Challenge Yourself
05.30.07

There may be a select few dancers out there that have never taken a lesson and have managed to reach some level of capable dance. For the vast majority of us, dancing is not something that you assimulate from watching or reading.
 
Dancing qualifies as a sport. There is a physical component matched with a mental exercise that allows you to coordinate body and mind to create a result that is pleasing to the eye and feels right in that execution. Add to that a team aspect and you have roles to play as well as coordination of your efforts with you partner.
 
This all begins to sound complex until you compare this with a description of walking or picking up a drink. If you break it down to the compnent parts, all actions take longer to verbalize then they do to execute. Communicating a coordinated effort to show someone a new skill, technique or activity takes time as well. This is a core definition of teaching.
 
Teaching you how to dance isn't just about moving one foot after another. If it were, I am sure that someone would have designed those little charts (such as the one Jimmy Kimmel was using during his segment on Dancing With The Stars), made them into a tear out book and made a mint!
 
Good instruction translates the dance from your foot placement into body flight and motion. Using you hips, shoulders, arms and head all become components of good instruction on how to dance. In fact, the key to dancing well rests in your center or body core and not in the toes.
 
Getting an instructor to help you find the connection in dancing between your entire body, your partner's body and the music is a critical step in becoming a strong dancer. Watching video's or other dancers from the bar will find you trying to copy patterns without the keys to unlocking how to do them properly. In some instances, intricate or risky manuevers can become outright dangerous to you, your partner and even some of the dancers near you if executed improperly or in the wrong setting.
 
There are so many dancers that become bored with the "mundane" basics before truly mastering them. I know I've used this before, but some of us define levels of dancers as:
 
Beginner: Dancers trying to do Intermediate material
Intermediate: Dancers attempting advanced dance ideas.
Advanced: Dancers who have gone back to the basics.
 
You should be able to execute as a lead or follow your basics cleanly with several different variations. Variations are patterns using the same rhythm pattern {i.e. Double, Triple, Triple is your Rhythm Pattern for a Left Side Pass} as the basic with different foot or body positions. You CAN DANCE whole songs using basics with variations and not repeat the same exact pattern during that dance. Challenge yourself and try it. You'll be a better dancer if you do...