No Longer Thinking About It
Often when you learn something new, it’s tempting to want to fast forward past the bits you don’t find so entertaining to the bits that you do. Swing dance is no exception.
Many members want to skip the repetition and practising on their own so they can dance with a partner straight away because it’s more fun.
But I would say for best results, train yourself, don’t just entertain yourself! If you find some time to practise on your own first, you’ll enjoy partner dancing even more.
This is because the more solo practice you do, you’ll find that the steps come automatically when you dance with a partner.
Don’t Skip the Practice and Repetition
When you first discover a new move, technique, or concept, you’ll find that you have to think about it. Partner dancing is like that. If you’ve never danced with a partner before, it can feel very unfamiliar. When something is unfamiliar, we can feel uncomfortable, confused, and anxious.
Even if you have danced with partners for a long time, if you’re a follower, dancing with a different leader will always be an adventure. Leaders have a bit more control, but if you dance with different followers, you don’t know how well they’re going to be able to follow you.
This is why the key to feeling uncomfortable when things are unfamiliar is to have something that is familiar to you. Something that you can control, like your own footwork.
That’s why practice and repetition is so important because it’s the only way you will be able to dance with ease and no longer think about it. So not just constant practice but the right kind of practice will help you build muscle memory, and once your 8 counts are automatic, you won’t be thinking about them all the time.
Practise Until You’re No Longer Thinking About It
I often say that it’s a bit like driving. It’s hard to focus on the traffic if you are thinking about where the gears are. It’s hard to react to unpredictable drivers if you are in an unfamiliar car and you don’t know where the indicators are. When you drive your own car, you’re not even thinking about anything. You just get in the car and sometimes, you don’t know how you got home. It’s because you’re no longer thinking about it.
This is the point you need to get to with your Swing dancing. If you find you’re still thinking while you’re dancing, then you have some more work to do!
Want to dance with style and confidence?
Join me for the next course, packed with useful practice tips and supplemented with easy to follow videos that break things down step by step. Over 6 weeks, you’ll get the tools you need to excel in Swing dance, whether you’re dancing solo or with a partner.