HOW TO PRACTICE AT HOME
PART 1 – INTRO
It’s no secret that 2020 has been a difficult year for dancers all around the world. Dance schools have mostly been closed throughout spring and the current winter wave of Covid infections doesn’t seem to be going anywhere- the end result being that most of us are stuck practicing and teaching at home again.
For those dancers lucky enough to live in countries where restrictions are less, well, restrictive and you’re allowed to practice normally this series of posts will probably not be very useful- lucky you, run to the dance school and practice! But for those who are unable to do so, we’ve decided to prepare some ideas on how to practice everything from technique to performance stamina and flexibility in the few square metres of space available in most living rooms. After today’s post, there will be one for each of the 10 dances (yes, you can practice standard at home too) and a couple of bonus ones for general physical condition, turns, balance and flexibility.
Keep in mind we’re no experts when it comes to practicing at home- but then again, no one is. The situation we’re in is so unusual, that we’re all probably just figuring stuff out as we go. We’ll try our best to give you some tips and help you keep or even improve the quality of your dancing while we wait for the world to go back to normal.
“try to keep or even improve the quality of your dancing”
HOW TO GET STARTED
Practicing at home is extremely difficult- you’re probably shaking your head and screaming at the screen right now. But you’ll see- it really is easier said than done. Almost all of the usual “normal” aspects of practice are missing- the partner, the floor dimension and surface, mirrors, your dancing buddies you share training with, your teacher,… It’s not the physical aspect that is the problem, the difficulty is in finding the motivation and determination to go for it and practice like you would during your normal practice sessions.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. DON’T GO IT ALONE– your partner is there when you practice in normal circumstances. Create a schedule where you each practice alone for a percentage of time and then do performance or stamina sessions together via video. Trust us, you’ll feel much less alone and it will help you show up for practice if you know your partner will be waiting for you to sweat together!
2. KEEP OR INCREASE AMMOUNT OF PRACTICE– you usually practice every day for 2 hours? Great, do the same. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t dedicate the same amount of time to your improvement right now. Or- seeing there’s not much else we can do- why not spend an extra hour a day on that natural turn?
3. PLAN YOUR PRACTICE – don’t forget about the usual practice structure (warm up, dance practice, stretching) and the correct weekly planning. How much technique? How much performance practice? How much physical preparation? How much new skill learning? A structured plan will give you a better idea of what/how to practice.
You’ll be able to use our tips from upcoming posts for this, so come back tomorrow to start planning your practice!
4. CONNECT WITH YOUR COACH– you usually work with your coach every week, correct? So why stop now- online private lessons are different, but just as effective when it comes to your improvement. Just like your practice schedule, you should try and keep your lessons as regular as possible- practicing alone without any supervision can be harmful as you can quickly start practicing your mistakes instead of improving.
5. DRESS UP– we’re all feeling a bit unmotivated and yucky, right? Put your best practice clothes on, fix your hear and slap some makeup on your face. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong practicing in your pajamas, getting dresses up as you normally would will make you feel better and help you practice even though there’s nobody there to see you.
Come back tomorrow for the first tips, photos and videos that can help you practice at home. We’ll be posting some videos and tips to our instagram account as well, so make sure you follow our profile lt.dance_ by clicking the link below 🙂
Keep dancing peeps, competitions will be here in no time!
