Ballroom Dancing - JJ

10 Tips to Improve Your Dance

1. Understand the music

Listen actively to lots of music. In particular, learn how to count the beats of music to identify the musical structure. The experts say dance is a three-way partnership between you, your partner and the music. Know the music well.

Always try to dance to music you love; it makes dancing so much easier.

2. Take lessons

You need quality instruction, preferably both classes and, if you’re serious about learning to dance, occasional private lessons.

Consider taking the beginners’ class several times before moving on to the intermediate series (or take it again in conjunction with intermediate classes).

3. Focus on rhythm patterns, not direction of movement

A step pattern—those fancy-looking moves that define a dance — is the bigger motion a couple makes on the floor. It combines a direction, which is where to move, with a rhythm pattern, which is when to make weight changes. A rhythm pattern, which can be practiced by stepping in place (also known as marking a rhythm), has to do with whether you step or don’t step on a beat of music and whether you get fancy and step between beats of music, not the geography created when you move around the floor. For the beginner, I believe understanding when to step (rhythm patterns) is far more important than where to step (direction).

4. Focus on technique, not learning more step patterns.

If a step pattern is the fancy move you do on the floor, technique is how you do it. Technique is the subtle movements of the body that improve the look of the step pattern. Most newbies are focused just on what foot to move and where to move it. But remember to pay attention when your teacher tells you how to move your body, how to improve the lead and how to make it look better. Please, look beyond the superficial accumulation of patterns; see that good technique looks better than an encyclopedic memory and regurgitation of sloppy patterns. Understand that a well-executed, simple step pleases the eye—and your partner—more than a poorly executed, eye-catching pattern. Partners will line up for the guy with a handful of perfect patterns as quickly as they will avoid the schlub with dozens of reckless steps.

5. Get out and dance.

You must get out and dance, even occasionally, because any time on the floor will make you better.

6. Dance with a variety of partners.

Having a regular partner is groovy and will accelerate your progress. But as a beginner, dancing with only one person over time might result in bad habits. It’s important to have a variety of partners, as adjusting to a new partner is a basic dance skill. If you’re shy, finding any partner is a challenge. Taking classes is a good route as it removes the stress of finding a partner.

7. Dance up. By dancing up I mean asking better dancers than you to dance.

When you dance up, miraculously, things begin to work, and you’re able to move to the next level. You should dance up, occasionally, if you want to progress at a reasonable rate.

8. Recover seamlessly from missteps.

Lighten up, dude, nobody is at fault. It’s best not to blame, and if you’re the culprit, do not apologize excessively. Dance right through mistakes. In fact, recovering from a stumble is a critical skill every advanced dancer can do. Such accidents can even be fun and produce interesting results—add a smile and it may look like you were improvising a new move. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.

9. Watch great dancers

By watching great dancers you develop a sense of the possibilities, you begin to define your personal style and you create an image in your mind of where you want to go. Like salivating at the thought of food, a mental image can affect us physically: by observing and saturating your psyche with great dancing and visualizing your goals, you’ll program your subconscious mind and prep your body for a better performance. It’s a good activity when sitting out a dance. When I got hooked on becoming a better dancer, I stopped gazing at the women and started studying the men—to steal moves.

10. Learn manners.

Watch that ego does not exceed ability—this can wear thin on others, and it’s hard to dance with someone when he lacks sensitivity to his partner. Think: less is more.

find fulfillment in the journey and do not fixate on the goal. To paraphrase an old Zen saying: With one eye so firmly planted on your goal, you’ll only have one eye left to lead the way.