How fast should one progress?

[standardgirl]

I have only been dancing ballroom for 2 months. I take 2 privates and 2 groups per week. And, I am currently working on silver moves for both smooth and rhythm. (cha-cha, rumba, bolero, EC, waltz, foxtrot, tango - those are the dances I do most of the time) As my background, my mom has been a social dancer for over 20 years. (but she never taught me how to dance) I have done ballet for 2 years when I was 12 (I am now 19). I have been figure skating for the past 3 years.

I am just wondering if I am progressing too fast. and I doubt that I have good basic skills required for ballroom. How fast should a dancer progress? Any opinions? How would I know if my basic skills (techniques) are good/accurate?

[etchuck]

Wow... I'm impressed. Of course, you have had dance training and have once done performance athletics before (nice way to describe gymnastics and figure skating). You also have a parental influence so that said...

If you think you don't have a solid technical foundation, you are probably going too fast. You may not have as much of a problem technically, but you need to feel comfortable and confident in your dancing, and if you don't have that yet, you need to dial it back and make sure you have it. It may take you a lot less time than others, but make sure all your questions are addressed, including the questions that are simply "feelings".

[Chris Stratton]

Beginers want to do intermediate material
Intermediates want to do advanced material
Advanced dancers want to do basic material

Right now it sounds like you are very new to it all, so theres not really anything wrong with exploring everything and getting a sense of the future. If you start to get really serious about things, at some point you'll want to go back and look at all the ideas involved in making the most basic figures work really well. This is probably simpler once you already have some feel for dancing, but ideally before you have too many ingrained habits that would have to be changed. You also want to a pick a really good coach to do the detailed examination of basics with, and after a bit of experience you may be in a better position to make that choice.

[TemptressToo]

I think it all depends on the person. Some people with a dance background with some talent would obviously progress faster than somebody with no training. Also, there is the rhythm factor...some people have it and some don't. Finally, there is the amount and quality of training. Have you ever noticed that often times, especially at competitions, people with an equal amount of training have two totally different qualities/abilities of dancing? That struck me as interesting at my last competition. Same level and age group, yet it was quite obvious that there was some students whose teachers where either REALLY good...or they just paid close attention to detail.

[squirrel]

I completely agree with Chris on this...

[Sagitta]

As fast as you can! :wink:

Seriously. I just did the basic walk for a month in AT and just last Sunday lerant this cool step. Left foot forward, right foot outside, left foot inside, right foot side. Here I can do left foot forward, or bring feet together, and do right foot back...or left foot side...Nicer feel then the simple walk for all followers. Anyway this just happened...I was ready for it.

Like cha cha. I suddenly got it last Saturday and now I'm on fire. Burning with impatience, getting stuff that I sort of learnt, but did not really learn.

One can learn different dances differently. AT I am moving from muiscality to expressing musicality in different ways (steps). Cha cha it was steps and now I am using them to play with the music. I doubt, that even if I were to learn cha cha from scratch today it would be musicality then steps. The music does not appeal to me in that way.

If you really listen to yourself you are the best guide for what is right for you. If you are questioning your technique/basics then waorking on those is probably a good idea. I used to be of the opinion that listening to the music, basics etc was the way to go, but now have changed my mind. (What's new for a relative newbie!!) Sometimes a person is not ready to approach a dance in a particular way, but excited to do it differently.