One of the most common struggles dancers encounter, especially at the beginner level, is coordinating movement throughout the body. For instance, it often seems easy to learn the steps of a dance combination, but when the arm movements are added on, suddenly everything feels a little too tight, a little too late. The arms get…
Choose a piece of music that has a clear beat and, setting the choreography aside for now, begin counting out loud on that beat. Start from one and count up to eight, repeating from one again each time you get to eight. Continue like this until the counting starts to feel more natural. This is…
When you learn a contemporary dance combination, one of the most common challenges is learning to move in the quality, which can leave the body feeling stiff and tight. Contemporary dance phrases are often made of lots of qualities that require contraction and release, weight shifts, soft bends and fluid continuity. When you’re focusing on…
From a standing, neutral position, shift your weight from one foot to the other. Keep doing this until you know exactly what it feels like when your other foot is able to come up freely, without making you fall down. Now, the next time you are practicing some steps, check whether or not your free…