How To Improve in Ballroom Latin Dance
The Importance Of Individual Practice in Mastering Dance Techniques
May 23, 2009
For the serious dancer, Ballroom Latin Dance is more than just dancing with a partner and matching steps. As it requires a high degree of technical proficiency, both partners must have almost equal levels of skill in order to dance reasonably well with technical correctness. The fact is, connection between partners does not happen just by holding each other's hands. Connection is the end result of both partners feeling each other through the body at the right time. Thus it is crucial for an individual partner to master the basic concept of Ballroom Latin dance before attempting to connect with the partner.
Benefits Of Individual Practice
An individual practice session allows a dancer to go through the theories and try out the movements that have been taught by the teacher at his or her own pace. He or she can forget the partner temporarily and concentrate on getting the movements into the muscle memory.
Since the pace of learning is different for everybody, having practiced alone and become familiar with the basic technique will actually maximize the efficiency of partner practice later on. This is because neither partner will have to waste any more time on struggling with the basic techniques but can get on with the partnering right away. As the confidence level of both partners is raised, they can just concentrate on getting the right connection and applying these basic techniques in the dance.
Suggestions For Individual Practice Session
Depending on individual's availability for practice, an individual practice session could run from 30 to 90 minutes. Whatever the duration, it is better to make it a habit to practice alone before practicing with the partner.
The most practiced figure in almost any Ballroom studio is the Rumba Walk, both Forward and Backward. Since Latin dance involves much of the pelvis, the Rumba Walk is a highly recommended fundamental warm-up exercise before any partner practice or even dance lesson. Similarly, other types of "Walks" such as Cha Cha Walks, Samba Walks, Paso Walks or Jive Basics can also be practiced individually.
Another recommended exercise figure is the Cucaracha. The Cucaracha is very similar to the Rumba Walk, but the direction is more towards the side instead of just going back and forth. Instead, the focus of this exercise is on working out the co-ordination between the shoulder blades and hips. Coupling the Cucaracha technique with the Rumba Walks can help to build a very solid foundation of Latin dance basic technique. It is definitely worth spending time on this figure. The Cucaracha can be danced in all directions as well.
The dancer could also practice certain difficult figures alone before putting them together with a partner. Still there are other dancers who just practice alone for the sake of memorizing an entire routine. The choice of practice content is unlimited.
Back To Practice With Partner
Having practiced alone does not mean that a dancer can connect to his or her partner immediately. When both partners try to put their steps together, they still have to work out the best way to feel each other. At least both partners are already familiar with their own steps and techniques. All they need is to try by errors to dance together and get the amount of connection expected. The practice has become more efficient after both partners have done their "homework" separately.
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