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Ballroom Dance Resource - Articles on Dancing An excellent article on how to overcome frustration in your dance practicing or, in other words, practice overload.~ by Richard Benjamin www.dancestudioone.com Saturation is the point in a lesson or practice session when the brain "shuts down" or has too much information to process while you are dancing. This usually happens when you've been working on only one step and have repeated it over and over. It often happens when people are working on a routine or sequence of patterns. It also happens during the "I've got to dance this perfectly" syndrome when pressure (almost always self-generated!) has built up to do the step "right." Symptoms usually appear after about 15 to 20 minutes of repetitive concentration. One sign of the onset of saturation is when you realize that the first time you did the step, it was better than all of the repeats, or that successive attempts gradually get worse instead of better. Another sign is that you make different errors each time you do the step, becoming more frustrated with each repeat. Another warning sign is that you spend more time discussing what’s wrong than actually practicing. And a real red flag is when you hear yourself saying things like, "I'm gonna get this %#&! step even if kills me!" and "My gosh, I can't dance anything today!" When you get saturated, take a break for the length of one dance, or practice a totally different dance and then return to the pattern that was giving you trouble. If this fails, there’s something to be said for taking at least a 20 minute break. If you're emotionally frustrated, it will take at least this long for your body to come back to normal. Remember that you can continue to improve that step or routine tomorrow. When the luxury of tomorrow is not available, take your mental bath and then examine the few steps just before the error. Fix those, and then dance a few steps after the problem point. Then add the few patterns previous to the weak spot. Then go back to your regular sequence for the continuity of the routine. And above all, don't give up - take the time to work out the problem. And along the same lines, this is a question from a new student: "I've been away for a few weeks and just resumed my lessons. I noticed that I seem to dance much better! The steps that I had so many problems with seem to dance with less struggle or no problem at all. I enjoy it a lot, seem to remember more and the dancing is easier. Why is that? How can I make all my lessons like this?" The simple reason for this is that you are placing less demand on yourself. Coming back from a break, your mind says, "I've forgotten everything." But since much of dance is "muscle memory", your mind is unconsciously reducing the pressure on your body to try so hard. The body takes over, and the dancing is easier because your subconscious remembers the "feel" of what you know. Your mind doesn't work overtime processing all the techniques and patterns while you are trying to dance. Your body is more tuned into the way the step feels naturally, and responds automatically. When we study dance, we place a lot of pressure on ourselves, constantly thinking that: (1) I have to remember everything; (2) I have to get the most from my money; (3) I want to please my instructor (and my partner); and (4) I have to dance every technique, element of styling, and pattern perfectly...every time. This pressure sticks with us during our lessons and sometimes backfires, making us feel that our progress has stopped...or even that we've regressed. Here are some mental adjustments you can try to make the type of lesson you described the norm. First, when practicing a newer step, don't try to dance it perfectly. Just try to dance it better than you did before. Steps grow with practice, and since we know that dance is art, "perfect" doesn't exist. It may be more important just to note slight errors for a while and dance through the pattern so that you get its "feel", and then come back and work through the problem areas with your instructor later. You should polish and smooth your dancing in the same way that a plain piece of wood is sanded, worked, and polished to be part of a beautiful finished piece of furniture. It doesn't happen at once. It takes a realistic amount of time and practice. Learn to let your inner voice say, "Well that was pretty good that time." Taking a break from practicing a step often improves performance simply because you come back to it with a fresh mind. Use your mind when studying a step. Use your body when dancing. |
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