As someone who got introduced to choreography based classes in my mid 20s, I learned that knowing how to dance doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you are going to excel at learning choreography. Which means there is a 99% chance that you may feel like you failed after your 1st experience.
The absolute truth is that Learning choreography is a completely separate skill from dancing but when they align it brings out some of the most beautiful experiences.
Whether you are someone that is looking to learn dance for the first time or someone looking to gain some choreography experience with a few drop in classes, Here are 5 quick things they don’t tell you or that will help your experience in a drop in choreography based dance class.
Using your natural ability to stare at someone(instructor) and duplicate their movement is an awesome skill to incorporate in a dance class but there are other tools that will assist you in getting a clearer motion picture to make adjustments.
1. Stand anywhere but the back of the room
First and foremost, set yourself up for success. Do not stand in the back of the room.
I know you may be nervous because it is your first time and maybe due to that reason you gradually make your way to a spot that allows you to see the instructor without any obstructions.
2. Use the Mirror
You are going to want to look directly at the instructor when they are talking and moving. Though that is effective when they are facing you, you will benefit more when the instructor has his back to you to learn through the mirror. Using the Mirror will help you learn with a more versatile perspective. When I say using the mirror, I mean learning from the instructor through the mirror. It may feel awkward initially and I know it will but that is one thing that helped me to improve exponentially faster than staring at the instructor to give me all the answers.
3. Turn off that negative faucet( aka Negative Nancy) in your head
It has been proven over and over again that You CAN DO THIS! Therefore all you have to do is stay focused on dancing and moving. Your mind will play tricks on you so remind yourself that this is not that serious, maybe crack a few jokes on why your left won’t move that way you want it to, laugh at it and then keep
4. Physical Cues
Pay attention to the softness in the knees, the posture of your instructor, and relax your shoulders. You may not see this but over time you will also learn all movement is either leveraged from the floor or your core. The floor reinforces confidence and being grounded. Your core allows you to shape sound or articulate what you want to say with more confidence.
5. Dance class is about connecting movement to music
To generalize your experience, without getting too wordy, you will learn a series of movements with transitions that help you connect choreography to the music. The instructor will teach you the choreography to their routines 70% of the time without music. Therefore you may get used to the learning and stopping or learning and releasing your focus at the end of each stop point as if the choreography is completed. As a student the best way to think of movement is that it flows into the next. Music is continuous so you can’t file everything you learn in a separate file or get too married to the end move. Think of learning movement as a chapter in a book that doesn’t end till the instructor says so. Finally, think of everywhere the instructor stops as a rolling pause. Bonus always and I mean always connect the choreography with the song.
Bonus Times 2 -Enjoy yourself
I know a choreography class can be overwhelming at first and you are learning someone else’s movement but if you can reframe that experience as a way to support your love for dance/movement then your body will respond in your favor. Don’t try to be perfect, make mistakes, mess up, laugh at yourself, and trust that your instructor will help you in those areas that challenge you the most. Lastly, feel free to ask questions to clear up anything that isn’t clear for you.
There is an unfair misconception that if you take a dance class and you don’t do as well as you expected your first time, you immediately give yourself an F. Or even worse, tell yourself that this is not for you. I have only shared 5 things to be aware of in this blog but there is even more that will help you to improve over time. With that said, the only way to get better is to continue to take choreography classes but if you are serious about getting even better, find foundational classes in the process to improve exponentially faster than just taking drop in choreography classes. As instructors we want you to truly give yourself a chance but also not sugar coat the reality of the experience. We are here to guide and help you find your identity as a mover but also keep it real when it comes to learning and growing as a dancer.