Picture this: it’s your first class post-Worlds and your teacher surprises you with shiny new choreography to sink your teeth into. Most dancers would find themselves ecstatic to start fresh with new steps and move on from the dances that have been drilled and polished for months on end. But unlike other dancers, your first instinct is to panic because you know that new material takes longer for you to learn than it does for your classmates.
It’s no secret that up-to-date competitive Irish dance choreography is complex and incredibly athletic. Dancers spend months on end learning, drilling, and perfecting their rounds. As dancers, we’re asked to balance rhythm and timing, leg lines, foot placement, and perfect carriage. Couple that with a repertoire of moves that is ever-changing and evolving, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re given three new rounds to master and perform onstage under pressure. As a result, it’s easy to define oneself as a “slow learner” when it comes to choreography and become frustrated in the moment, making it even more difficult to remember material.
As a senior dancer who took a very long break in the middle of my dancing career, during which dance completely evolved, I understand the struggle of being slower to learn new steps. I have also danced at a couple of different schools during my dancing journey, and every teacher constructs choreography differently, which doesn’t make the learning process any easier. It’s important, though, to realise that picking up steps slowly doesn’t make you any less talented or able as a dancer. We all have different learning styles, and discovering techniques to help you pick up the choreography can help you avoid getting overwhelmed.
Here are seven tips that I have found most helpful for strengthening this learning process to allow you to move forward and reach your potential.
Communicate with your teacher
Many Irish dancing teachers have years of experience teaching all different types of dancers and all types of learning styles. You likely aren’t the first dancer who doesn’t pick everything up at the drop of a hat. If your teacher is completely unaware that it takes a while for steps to click for you, they can’t slow down or tailor to your needs.
Your teacher might also be able to offer solutions to help you out. Maybe they’re willing to offer extra private lessons to repeat pieces that just won’t stick for you initially. Or maybe they can choreograph using elements that you already know and are familiar with, so that some of the work is already blocked out for you. Bringing awareness to your learning style and being as transparent as possible is the first step. Remember, there is nothing wrong with saying: “I need more time.”
Visualise your steps to music
Dancing isn’t all physical; it’s also brain work, and the brain is a muscle that needs exercising like anything else. You don’t have to be at the studio to practise remembering what comes next in each step or to work on understanding how your steps fit to music. Put on your headphones, pick your favourite track, and imagine yourself dancing through each step. It might be on your bus journey to school, work commute, or while doing a mundane task like cleaning. This has been proven to be as effective for athletes and performers as actually physically participating.
Run through new steps without focusing on technical perfection
It’s easy when learning new material to feel overwhelmed at the various elements of dancing that we are expected to polish before getting on stage. In a practise context, such as at home or at the back of your class, allow yourself to dance your steps to music so that they become second nature without worrying about perfect turnout, cross, carriage; those things will come later. At the beginning, focus on committing the step to memory so that you’re able to dance to music without constantly having to think back about what comes next.
Practise with a friend who has the same choreography
Dancing with someone else who has the same steps and is confident in remembering them can help you at first when your memory blanks or if you don’t understand the timing of a piece. Through repetition, eventually you will begin to remember what comes next, but in the meantime, dancing with someone with the same steps can act as a cue to jog your memory and speed up the learning process.
Take videos
As soon as your teacher introduces new choreography, whip your phone out and video what you’re given (with permission, of course). This is the equivalent of taking notes in a lecture; it serves as something to look back on later once you get home, when it’s hard to recall everything you’ve learnt in the moment. Videos can also be a tool when you run through steps at home to commit them to memory. You can dance along with the recording that you have as a basis to make sure everything comes on time and to help you remember what comes next.
Resist the urge to compare yourself to other dancers
No two dancers are completely the same, and everyone has their own natural strengths and weaknesses that they bring to the table. It’s easy to get into the nitty-gritty of comparison in a sport that is centred around competitions that constantly compare us, but it’s so important to remember that each and every dancer has a varied learning process. Comparing how fast you learn to how your classmates learn doesn’t win you anything, and you will get far more enjoyment and progress out of your dancing career if you embrace your own unique journey.
Embrace your learning style
Dancers aren’t machines, and having patience with ourselves when things don’t go as we wish might seem difficult in the moment, but it’s vital to ensuring that the brain and body are in the healthiest place possible to learn. In the same way we approach work or school, adjusting to however you study, focus, or learn best is really important to performing your best, and dancing is no different. There’s no right or wrong way to learn and improve in Irish dancing, and there’s no shame in honouring whatever learning process works for you.
