Does Full Immersion Work?

So here's a question for you to ponder (and pontificate LOL :wink: .)

What's the best or most effective approach to dance study? A full immersion approach, with as much instruction as possible in a short period of time? Or consistent but small amounts of instruction spread out over a longer period? Is there any physical, technical or emotional limit to how much dance learning one can absorb? Or is the sky the limit, as long as you can afford the time and money? What do you think?

For me it is "small amounts of instruction spread out over a longer period".
I need time to consume the information, think it through and then apply it, once i have the hang of it. Although, it depends on what material we covered during the lesson.

Except perhaps at the highest levels of training, I don't think full immersion is really productive. It can be fun, but looking back at the periods of time when I've done it I think it was really more about staying busy with things I enjoyed. The first 4 or 5 days a week are worth a lot, beyond that, the increase in benefit is slight. Similarly the first two hours in a day, sometimes the third, but rarely more (unless your body is trained to handle it - and even then your mind may not keep up)

So I think that beyond "50% immersion" it's more about the balance between how much you simply enjoy doing the activity, vs at what point you start causing injuries (or partnership stresses) that are counterproductive. Real productivity comes more from efficient work than just putting in the hours and paying for the lessons.

I would say that the level of immersion depends on your skill level, on how much you can assimilate and incorporate before your brain melts and starts dripping out of your ears (believe me, I've been there and got lots of complaints about the slippery gray mess I was leaving on the floor).

In the earlier Lindy workshops I took, I soon found myself trying frantically just to keep up and ended up just going through the motions and learning nothing. Because of those earlier experiences, I made the decision to pass on the more challenging workshops and swing camps that first year until I had the basics nailed down solidly enough to be able to get something out of them.

I think it would depend on where you are in your dancing, and what physical skills you bring to the floor. A beginner who has spent the last twenty years not exercising probably won't benefit from more than a little training because they need to strengthen the body and build stamina. A very fit beginner with lots of martial arts training could probably go full immersion and get good very fast. Someone with a fair amount of training, and the dance stamina to handle it, could do extremely well with full immersion. They might start catching on to how things interrelate quicker than the non-immersion method.
It would depend a lot on the individual, I think.

Kevin

I think that when it comes to instruction, you can't take too much in at once. Usually in dance, you are learning habits, and possibly breaking old/bad habits. These take time to form, so a lot of instruction in a short period of time would allow a dancer to know what they're "supposed to do" (providing they remember), but I don't think they'd become a better dancer. Typically, a little instruction with a lot of practice (keeping in mind to focus on what you've just learned) will benefit a dancer much more than an overload of moves and technique. Learn it, then drill it....that's what I try to do.

Depends on the person, and age plays a role. I notice that for Thursday rueda practices, which consist of mostly people older then myself, only the younger ones are capable of sustaining their attention and assimilating for really long periods. The others start getting tired, which is what keeps our sessions pairly short, IMO. The others think that the sessions are long enough.

Chris Stratton said:

Except perhaps at the highest levels of training, I don't think full immersion is really productive. It can be fun, but looking back at the periods of time when I've done it I think it was really more about staying busy with things I enjoyed. The first 4 or 5 days a week are worth a lot, beyond that, the increase in benefit is slight. Similarly the first two hours in a day, sometimes the third, but rarely more (unless your body is trained to handle it - and even then your mind may not keep up)

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Or I could say, at the end of the firts day of a two day comp I dance my best, at the end of the second day I dance my worst (and I don't feel my feet).

my voice teacher advocates one lesson a week but will work with people from out of town by doing two-a-days anc can complete a 12 week series in a week. i see it like cramming for an exam.; at the end of a dance camp i can nail figures i learned that week (ace the exam) but a week later i might be hard pressed to be able to teach them to anyone else. on the other hand, i'm more likely to keep things long term as well as build up muscle memory if i keep reviewing technique & moves from week to week. if i only want the grade & don't need the knowledge long term - or if i'm on a time deadline of some sort & have a only a small window of opportunity for classes, i'd cram.

also, learning different things involves different parts of the brain so scheduling & staggering certain techniques & topics can have a benefical effect - alternating betwen studying math and a foreign language every few hours gets better results than studying just math one day and the foreign language for another entire day.

volleybgrl said:

I think that when it comes to instruction, you can't take too much in at once. Usually in dance, you are learning habits, and possibly breaking old/bad habits. These take time to form, so a lot of instruction in a short period of time would allow a dancer to know what they're "supposed to do" (providing they remember), but I don't think they'd become a better dancer. Typically, a little instruction with a lot of practice (keeping in mind to focus on what you've just learned) will benefit a dancer much more than an overload of moves and technique. Learn it, then drill it....that's what I try to do.

Click to expand...

That makes a lot of sense! That's pretty much how I learned(am STILL learning!). :wink:

I find that inorder to retain tings I need to stay focused. If I try retaining too much then I loose focus. I prefer spreading the learning process out.

When I started the classes taken were on a weekly basis and I picked up two set of patterns from two different dance styles each week. Seemed to work. I could easliy employ the new steps at a social dance that followed the lesson. By the following week, with no routine practice I could pick them back up again. I feel it was using them at the social dance that contributed to my retention.

Now I take two or three group classes per week as a series across a month. But this is not on the same day as a social dance. I still seem to beable to retain the new patterns, typically 4 to 6, but a little bit of practice during the week seems to help. However, when I take the same style group class for three months in a row, the third month seems to be more difficult in retention.

It's kind of intriguing. I feel what's happening is that I have mastered the basic patterns in the first month, yet the second month's patterns are a tad more complicated and harder to nail down, and then the third month's become down right difficult having not mastered the second month's technique. It may be wise for me to retake the third classes the next timne they come around. Needless to say, if there is a fourth month offered I don't take it.