Recipe for how to become a good dancer
Have you ever wondered how some people get to be such good dancers and others do not? What makes the good ones so successful? Most people will sit back and chalk it up to natural talent or even luck. Sure, there may be some truth in that… but what about hard work and dedication?
Success is definitely not for the lazy and the weak. It is for reserved for people who work hard and dedicate themselves to their craft. It’s not rocket science people! If you want to be good at anything, you need to put the work in. For me, there are 3 basic ingredients to excel at pretty much anything. These are the things that will help you improve your skills and become consistently better at what you do.
What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King
Step 1: Regular weekly coaching
You need an experienced third eye to tell you what you need to improve and how you can do it. If you are practicing the wrong technique over and over again, you are just creating more work for yourself when you have to unlearn it! Find a coach that is knowledgeable and experienced enough to give you the proper advice at the right time, and that inspires you to stay motivated to work on it!
Step 2: Regular daily practice
Skills can only be developed if you work hard and dedicate yourself to being better every day. Not only do you have to be able to achieve the necessary skills, but you also need to consistently reproduce them under pressure. Of course not everyone has the time to practice every day. However, sometimes just thinking about your craft and not necessarily doing it, can still make a big difference.
Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft. I’ve never really considered myself as particularly talented but where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethics.” — Will Smith
Step 3: Tests/Competitions/Shows
Participating in competitions or events that test your skills is essential to your improvement. Contrary to popular belief, tests often show what you don’t know, not what you do know. By participating in events on a regular basis, you will be able to learn from your experiences, and be able to direct your further development. (with the help of your coach.)
Every time I fight, every time I step into the Octagon, I try and learn from the errors that I’ve made and become a better fighter and a better person.” — Lyoto Machida (former UFC middleweight champion)
Luckily for us here in Vancouver, there is a surge of new competitions popping up this year!
The Delta Cup DanceSport Gala, which has been in the works for the past 5 months, is organized by Professional Instructors, George & Wendy Pytlik. It is a brand new competition open for everyone, which will be held on October 17th, at the KinVillage Community Centre in Tsawwassen.
Just this past August, DanceSport BC announced that it will be holding another new competition called the October Dance Festival the weekend before the Delta Cup. It will be held at the Crystal Ballroom on October 10th, organized by the hard working volunteers of DanceSport BC.
As a past competitor and a coach, I encourage all dancers to participate in both of these new events. The more competition experience you get, the better. Having competitions on back to back weekends is actually a great learning experience. Use the first competition as a warm-up; learn from your mistakes and prove to yourself that you can dance better the next weekend. In fact, both these competitions are a great warm-up for the Snowball Classic, which is one of the biggest events of the year, to be held on November 6-8, organized by DanceSport BC.
Take advantage of the fact that these events are local, and you do not have to pay extra for transportation, accommodations and food expenses. Back when Joel and I were competing, we’d have to travel all over the globe to get the invaluable competition experience that we needed to be at the top of our game… and even then, we felt that it was never enough.
Just imagine if we had a competition in Vancouver every weekend like they do in Europe! It’s no wonder those International dancers that come for Snowball are so amazingly experienced! There is no doubt that competing more frequently makes you a better dancer, so seize the opportunities that are presented here for you! Go and sign up for the October Dance Festival & Delta Cup in October to get yourself in tip-top shape for the Snowball Classic in November!
