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Dance
Rules - Life, Learning and Dance |
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| Three
Rules for Success on the Dance Floor |
| by: Shawn Trautman |
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| Three
concepts govern all the rules of etiquette that will impact your
ability to learn and practice social dancing. The mastery of these
concepts will dramatically increase your success rate in the “classroom”—referring
to wherever you are learning, be it a ballroom or your living
room—as well as on the dance floor, once you are out practicing
and enjoying your new skills. These three concepts are ones to
keep in the back of your mind even after you have put this book
up on the shelf and mastered all of the dance moves and steps
taught in these pages. These three bits of wisdom to remember
are respect for self, respect for others, and responsibility for
all of your actions. |
| Respect
for Self |
| When
you show “respect for self,” you enable yourself to
learn to dance as well as learn to dance with a partner. As you
show respect for your body, you will treat it accordingly. Posture
improves, carriage improves, and you begin to look like a dancer.
A person who respects his or her body holds the head up and the
shoulders back. This person also respects the limitations of his
or her body. When you dance, you also need to show respect for
your intelligence and ability to learn. When you are confident
in your own mind’s ability to learn the material, you will
learn it faster. |
| Respect
for Others |
| Because
social dancing involves more than one person by definition, showing
respect for others is imperative. This includes respecting their
bodies, physical limitations, learning styles, and learning paces.
Most of all, respect your dance partner’s personal space.
If he or she looks uncomfortable in the particular position you
are learning, exercise your communication skills and fix the problem
as best you can. If your dance partner has a particular limitation
that physically won’t allow him or her to do a particular
movement, talk about it and move on. As mentioned earlier, social
dancing is multidimensional, and most moves are optional in a
dance. Change to a move that may be a challenge, but also a possibility,
and don’t get discouraged. Respect your partner’s
learning style and pace. If your partner needs to watch the DVD
to truly grasp a concept visually, don’t rush through it
and get frustrated when he or she doesn’t execute the move
properly prior to viewing the DVD. |
| Responsibility
for All of Your Actions |
| The
third and final rule to live and learn to dance by is to take
responsibility for all of your actions. The blame game is a pursuit
of frustration that can only end in disaster for your dancing
career and sometimes your relationship. Once you take responsibility
for a mistake, you can take the next step and figure out how to
fix the problem and prevent repetition of the incorrect movement.
This will expedite your learning process and prevent the formation
of “bad” muscle memory. As you take responsibility
for your actions, it will encourage your dance partner to take
responsibility for his or her own mistakes and will re-center
the focus on the problems and the dance, rather than on each other.
When you are responsible for your mistakes, you are also responsible
for your successes. |
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