Learning plan for dancing

[David Bailey]

Do you have one?

If so, how's it organised?

Any tips? Do's and don't's?

[Mythical]

Yeah. It's a really scientific, tried and tested method that all the experts swear by.

1. Go dancing
2. Enjoy it

[Gav]

Do you have one?

If so, how's it organised?

Any tips? Do's and don't's?

Just suck the fun out of learning to dance, why don't you?

[David Bailey]

Just suck the fun out of learning to dance, why don't you?

I guess that's a "no" from Gav then...

OK, let's put it this way - if you wanted to learn, say, Spanish, what would be your best method:

• Wander along to random Spanish classes, at random intervals, and gab in Spanish with other learners?
• Study, learn, get feedback, then practice?

[Terpsichorea]

I guess that's a "no" from Gav then...

OK, let's put it this way - if you wanted to learn, say, Spanish, what would be your best method:

• Wander along to random Spanish classes, at random intervals, and gab in Spanish with other learners?
• Study, learn, get feedback, then practice?

Michel Thomas CDs to begin with...a lot better than the way I was taught languages at school!

I wonder if his principles could apply to dance? The emphasis is much more on grammar, on constructing sentences fluently with few words, rather than amassing loads of volcabulary.

[the whale]

Go to classes.
Purchase alcoholic beverage.
Get nervous.
Participate in beginners class... feel smug 'cause you're not totally new.
Try a wee bit of freestyle, but not too much.
Give the intermediate class a go.
Feel completely unco-ordinated and demoralised.
Run home.
Lie awake all night trying to remember what you learned.

Repeat as often as required because it's fun

D

[ducasi]

Yeah. It's a really scientific, tried and tested method that all the experts swear by.

1. Go dancing
2. Enjoy it

[Ghost]

Do you have one?

If so, how's it organised?

Any tips? Do's and don't's?

I keep reconsidering the same questions and see how the answers change

I view learning as moving up a spiral. If you look from an aerial perspective I'd appear to be going round in circles, but in reality each time I come back to the same "point" I'm at a higher elevation and can see new things.

I write down "lightbulb moments" and periodically go back to them.

I write down what works at that point in time - this lets me compare how things are developing over time.

I write down "blue sky" ideas eg be able to lead ochos on anyone at will. I gradually add notes to them on ideas I've had that might work, or things others have suggested or stuff that fluked in freestyle etc.

I go and look at stuff other people have done to a high level - not necessarily dance: sculpture, skate-boarding, origami. It often inspires me or helps me look at dancing in a different way

My Little Book of Dance Compliments for when everything goes to hell

Chocolate

Beyond that it's fairly chaotic. I work on whatever interests me at the time and usually find that what clicks was something I'm not working on but was playing with a while ago. It does mean that I'm simultaneously working on beginner, intermediate and advanced stuff which tends to wind up people who want to know what level I'm at.

Oh and I ask questions. A lot.

"Oh that's just Christopher - he asks a lot of questions ~ Georgious Dancer"

My best piece of advice is that when you freestyle, enjoy it.

Edit - ok I'm going to qualify the last bit in light of the other posts. There's a lot of teenagers who can tell you what the goal average was for their football team five years ago, or what colour eyes each member of a pop band has, but who can't remember the first twenty elements of the periodic table. I've found a fundamental part of learning is that there's enjoyment to it. Otherwise it becomes a chore and your learning curve tends to drop off horribly.

[Mythical]

Originally Posted by DavidJames
I guess that's a "no" from Gav then...

OK, let's put it this way - if you wanted to learn, say, Spanish, what would be your best method:
Wander along to random Spanish classes, at random intervals, and gab in Spanish with other learners?
Study, learn, get feedback, then practice?

Actually, the first method is probably the best (apparently, you find that the people who speak spanish BEST are the ones who actually use the language every day, and from day one - not the ones who sit and write random spanish phrases in a book)

Imagine trying to learn the beginners moves from a book! How many people do you think would do MJ, if teachers wrote the moves on a blackboard and expected you to copy them down - aside from the fact that it's boring, it'd also be hellishly confusing!

[MartinHarper]

My "plan" consists of one item I want to work on for each of leading/following.

Currently:
Leading - dancing to the overall feel of the music, rather than working with individual notes.
Following - taking my own weight in dips. At least a bit.

I keep each item until my gadfly mind sees something else it wants to do.

[LMC]

The process goes something like:

What am I particularly bad at at the moment?

OK, I'll work on that.

Damn, now I've forgotten how to ...

So I'd better work on that.

Repeat. Incessantly.

[ducasi]

Part of the problem with having a "learning plan" is that you need to know what you need to learn. Thus you need to find out what you're bad at – or just not good at. Finding out can be a fairly dispiriting experience.

Also, making the time to practice, (sometimes) imposing on other people, and keeping in mind your learning plan during dances can also affect your enjoyment of dancing.

So instead I go to classes (not as many as I should, at present!) and as many technical workshops as I can. Then I let what I am taught sink in at its own rate. Sometimes it takes a moment, other times it can be months before something I have been taught clicks into place.

This seems to work, in that I dance to enjoy myself and at the same time, I am becoming a better dancer. OK, maybe not as fast as I could if I had a proper learning plan and practised every week, but I don't think I could keep up my enthusiasm for dancing if I did so.

Of course, everyone is different – what works for me may not work for you. The most important thing is you're enjoying yourself, and how you go about learning isn't that important in comparison.

[JiveLad]

Go to classes.
Purchase alcoholic beverage.
Get nervous.
Participate in beginners class... feel smug 'cause you're not totally new.
Try a wee bit of freestyle, but not too much.
Give the intermediate class a go.
Feel completely unco-ordinated and demoralised.
Run home.
Lie awake all night trying to remember what you learned.

Repeat as often as required because it's fun

D

I was speed reading this...........and read: "...purchase alcohol......, participate in beginners, try and wee a bit in freestlye........"

At that point (seriously) I had a vision of someone learning to dance who was so nervous they could not pee......so they had to try a bit during the freestyle.

...Oops

[Gadget]

Personally I use the classes to practice stuff and the free-style to dance... ocasionally inserting some of the practiced stuff into it.

As to what to practice...
Improving my dancing (an old thread of mine)
What are you working on? (another quite old one, but not by me & with more input from other people)

[FoxyFunkster]

Do you have one?

If so, how's it organised?

Any tips? Do's and don't's?

best pearl of wisdom i can offer is don`t try to do too much too soon....i did 15-20 beginners classes before going to an intermediate class....make sure you master the beginners moves and are able to dance them well....and because a majority of intermediate moves are a variation of the beginners moves i now find it very easy to pick up,rip off,steal,borrow,learn new intermediate moves.....and most of all have a ball and enjoy yourself.....oh and as i`ve officially banned the word SORRY at ISH now.....don`t keep apologising....making mistakes is all part of the learning curve......

[FoxyFunkster]

best pearl of wisdom i can offer is don`t try to do too much too soon....i did 15-20 beginners classes before going to an intermediate class....make sure you master the beginners moves and are able to dance them well....and because a majority of intermediate moves are a variation of the beginners moves i now find it very easy to pick up,rip off,steal,borrow,learn new intermediate moves.....and most of all have a ball and enjoy yourself.....oh and as i`ve officially banned the word SORRY at ISH now.....don`t keep apologising....making mistakes is all part of the learning curve......

sorry almost forgot...absolutely write down the names of all the moves you learn....great tip is to write them out in a text message on your mobile and then save them to drafts.....great help i found....

[Lee Bartholomew]

sorry almost forgot...absolutely write down the names of all the moves you learn....great tip is to write them out in a text message on your mobile and then save them to drafts.....great help i found....

Cant text type. Im worse at it than a chimp with broken fingers.

[David Bailey]

Actually, the first method is probably the best (apparently, you find that the people who speak spanish BEST are the ones who actually use the language every day, and from day one - not the ones who sit and write random spanish phrases in a book)

Oh well, fair enough then.

Why bother with all this education lark at all, why not just let kids learn Maths from other kids, and practice it from day to day? That's bound to work.

Why do we bother teaching at all?

Your analogy only holds any water at all if you assume that you're talking to fluent Spanish speakers, and even then it's limited to the common conversational topics and usages of those speakers. For example, you might never learn any grammatical rules,

If you're talking to fellow Spanish-learners, you'll just reenforce each others' problems.

Imagine trying to learn the beginners moves from a book!

Or a DVD, for example? Oh, hold on, I must have imagined all those DVDs and "step-check" instruction booklets that Ceroc sell...

And as a converse example, imagine trying to advance past "baby-talk" level in any discipline without some structure.

How many people do you think would do MJ, if teachers wrote the moves on a blackboard and expected you to copy them down - aside from the fact that it's boring, it'd also be hellishly confusing!

Three points:
- If you'll look up at the area, you'll notice that this is the Intermediates corner, not the Beginners' corner. So I'm not talking about "learning from scratch", I'm talking about self-improvement.
- I don't care how many people do MJ, I'm not at all involved in the business. Their retention rate is none of my business. I'm trying to improve my dancing.
- Partner dancing is hard. It's not an easy discipline to master, it takes effort, skill and determination to progress beyond a certain point. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, there's no "easy route".

[Beowulf]

Do you have one?
If so, how's it organised?

Can I call you Rimmer without getting an infraction ?

(if this sounds familiar.. you watch too much Red Dwarf.. Like Me)

DavidJames: Look, I've got my Freestyle on Tuesday and I don't know any moves. Where's my revision timetable?
Beowulf: Wait, is this the thing in all different colours, with all the subjects divided into style periods and rest periods and self dancing time?
DavidJames: It took me seven weeks to make it. I've got to cram my whole revision into one night.
Beowulf: Hang on, is this the thing with the note on it in red which said, "Vital. Valuable. Urgent. Do not touch on pain of death?"
DavidJames: Yes!
Beowulf: I threw it away.
DavidJames: Ha ha ha ha. Tee hee. Where is it?
Beowulf: No, I didn't. I pinned it up on the wall.
DavidJames: What? Why?
Beowulf: To dry it out.
DavidJames: What do you mean, dry it out?
Beowulf: Well, I spilled a lentil Curry on it. Don't worry, it's a little bit smudged but you can read most of it, especially if you scrape the lumps off.
DavidJames: You spoiled my -- no, I haven't got time. I'm taking Move learning drugs and all I'm memorising is this conversation.
Beowulf:They're illegal and will get you banned from the forum !
DavidJames: (in a trance) Where's my revision timetable? Look, I've got my Freestyle on Tuesday and I don't know any moves. Where's my revision timetable? Wait, is this the thing in all different colours, with all the subjects divided into style periods and rest periods and self dancing time? It took me seven weeks to make it. I've got to cram my whole revision into one night....

[the whale]

I was speed reading this...........and read: "...purchase alcohol......, participate in beginners, try and wee a bit in freestlye........"

At that point (seriously) I had a vision of someone learning to dance who was so nervous they could not pee......so they had to try a bit during the freestyle.

...Oops

Jivelad - I need industrial cleaning for my screen & keyboard

Note to self: do not drink tea & read posts at same time

D