Breaking out of Beginner-Land

[Chris Stratton]

While a few dancers manage to climb the learning curve from day one, many of us spent a year or more getting familiar with the idea of danicng before starting to make real progress. I've been thinking about what the critical things might be, that enable one to break out of this initial period and start learning rapidly. Some ideas so far:

- Learning to isolate necessary actions from problematic side effects. For example, we know we should stand up straight, but the critical detail is that we want to stand up from the spine, while letting the shoulders hang relaxed. Even as we pick up our arms into a frame, what we really want to do is pick up our hands, leaving the arms themselves soft.

- Learning to precisely balance and move our weight over the proper part of the foot. This requires both practice and some actual physical training to strengthen the small muscles to the point where we can move our weight to the various edges of the foot as needed.

- Learning to balance habit & intent. There are too many details involved in dancing to consciously think all of them in the moment, so we have to train habits. In order to advance our habits and make sure that they remain trustworthy, we have to spend some time devoting our full attention to each area in turn - footwork, posture, connection, timing, floorcraft, etc.

- Understanding the huge role of the standing leg in preparing standard & smooth actions. Understanding the role of arriving foot rise in closing the feet in waltz, and in swing/jive. Understanding the focus on the bunion area of the foot in rumba walks. Understanding the precise position and timing of turns in each figure where they occur.

- Identifying the key lessons of each dance and figure. Beginner material is often boring, and some of it is fluff, but the basic steps of each dance have vitally important and enduring lessons. For example, amongst other things American foxtrot teaches us about walking actions. Waltz teaches us about contra body movement, and about lowering from foot closure. Quickstep teaches outside partner and lowering with the feet apart, while Tango teaches precise weight control. With their basic figures converted to challenging technical exercises, there is no dancer on earth who can't learn something by working on them.

What do others think are the important discoveries that lead to the launching of an intermediate dancer?

 

[etchuck]

That you have enough money to afford private lessons to point out these mistakes.

Plus you assume most beginners can handle these concepts. Heck, a lot of them can't even understand the concept of line-of-dance...

To me, that's a key non-pedagogical issue that really can get a true beginner out quickly. Unfortunately you cannot convince someone that spending $40-80 a month to a week on private lessons is worthwhile. Then we let's dance shoes, costumes, and music. And the issue of a practice partner.

 

[tacad]

I may be at that juncture now. I totally agree that working the basic steps is veryimportant. Over and over, concentrating on detail. And you can't get it all at the same time. But eventually you can.

Then adapting the basic to different patterns is different. I can do the cha cha basic fairly well now but I still work on getting the , is it called side rocks? Everything falls apart so I have to work on that, paying attention to detail.

The only other thing I have to add is that putting all this into social dancing is a whole other thing again. The detail for me comes in slowly. Maybe because I'm nervous or something. Because I've got a real live girl in front of me, or I'm concerned about traffic. For a while I couldn't even move my hips in cha cha. Then they started to work after a while. Now the darn side step on one is eluding me. For the longest time before my current lessons I did traveling cha cha steps. So last night I had to concentrate on that.

EDIT: Yeah, nothing works like private lessons. I can't afford them. Luckily if someone is very detailed in their explanation I can pick a lot up but not as if I had private lessons. I'm sure I have plenty of bad habits. Oh well, all in good time.

 

[Chris Stratton]

I don't actually think much of this has to be reserved for private lessons - I've seen a lot of it taught in a group setting, and seen a teacher make largely the same points to a series of private lesson students all afternoon. What it does require is a teacher who believes in the possiblity of group class training, and students ready to listen for new details even when we "already know" what is being taught.

 

[mamboqueen]

Hmm...I don't think many of the group classes I have taken (and I've only done bronze and a handful of silver) have ever gone into THAT much detail on what you describe in your first post, Chris. It really depends on the make-up of the group class is and what their goals are (social or competition). A fair amount of people I encounter who are in it for social purposes don't really care to get that far into detail on technique. That's their perogative. The problem is is...how do you cater in a group class to the various goals of the dancers? It's tough. I see more technique handed out in International than American style dancing, but it seems that people who are headed on the competitive trajectory have different needs than social dancers. And, ironically, I started out as a social dancer who wanted to look like the competitive dancers, and then I got sucked right in.

In any event, I am focusing on latin and rhytym at the moment, and after getting to silver in one, and bronze in the other, I am just *now* getting around to foot pressure and transference of weight. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that there's no end to the learning process!

 

[standardgirl]

There is one group class in the area where I live that actually focuses on quite a few technique. This is only the case b/c of the students who do go to that particular group lesson - half of them are on the ballroom team at my school, the other half are Pro/Am student of that teacher and the teacher's partner. Sinze those are all competitve dancers, it makes sence to focus on technique during the group. But I TOTALLY agree that most groups do NOT do this as most social dancers only cares about the steps.

I was introduced to tones of techniques before actually starting each dance. I am doing Int'l Foxtrot right now, and all we do for half an hour is basic, chage direction, basic, etc. (sometimes reverse turn also, but I have a really good heel turn, so we dont do that quite as often) all around the floor. My teacher will do it with me, and also make me do a solo. I don't learn new steps, until I have acheived a certain degree in my basic. He actually "hit" me the other day, b/c I keep on making the same mistakes over and over. Fot latin, I am doing Samba right now. All we do is the basic boncing exercise and whisk exercise. We dance whisk in half speed and make sure my leg bending is correct at all points in the move. I won't be actually "dancing" samba until I am able to do the whisk in real speed with correct leg bending (boncing). To be honest, lots of time, I feel bored and physically tired doing the basics over and over. but I do know that Repetition/practices are the most important part to make yourself a good dancer. Just think about skaters, and how many times they have to practice a jump before they are comfortable doing it at a comp!

I guess, if all beginners are taught with technique being the emphasis, they will progress a lot faster. personally, I think I am progressing quite fast in standard, full bronze in all dances except Foxtrot. I still have 3 more months before the 6 months my teacher told me when I had my first lesson with him.

 

[elegance]

Yes- I think emphasis on technique from the beginning would be the most important thing. In my own case I had no dance or physical training background at all- it wasn't really taught at school, just presented which completely sailed over my head. So I didn't realize the concept of technique at all, or have much body awareness. Add that to the first few group classes I took which were very pattern oriented, and it ended up taking two years to even grasp the concept that attention to technique was needed. Even when teachers would tell me something like "weight over standing foot" I had no idea what they meant. It wasn't till I took private lessons and was therefore pushed and pulled into appropriate positions and understood what it felt like to use this or that muscle that I started to improve. So I have to say I wasted a few years in beginner-land and I think that unless you have good body awareness and are able to learn well visually, it would be most important to take private lessons early on. Once you have the muscle awareness, I think you are all set. After that, the most important thing would be awareness of the need for regular practice. That should get you improving pretty fast .

 

[delamusica]

Another thing that Chris didn't mention is the very idea of moving together with your partner. Learning to stay square to each other, to hold your position relative to each other, to accelerate/deccelerate at the same time, and to lead/follow without pulling and pushing the other person out of balance can take a dancer leaps and bounds in the right direction. It's all too easy to blame technical problems on a person just not knowing the correct way to do it, but often the root of the problem is really in the togetherness of the couple.

 

[sunderi]

While a few dancers manage to climb the learning curve from day one, many of us spent a year or more getting familiar with the idea of danicng before starting to make real progress.

A year?!? Heck -- I'm still working on all the things you described, 5+ years into this -- and I think I've made pretty good progress!

 

[sunderi]

The problem is is...how do you cater in a group class to the various goals of the dancers?

At my studio, they have some group classes that are just plain old group classes, where we're generally taught a step or a pattern of steps, along with a little technique, and then they have "technique" group classes, where the emphasis is on a basic building block technique.

Unfortunately, it seems to be hard to get the distinction down to some people. At our studio, you purchase a certain number of group classes, and you're permitted to attend any you wish, as long as they're at your level. So, you get some people in technique class who don't really understand what's different about the class, and who make learning the technique more difficult for the rest of the students (these are silver and gold students who should know better, but just DON'T). Luckily, most of the work in the technique class is done independently (i.e., w/o a partner) so they don't mess you up too badly . . .

 

[sunderi]

Even when teachers would tell me something like "weight over standing foot" I had no idea what they meant. It wasn't till I took private lessons and was therefore pushed and pulled into appropriate positions and understood what it felt like to use this or that muscle that I started to improve. So I have to say I wasted a few years in beginner-land and I think that unless you have good body awareness and are able to learn well visually, it would be most important to take private lessons early on.

I think this hits on a distinction that is too often ignored -- some people are visual learners, and some just aren't.

Visual learners are, by & large, going to learn more in a group class than, say, a kinesthetic learner (which I am, and which it sounds like, elegance, you may be too). We NEED to be PUT into the correct position and FEEL what it's like before it really becomes something we can understand and work towards.

I know, just based on how my brain works, that I will NEED to have some private instruction/coaching in order to learn any new concept in dancing. Some people can get that from a group class, but I'm not one of them.

 

[Chris Stratton]

It is important to take different learning styles into account, but it's also necessary to recognize that the most reliable methods of evaluating your own dancing for things like body position are going to be visual - looking in the mirror, and looking at the video tape. Feelings are often quite misleading until they have been calibrated, and even then they tend to go out of calibration very easily, unless you frequently compare what you feel to what you are seeing.

For example, stand in front of a mirror with your eyes closed, and take a position such as your half of a dance hold. Open you eyes, evaluate it, fix it. Then close your eyes, drop that position, and resume it. Open your eyes and check... etc

 

[sunderi]

It is important to take different learning styles into account, but it's also necessary to recognize that the most reliable methods of evaluating your own dancing for things like body position are going to be visual - looking in the mirror, and looking at the video tape.

Although I agree that that's true for continual evaluation and correction of our technique, I was addressing more the INITIAL introduction of certain concepts.

I know I've tried to emulate things I've seen other people do, and I've been going about it all wrong -- until I've had it explained in a way I really understand, I can't even ATTEMPT to approximate it.

But I do agree that the correction/evaluation has to be visual. For me, nothing is more effective than video.

 

[elegance]

Ditto! That's exactly how it works for me. And yeah, video is great.

For "breaking out of beginnerland" though, I wonder if you do have to just take the time to recognize certain concepts or if a good group teacher would be able get them across to you in a shorter time period. I mean for me it was a huge mental shift, because I thought that certain people just weren't very good at certain things, not that everybody could learn if you went about it the right way. I had to experience it before I made the shift. If an instructor (say in a group class, as people have said private lessons aren't feasible for everyone) could recognize that people are learning in different ways and target that, would that make a difference, or do you just have to learn as you are ready to learn?

It is important to take different learning styles into account, but it's also necessary to recognize that the most reliable methods of evaluating your own dancing for things like body position are going to be visual - looking in the mirror, and looking at the video tape.

Although I agree that that's true for continual evaluation and correction of our technique, I was addressing more the INITIAL introduction of certain concepts.

I know I've tried to emulate things I've seen other people do, and I've been going about it all wrong -- until I've had it explained in a way I really understand, I can't even ATTEMPT to approximate it.

But I do agree that the correction/evaluation has to be visual. For me, nothing is more effective than video.

 

[sunderi]

I think dance can definitely be targeted to different people's learning style (I know I had several private instructors who were all good teachers, but I had to find one who could teach ME). I do think most group classes focus on the visual learner, however.

The "technique" classes I mentioned above seem to be more kinesthetic, though -- they focus more on what muscles to use in a particular way, as opposed to "rock back, do an underarm turn" type of teaching. Maybe that's why I like them so much?

I think a really great group class teacher is a rare and wonderful thing. They can help people break out of "beginner land" as well and help you reinforce things you're learning from a private instructor, if you have one.