful video viewing is about building an understanding of HOW dancers make a particular impression on a partner or viewer. Technology is at the heart of everything. Understanding how the pros do it is a big step forward.
It is important to distinguish a show from a disco dance, a staged performance from an improvisation, a stylized dance from an authentic one, etc. Ask for recommendations and dance teachers will always throw off a couple of videos of worthy landmarks.
Tango Z. Showreel.
Online modern tango courses
Tango nuevo is the most advanced version of tango. We can quickly learn to dance from zero to a steep level.
| View details |
3. Dance in salsatecas/milongas/discotheques
A very delicate moment when it is worth coming to the first party. From a technical point of view, most students in 1-3 months have a sufficient set of figures and techniques to come and dance calmly. Psychologically, the same moment can be stretched out for an indefinite time. After all, it is imperative to “not lose face”, “learn more figures” and be sure what to do in case “there is an unfamiliar movement”.
In fact, the partygoers don't really care (except for a small layer of non-professional teachers who want to help inexperienced dancers by treating them as customers in the future). It is important to come and try dancing after a month of classes.
You can only with friends or guys from your group. This will be enough to feel the adrenaline and inspiration from the dance.
4. Dance with partners or partners not of your level
The conventional wisdom that you need to practice in groups of your level does not withstand the test of experience. Perhaps now your eyes widened in surprise, and you want to meaningfully read the phrase again. Yes, you saw everything correctly: when you dance with a partner of your level, you don’t grow anywhere.
It's important to understand that not only does it work one way and you have to dance with cooler dancers, but it works even more effectively the other way. It is no coincidence that teaching pair dances dramatically raises the level of the teacher himself. You have an endless stream of very beginner dancers.
How it works. A more experienced partner needs to be "stretched". It's easy and obvious. With beginners, you need to take more initiative on yourself, see the general pattern of the dance more widely, turn on and insure more, try to be an example and be more careful.
The quality of interaction begins to grow significantly. And wonderful partners too.
Dancing with partners of your level doesn't make you grow. Dance with both beginners and more advanced dancers
Dominican Bachata Women's Style Online Course
Want to learn how to hypnotize those around you with the most appetizing part of your body? On the course we will tell you all the secrets.
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5. Learn to dance for a partner and for a partner
Turks and Argentines are one of the best partners in the world. In Russia, partners are highly valued. Why? The answer is simple. In Argentina and Turkey, it is not questionable for men to ask another man to lead in one piece or another and give feedback on the quality of the lead. For them, it will be a great shame to hear moralizing from a partner, or even more so to be known in the community as an insecure partner.
In Russia, due to the constant, often far-fetched, opinion that there are more women in pair dances, partners calmly get up and study their partner's part. Such partners then grow into very cool dancers and teachers. In no case do this at parties, only in class. Here we are talking only about the learning strategy. At parties, be yourself.
6. Do not memorize the links
Always try to look deeper and understand the through principle and idea of movement. Understanding what and how is done will make it possible to independently generate any sequences and chips.
Human memory is limited and there will always be a moment when something will escape and your repertoire will be limited by the size of RAM.
In Argentine tango, for example, there are seven levels of movement construction that, when mastered, will allow you to make millions of combinations. And how many dance sequences can you really remember? In rueda, more than 150 figures dance in a rare circle.
It's hard to keep more in mind.
7. Develop your body
Many years of experience in teaching couple dance shows that as soon as everyone pairs up in a class, any progress in individual style ends. But it is the individual style that distinguishes everyone at the disco: partners change, and style is always with you.
The body as the main instrument of dance must be very plastic, responsive and emotional. Surprisingly, not all pair dance schools have a general physical warm-up. It is vital to tune the body and understand how it works.
You can always train extra and concentrate more on the basic steps, as their true value is as body work. The sequence of steps is, in fact, the simplest thing that can be in pair dancing. The quality of individual performance determines the craftsmanship.
8. Try on the images of inspiring dancers
A psychological life hack for those who have already mastered the steps, but still feel that there is not enough brightness and drive.
Most are terribly afraid of being someone else's "clone". Here the action is the same as under the influence of hypnosis - the more you resist, the more you plunge into an altered state of consciousness.
With a high degree of probability, you are already dancing like someone else's "clone". A meaningful fitting of someone else's image is that you mentally take the image of the one who inspires you (inspiration is critical in this case) and "put on" yourself. Then you start dancing and trying to feel in general how it is to be able, for example, to be the best partner or the sexiest partner in a disco. This is much more difficult than it seems. But it works extremely efficiently.
9. Dance to offbeat music
Habitual rhythms keep you tight. Tango salon or speedy timba leave little room for experimentation and fantasy. Pattern dancing is always noticeable and is reserved for beginners.
The truly new is born outside of the usual.
Look for places to experiment. If there is no place, organize self-training. The main thing is not to get carried away, because music determines the style. We bring something new to pair dances, rather than trying to change them.
Search, improvise, don’t be afraid to go beyond, develop in different directions, be inspired by music atypical for the style
10. Try your hand at basic dance directions
dances exist according to their own non-choreographic laws.
This is the deepest delusion, which has turned into a ceiling for the qualitative development of partner dances. After all, all professional dancers, for example, in salsa or bachata, build their ideas on the basic choreographic principles.
Do not think that choreography is only applicable on stage. Any meaningful movement of the body can be choreographic. In general, try classical or modern choreography. Basically, hip-hop can work too.
11. Look for battle sensations
Pair dances return us to an active position of manifestation of our body. As in the days of our ancient ancestors, we impress the members of the opposite sex by how dexterous, hardy, sexy, etc. we are. Modern laws of the jungle in the entourage of big cities.
If you look around the dance floor, it becomes clear that the majority are clearly herbivores (not in the sense of vegetarians, but in relation to those around them). I am sure that predators are always more interesting in terms of the attractiveness of the image - try to find a counterbalance among herbivores, for example, a cat woman or a lion man.
The conversation is about an internal position, not about aggressiveness. Lability and lack of control are inherent in adolescents, and not in adult self-sufficient people.
Accordingly, even a training or friendly battle gives, on the one hand, practical skills - to make a bright sequence of movements, bring an idea to a climax, show a spectacular feature, on the other hand, develops the psychological basis of the dance - self-confidence, resistance to extraneous attention, self-control and self-control in complex elements.
12. Communicate with professionals
The environment shapes the internal position. Basically, real passionaries of the dance community are ready to openly talk, discuss and support the development of dance in every possible way. Universal principles and the ideas they articulate have a much longer and more practical perspective than meets the eye.
Accept that, for example, behind the words "listen to your partner" is not only a beautiful metaphor, but also a practical skill to literally listen to your partner. At the same time, always treat every thought, even the most respected teacher, as a private opinion.
Your skill will lie in finding the scope of the idea even in conflicting opinions. Most often, the contradiction is speculative and the truth lies in the angle of perception or situationality.
Your dancing growth will stop sooner or later. This can happen at the level of three basic steps or years of experience in teaching and show performances.
Regardless of your level, the suggested 12 life hacks can get you off the ground and greatly accelerate your dance growth. There is no way here without your motivation and activity. Take your dance development into your own hands. 9Ol000 Dangerous sexuality
Salsa: destroyers of stereotypes
Couple dancing as a source of strength.
Self-destruction of the couple dance community
The Salsa series as a mirror of the community
Mamita Fridays: salsa, bachata
Destroying the myths about leading pair dances
Does dancing make us better?
The seven deadly sins of teachers
Why we will never dance bachata like the Dominicans
Why tango?
Dispute over musicality
Selection of dances according to alcohol preferences
Where to find inspiration for dancing?
Terrible tango nuevo
Distribution of roles in a salsa party
Argentinean tango through the eyes of a salsa dancer
Is there a predisposition to dancing?
Which is more effective: individual or group lessons?
Sexual connotations in partner dancing
7 tips for those who want to learn how to dance
September 9, 2020 Reno5 Life
Dancing is a great way to make friends with your body and gain self-confidence.
And yes, they can be mastered at any age.
1. Choose your style
The idea here is the same as for sports: if you secretly hate yoga or iron exercises, you are unlikely to go to workouts week after week. To achieve noticeable progress in dancing, a beginner will have to practice a lot and regularly, so it’s better not to torture yourself and choose a direction that really ignites.
You can focus on the music that you like - you need to catch the drive from movements to it. It is music that forms the style of dance and its energy, so decide what is closer to you: for example, funk lovers should try popping or locking, folk fans may like Irish dancing, and if you respect jazz, swing and everything like that, take a closer look at lindy hop.
Another criterion is the nature of the movements. Some are closer to dynamic, as in hip-hop, others are smooth and sensual - for this in tango. There are also health restrictions to consider. So, twerk is not suitable if there are problems with the lumbar spine, with sore knees it is better not to get involved in shuffle, and it will be difficult for an aged person to master house.
2. Set a goal
Photo: Iakov Filimonov / ShutterstockYou can start dancing at any age, but it's important to keep in mind why you started it in the first place. It is perhaps too bold to expect that in half a year of classes it will be possible to reach the level of international dance championships from scratch. But if you want to try dancing in order to develop plasticity and learn to feel the body better, great, go ahead.
Don't expect to get it right the first time. When you learn from scratch, difficulties are absolutely normal, the main thing is not to score in classes. Over time, both the correct posture and a beautiful gait will be developed, and as a bonus you will also get self-confidence - with freedom of movement, freedom from complexes will come.
3. Don't give up on sports
Some dances in themselves make for a good workout. A vigorous shuffle will replace cardio, and a break can give a load to almost all muscle groups. And yet, without preparation, it will not be easy.
A more or less good stretch is needed in any type of dance, and, for example, strong arms and strong abdominal and back muscles are also useful for pole dancing. You can combine dancing with strength exercises, but you need to give the body time to recover and not plan classes in a row, but allocate at least a day of rest between them.
And don't forget to warm up before dancing. So that the training does not end with an injury, the muscles and joints need to be prepared for the load. You can allocate 10–15 minutes for a warm-up, it should include simple articular gymnastics (at least elementary rotational movements of the shoulders and knees), tilts and dynamic stretching.
4. Take some lessons from a trainer
Especially if you have never danced before. Those with experience can learn new styles at home with video tutorials, but that's because they already know how to control their bodies. Beginners are unlikely to succeed, but disappointment in themselves and demotivation are guaranteed - if you can’t repeat elementary movements, then there’s no point in doing it.
Nothing really strange here. Without preparation, it is difficult to just take it and start moving freely. At least the basic elements are better to master under the guidance of a pro, and when you feel that you are coping, supplement these lessons with home workouts.
5. Learn something new in every class
When you repeat the same set of exercises and movements over and over again, classes turn into a good way to pass your free time, only you can forget about progress. Acquaintance with new elements is the same mandatory part of any workout as a warm-up. It doesn't matter if you work with a mentor or on your own.
Do not immediately try to copy cool dancers. First, study the basic movements, then try to combine them into bundles until you hone them to automatism, and then experiment and improvise, creating something new based on familiar elements.
6. Record yourself on video
You don't need to record the whole workout from the warm-up on, it's enough to record only those moments with which you have problems.
These can be separate movements or bundles that are not given in any way. Review the video and, if possible, objectively assess what is wrong: perhaps there are technical problems that are difficult to notice in the process. When you understand what's wrong, try to repeat the movement and record it on video again - and so on until you achieve a good result.
This approach will help you find errors and track progress. You can not even limit yourself to memorized ligaments, but improvise - then see how it looks from the outside.
7. Find like-minded people
Photo: Iakov Filimonov / ShutterstockIf you need an extra reason not to miss classes, then meeting new people can be a good motivation. It is easier here for those who train in a group. Often the dance school becomes the center of a close-knit community, where people come not only for the sake of classes, but also just to spend time together at dance parties.
Finally, the more partners around, the more experience.
Do not limit yourself to dancers of your level of training and practice with those who are stronger or weaker than you. In the first case, you can improve your skills, and in the second, you will try yourself as a coach - this, by the way, is a good way to learn to take more initiative and understand the very principle of movement in dance, and not just memorize the alternation of chords.
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