When you first start taking lessons in ballroom dance (or social dance) you probably think that you would do better conentrating on just one dance. I hear this constantly from beginners. They just don't understand why I seem to deliberately confuse them with other dances. It seems like they start doing the basics of one dance, gain a little bit of confidence, and are finally able to do those basics but not consistently without mistakes. So why muddy the waters with a totally different dance?
Over the years I have tried different formats for my students, trying to discover which works the best. Experience has proven to me that concentrating on solely one dance, no matter the dance, is not the best approach. Beginners especially reach a point of overload --- because dancing is a physical activity. Any physical activity requires practice and with ballroom dancing we are talking about two people learning to move together in harmony.
Let's say you want to learn to play golf. You take some lessons from a pro, get some tips on stance and swing and hold and timing. Great, but taking lessons doesn't make you a good golfer ---- practice and consistent effort is required. You may know in your head what you are supposed to do, but the old body may not cooperate!! It takes hours on the golf course, more lessons, and helpful hints to improve your game. You are dealing with your own physical movement and an inanimate object ---- it's just you and the golf club out there trying to hit that little ball. How likely is it that you will do absolutely everything the golf pro suggested and do it perfectly? Not very likely. That's because you won't remember everything that was suggested, you will not be able to absorb all the information given to you. Some things will register, some things you won't even hear, or if you do hear it you may not fully understand how to put it into practice. When you are first learning something you have limited experience and may not be able to relate the information to the little bit that you know. You hear it, but don't fully understand the implications. It's all too new.
Now imagine that you are learning to play golf with another person holding that club with you!! Now it becomes even more complicated because now we are talking about two people trying to absorb information and trying to physically perform ---- and trying to coordinate everything and move in tandem!!
If learning to dance were like learning in a classroom maybe the average student would do better to concentrate on one dance at a time. But in dance class you aren't sitting taking notes and memorizing details. You are memorizing and having to get the information into your brain and travel on down to those tootsies! And hope that your partner has done the same!!
It's all new to you, the patterns are new, the experience is new, and your brain can only absorb so much. You have to take in a limited amount of information, but then give your muscles time to use it with practice. You have to have time to practice the basics, the fundamentals of the dance, and have time to learn to adjust to your partner and adjust to the rhythm of the dance.
The wonderful thing about ballroom dance is that all the dances are related to each other in some way. When you learn a Left Turn in Fox Trot it is the same Left Turn you will learn to use in Slow Dance, Merengue, and Waltz. When you learn a basic Box Step in Waltz, it is the same footwork you will put into practice in Rhumba, FoxTrot and Samba, and eventually even in Tango --- that half box gets around!! Although you are learning a different dance with a different rhythm, your body is building muscle memory by repeating the same movements over and over. When you learn the Slow-Quick-Quick of Rhumba you are helping yourself to prepare to learn the Quick-Quick-Slow of Salsa, and for those same rhythms to be used in other dances along the way. When you hold your frame in one dance, you are practicing closed position in other dances. Every time you put effort into practicing one dance, you are really practicing other dances at the same time.
The Basics or Fundamentals of each dance are called Basics because they are the easiest for beginners. If you were to concentrate on just one dance you would be forced to move beyond those basics before you are really mentally and physically ready. I have tried doing 6 or 8 weeks of one dance, and in classes that were not beginners. Every person there reached a point of overload by about the 5th week. It really is best to learn a limited number of patterns and then have time to assimilate what you've learned without additional stuff to worry about. Every good cook knows that sometimes a sauce needs to simmer slowly and let the flavors develop and blend. It's the same with dancing!!! When you are in class learning the basics of Waltz, those basics of Rhumba are on the backburner simmering away. You and your partner learn the basic steps of Cha Cha and the triple steps and hand leads of Swing are blending and burbling on the backburner of your mind. So-----keep learning the basics of the various dances and realize that you are actually letting it all "simmer"!!!
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