10 Important Things To Do After Your First Ballroom Dance Class
We get multiple questions about what to do after the first ballroom dance lesson. One of the most common questions is “what to do to prepare for the next few dance lessons”. Here are ten things you can do that will help you prepare. Most of them are fairly simple and have a huge impact on how you dance.
1. Wait to Practice
It may be a surprise to learn that it is better not to practice after your first private lesson. Why? It’s very simple. You don’t have the knowledge or the muscle memory of the proper dance technique yet. It’s very frustrating for you and your teacher after that to break all of these “bad habits”. Even the best Ballroom Dance Teacher can’t teach you in one lesson. When you start “practicing” by yourself you don’t have any feedback from the Pro. So you definitely will do something wrong and the more you practice the more bad muscle memory will be created.
So Wait to Practice!
2. Book your next lesson close as possible
It is very, very important to keep your first couple lessons close as possible. That way you will remember and retain more. Your teacher will teach you new material and you will have a chance to learn more steps/technique and spend less time reviewing old material. It is that proven that when you start something new, after one week of not taking a lesson, you will probably remember only 50% of what you learned. After two weeks maybe only 10%. If your schedule allows, The best case is to try to have a private lesson, group class or practice party every day. In the worst case scenario every other day. Make the effort and you will enjoy it a lot more later.
3. Write it down
It is proven what you write down is what you learn, you can remember more. Going from short term memory to long term memory sometimes is a long process. You can help yourself by writing down or drawing what you learned in your first ballroom dance lesson. Learning how to ballroom dance is like everything else, you need to memorize the patterns and techniques. It doesn’t matter if you write it down in English, Chinese or Spanish or if you even draw a picture. Write it down the way you understand it and how you feel it in your own words, the sooner you write down the better. Next time before you have a dance lesson read what you wrote. That’s how you can recall your memory fast.
4. Live Like a Dancer
Dancers take care of their bodies, because their bodies are their instruments. Make sure to drink plenty of water and try eat as healthy of a balanced meal as possible. That means no Fast Food! In addition to the diet, make sure you get plenty of sleep to recover as you learn to dance. Also, to speed up recovery, try to cut down on those bad habits that are unhealthy. Smoking, excessive drinking and soda is not good for your body.
5. Listen to More Music
Listen to all kinds of different music and try to find the beat. If you find the beat, you can dance with the beat. So next time you’re driving turn on the radio “Find the Beat”. Try different music, styles and tempo. It does not matter if it is cha-cha, waltz, foxtrot or Viennese waltz. Find the Beat. Finding the beat will definitely make you a better dancer. To help we also made an Online Radio! Here you can see the style of dance, name of the song and Beats per minute.
To access the Dance Passion Radio click here.
6. Work on your posture
Whatever you can, stand up nice and tall and stretch your back. Improving your posture will definitely make you look better and dance better. If your job is to stay behind a computer, try this simple exercise. Sit on the edge of the chair while trying to keep your back straight. When you do that your posture already starts to improve.
7. Attend the Group classes and the Practice parties
Don’t wait, jump into the deep end. Join the fun of a group environment. Find more people that share the same passion as you. Dance, laugh, have fun and enjoy your time together. Even after the most stressful day, dance will change and make you better. Two left feet? No problem, everyone starts from somewhere. In a group class or practice party you will find the support from not only the dance instructors, but advanced students as well.
8. Watch YouTube
Find the best dance couple/competition on YouTube and watch it. You can find thousand of thousand of hours of great dancing. Look for the pro/professional dance, for example: Waltz dance pro competition or use the words, championship/scholarship like: “foxtrot championship.”
Keep in mind that there are two major different styles. American style and International Style. Adding one of these words will greatly improve your search. Also the world of Ballroom dance is changing so fast, so it is good idea to add 2021 or 2022. So in general searches like this one will find the best result: “american foxtrot championship pro 2022”
9. Buy Dance Shoes
If you really enjoy dancing, invest in dance shoes. Find the local dance store, ask a lot a questions to your teacher or the sales person. The best dance shoes are the ones that you don’t feel while you wear them. Don’t buy the super expensive ones or the dirt cheaper one. Usually you can find dance shoes with very good quality ina price range of $40 to $70. The biggest difference between regular shoes and dance shoes is the dancing shoes have extra arch support. They are designed to protect your feet.
10. Share your positive experience
When you share your dance experience, you will let your friends know how great this Dance Studio is. The more people that find out about it, the more clients the studio will have. The more clients that we have, the more dance partners you will have. And the Dance Studio will be able to keep their prices low. Also if you want to be part of something successful, help your Ballroom Dance studio to be successful. You will be a part of something big and exciting. And you want to be with your friends on the dance floor right? So the more you share, the more chance you have to be with your friends while you dance.
Now that you know what to do after your first lesson, it is the perfect time to sign up for one.
Contact us to schedule your free introductory private lesson today! It’s never too late to start dancing!
We hope to hear from you soon!