IDB 2015: Keys to Successful Practice: Making the Most of Your Practice Time

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Great dancing is the result of great lessons and great practices. The teacher controls the lesson, but the student controls the practice. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

All competitions are won in the practice studio

Four Types of Practice         Solo, couple, group practice rounds (supervised, if possible) and general parties

Ideal Frequency                   Three to six days per week, or approximately three hours per private lesson. More hours of practice per lesson if you are on a budget

Ideal Duration                                 One to three hours

Learning to dance shares much in common with learning a foreign language: Frequent practice is far more beneficial than over-extended practice sessions. Do not be just a weekend warrior. However,

A competition can be worth as many as ten practices

The Competition Cycle

In the weeks before a competition, start and end every practice with rounds. Between the rounds, practice at a variety of tempos, including without music. Just practicing at full speed only ingrains mistakes and weaknesses more deeply. When there is a month or more before your next competition, take advantage of the opportunity to incorporate new principles, techniques, choreography and exercises.

The Practice Plan

  1. The Warm-up
  2. Start with your preferred form of light cardio. Sometimes the best warm-up is to do something aerobic (bike, yoga, running, etc.) or to go to the gym for weight training. Many coaches advise that a couple not even touch each other for the first thirty minutes of practice.
  3. Particularly prepare the most vulnerable areas of the body for the upcoming stress of the practice. The hamstrings, Achilles tendons, ankles, knees, groin, back, shoulders and neck are the usual trouble areas.
  4. Walking and/or talking the most recent dance lesson, competition or practice issues is part of a good mental and low intensity warm-up. Walking a routine in practice hold can be a good choice.

The Practice Agenda

  1. The Last Lesson: Nothing is more important than your last lesson. Review it. Talk it through. The two people in a couple never have the same lesson. The post-lesson discussion is never predictable, but always enlightening.
  2. The Last Practice: Every practice must include a review of the last practice. Whatever was newly acquired will need to be re-won. Every war against recent bad habits must be re-fought. Most newly acquired skills do not show up in competition until six months later.
  3. Exercises: Always include a generous mix of solo and partnered exercises.

Methods

  1. Some dancers are better talkers; some are better doers. Work with your partner to achieve the ideal balance for you, personally, as couple.
  2. Occasionally, dialogue your routines together. Say what you are thinking on each figure or action using an instinctive, stream-of-consciousness monologue. Take turns. Logic is not necessary and probably obstructive. I guarantee your words and your results will be surprising!

Disagreements/”Discussments”

  1. Think before you speak.
  2. You’re on the same team.
  3. Win all your arguments, lose all your friends.
  4. Women are afraid men will kill them. Men are afraid women will laugh at them.
  5. Acknowledge personal weaknesses. List them. Work on them. Welcome any advice your partner is willing to share.
  6. Implement advice when the time is right. Sometimes that time is now, sometimes the advice should be put in the queue. Sometimes the best teachers are silence, time and experience.
  7. Be the best friend you can be to your partner. Care.
  8. Learn from the mistakes of past discussments. Break the cycle.

Innovative Practicing

Be innovative with your practice. Improve any way you can.

  1. Cross train in the theatre forms (ballet, modern, jazz) and authentic forms (flamenco, Brazilian Samba, lindy).
  2. Mental practice counts. When a floor is not available, sit in a chair and visualize your routines.
  3. Peter Eggleton famously dances complete routines with his body, without moving his feet.

Staying Motivated

  1. Never forget why you dance. Enjoy your practices and the time you get to spend doing this incredibly satisfying activity with this partner.
  2. Keep your goals for each practice as specific as possible. Specificity is the most important key to staying hungry each practice.
  3. Be the best cheerleader you can be for the team (the couple).
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