Pursuit of Perfection

Earlier this week, I taught a class of high school girls and found myself very impressed at how quickly they picked up choreography – youth have such a good memory.  In fact, they learned the choreo so quickly that they wanted to move on to learning the technique of the Cha Cha I was teaching.

Afterwards, that same day, I taught an adult class, with minimal choreography and an emphasis on execution of figures we had been practicing in a series of group classes together.  I found that my adult students are much more eager to learn new choreography.  They often want to learn new steps to keep them interested, yet can experience a frustration over the technique required to execute those steps.

In truth, choreography is easy to pick up, but learning to dance technically well – which is really the point of any dance education – requires time, commitment, and passion.

WDC Ballroom Champion, Peter Eggleton, once said, “I can teach you a Feather step (in Foxtrot) in about 15 minutes, but it will take you a lifetime to dance it.”  Though I am teacher, I am also a student of dance, and this statement is really overwhelming!  A lifetime commitment to dance!

What Eggleton is saying is that the average dance figure takes about 15 minutes to learn; however, it takes time and years of practice to develop it.

Dance is a pursuit of perfection that one will never fully attain.

It will help all students, at every level, to realize that – yes choreography needs to be changed, altered, adapted as you get better at dancing – but it’s RARELY that cause of your bad results.  Your commitment to learning and practicing the technique of execution is the key to dancing well.

I have often talked to students who wish they could revisit an old routine and perform it again with current dance skills.  In fact, recently, one of my students told me that he wished he had his current level of skill when he danced a showcase routine one year ago, this November.

Don’t be eager to jump ahead to new advanced figures that look more interesting – learn how to dance first. Like a novice pianist, after a few weeks of training you would not attempt to perform a complex Beethoven concerto.

Exciting choreography is fun and interesting, but it is not the reason you would fail to get the results you want. Your ability to dance the choreography to the highest level is required for the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment a student seeks. And that is only achieved through technical understanding and practice of execution over time.