I dance! I also sometimes teach dance. Some important tips for people who think they can't dance:
1. 70% of your bad dancing is probably mental hangups and subconscious fear about looking stupid. Your learning will go way faster when you're not afraid.
2. Get in touch with your -
Conversation
Replying to
body in general. There's lots of muscles that are hard to access with your mind. Any exercises that get you finding and moving rare muscles in unusual ways are great
3. DEVELOP CORE STRENGTH
4. we all have conceptions about 'what dancing is supposed to look like'. Undo this -
4
73
dance like a princess, like a beast, dance with no hands, with only hands. Become a series of characters.
5. Stay in touch with the music. It's easy to lose touch when you're thinking hard about what you're doing. Gently bring yourself back into contact. Meditate. -
1
1
62
6. Your 'bad' dancing is lack of familiarity with your own body and what it can do. Drills help shove connection into your subconscious. Do as many drills as you can handle without getting bored.
7. did i mention core strength because CORE STRENGTH IS IMPORTANT
8. Every daily-
2
60
movement can be an exercise. Wash dishes from your core. Fold the laundry from your core. Keep your pelvis tucked in, your abs tight, your shoulders rolled back, your chest puffed. Be strong. Fold that laundry like superman. Turn the corner like a spring ready to release.
-
1
2
79
9. Make faces when you dance, as part of the dance. Hold the faces steady, let them be extreme, stupid or terrifying.
10. Get a tutor, pay for a session after every 4-6 hours of your own practicing drills at home. If you're a fast learner, 3 months will transform you.
2
56
11. Focus on CORE STRENGTH and technique (balance, turns, etc.), and focus on EXPRESSION (loosing the fear from your body, staying in touch with the music). These are more important than MOVES (memorizing a sequence of steps). However, MOVES are fun, so do that if you want.
1
59
12. And remember - learning to dance should be fun. Stay in touch with the joy of improving a skill, and if it becomes a chore, change something, and do what you like. Just don't get stuck in a narrow movement space! Always be expanding and experimenting.
2
1
60
13. and make sure you minimize the amount of time weight is dispersed across both your feet! You can check to see if your weight is dispersed by freezing, and then raising one foot off the ground. If your head moved, then your weight was dispersed.
2
38
It's great to practice this when walking; when walking, minimize the amount of time your weight travels 'between' feet; let the transfer between one foot to another be *very short*. When extreme/just starting out, this can look like hopping or falling.
4
38
You can see an example of this executed well at 0:23 in this clip:
4
1
26