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Learning to dance is a physical activity, but the
kinesthetic aspects of a dance lesson experience with
Shawn Trautman’s Dance Collection start before
you get on the dance floor and expand beyond the
studio.
Write It Down
Kinesthetic learning is at the heart of dance
instruction. This isn’t a huge surprise because
kinesthetic learning provides the umbrella for all
“hands-on,” activity-based educational
experiences. What might surprise you as a learner is
where and when the kinesthetic learning starts.
Activate the kinesthetic portion of your brain and
memory by engaging in the multi-sensory experience of
taking notes as you read Picture Yourself
Dancing, research ballroom dance, or watch a
DVD. Not only will you be providing yourself with an
additional written record or cue card to stimulate
your visual learning, you will also be engaging the
activity-hungry portion of your brain with the act of
note-taking.
Exercises
Each of the
dance lesson DVDs in Shawn Trautman’s Dance
Collection highlights exercises to assist you in
developing particular muscular traits or dance
habits. Note these exercises and incorporate them
into your routine at home.
For example, in
Chapter 2 of our book, Picture Yourself
Dancing, an abbreviated series of stretching
exer cises is outlined. These gentle exercises, if
you are physically capable of performing them, are
beneficial as you pursue your daily activities as
well as learn to dance.
Drills
Throughout
Picture Yourself Dancing and the dance
lesson DVDs from Shawn Trautman’s Dance
Collection dance-specific drills are noted. Very
simply put, practice the drills. Shawn
Trautman’s Dance Collection is specifically
designed to be cumulative learning experiences.
Success in the major cumulative dance concepts taught
in Shawn Trautman’s Dance Collection is
achieved through mastering the individual components
of couples social dancing and the individual
dances.
Dancing
along with the DVDs
As stressed in
the visual and auditory learning sections, use the
dance instruction DVDs. Dance along with the
instructors as they go through the curriculum. You
can watch the DVD first to take notes and absorb, but
it is imperative that at some point in your learning
experience you get up, get moving, and start dancing
along with the DVD. This will stimulate the
activity-based portions of your brain, much like
note-taking, but on a more systemic level, and it
will give you a chance to practice making your body
do what the instructor’s body is doing as he or
she is doing it.
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