Do you ever wonder how ballroom and Latin American dancers remember all of their dance routines? With 10 main dance styles to perfect and perform, we’ve developed the magic formula to boost your memory.
Tip # 1: Focus on the Footwork
When your dance teacher is introducing you to a new dance routine, pay attention to your feet. The placement of the feet really guides the dance and will make learning the routine a lot easier. This includes understanding the different alignments and also the type of leg and foot action used on each step.
BONUS TIP: DISCOVER THE DIFFERENT ACTIONS FOR EACH OF YOUR STEPS Did you know there are different types of steps in Ballroom and Latin? For example,iIn the Ballroom discipline, we often use pointing steps which is where we point the foot to the direction you will be moving to next, before the body completes the turn. In the Latin, pay attention to the type of walk action that is being used. You may be surpirsed by the number of ways to dance a forward walk!
Tip # 2: Get it on Video
Getting your routine on video is. great way to be able to remember content and revise it at home. Recording your steps will not only help you to be able to look back later at what you have learnt but it can also be an opportunity to watch yourself or your teacher to learn how you can improve your styling and spot any potential mistakes you may be making. On the flip side, it can also be motivating to see how well you are doing!
Most dance teachers will be more than happy for you to do this to help you progress more quickly.
BONUS TIP: ASK YOUR TEACHER TO ALSO DEMONSTRATE FOR YOUA good dance teacher will usually be more than happy to demonstrate the steps for you to record. Also, it's a good idea to keep notes about what you have learnt, and what figures or technical points you particuarly need to remember to keep alongside your videos and help you understand where to focus your attention when practising.
Tip # 3: Practice Makes Progress!
Making time to practice your routine will make learning and remembering your new routines so much easier.
In fact, it’s scientifically proven that if you revise what you have learnt later the same day and again throughout the week then you will really improve your ability to remember your routine. When practising, we advise that you don't try and focus on everyting at once. Instead, try to structure your practices and agree on one area of your dancing to focus on. This could be a seperate practice or even a seperate song. For example, you might decide the first song that you want to refine your footwork (see tip # 1) and then on the second song you might decide to focus on your timing and practice dancing all the way through to music.
We run regular social dance evenings every Friday evening at 8pm where we alternate between Ballroom and Latin-American dances and play two songs of the same dance before moving onto the next one. This is a great opportunity to practice your routines in a friendly and relaxed environment where you can meet others who are also learning to dance.
BONUS TIP: PRACTICING AT HOME Even if you don’t have much space at home you can still practice by marking out the steps on a smaller scale. If this isn’t possible then rewatching your new routine on video will really help you to keep the steps fresh in your mind.
Thank you for reading this article. We hope that it has given you some ideas on different things you can try to help you to remember your dance routines.
If you would like to book a private dance lesson with us to proactively improve your dancing then visit the link below.