How to dance like nobody's watching

While working in the front at Shoebox,  there are a couple of questions/comments that come most frequently when we are having conversations with students:

• Do I have the skills to take this class?
• I'm going to feel like such an idiot because I don't know what I’m doing.
• People are going to look at me like I'm an idiot because I'm going to be awkward. 

 

Here's the deal.  People are too self absorbed to care about what you're up to. So many people are so into their process, they don't have time to worry about what you look like! And, the better the dancer they are, the more likely they are looking at themselves in the mirror, focused, making sure they are hitting their marks, learning the moves, and integrating the instruction, that they might not even know you're in the room.  So just take a deep breath and learn from that: look in the mirror at yourself, focus on the instruction and integrating it, and don't forget to have a good time!

Ten thousand hours to mastery

For anyone who has ever read Malcom Gladwell's Outliers you know where this is coming from. For those of you who have never read it, here's some highlights (we highly recommend the book).  While this isn't meant to be a book review, it really is meant to highlight some very important lessons that Gladwell explores about success. According to his observations, it takes about 10,000 hours to be a "genius" or “master” in your given field.  This is about 10 years of full time dedication. 

Here are a couple salient examples he notes:

• Its no accident the Beatles were the first boy band, and were more successful than other boy bands.  They put in more hours in their career before they got famous than most people do after they get famous.  (to be specific, they had 1,200 performances before 1964.  This is more than most people have in the entire span of their career).

• Bill Gates had 10 thousand hours of practice BEFORE starting Microsoft.  His genius was not random.  He didn't wake up at 18 and decide to create a vision for the personal computer and build Microsoft. He already knew computers, because he started programming in the eight grade.
• By the time Mozart had written a critically acclaimed concerto at the age of 21, he had been composing regularly for 10 years

The biggest takeaway is that it takes time to make a mark in the world, and it takes practice and dedication.  Talent is not inborn, its cultivated.  Gladwell is proposing that, "practice isn't the thing you do once your good.  Its the thing you do to make you good."  Success is not from a super genius gene, or necessarily from being from the right family. Its from time, dedication and hard work and focus.

Anyone has what it takes

 
Martha Graham started dancing at 22, and went on to change the shape of an entire dance genre.  You don't have to be brilliant, have the right body, or be the right age.  You just have to be dedicated and want it bad enough, and show up. In all honesty, most of us don't even want to go pro, or to change the world.  We're interested in learning a new skill set, we're interested in having extra exercise, we're interested in expanding performance skills.   You don't have to lock yourself away for 10 years for 40 hours to do your time just to have fun in a dance class.  You do have to get your butt into class and do the work though.  Don't discount yourself because you didn't do it perfect the first time around.  You'll never get to perfect, because there is no such thing. 

Suggestions for getting yourself to class

Class is a place to explore, to learn and to grow.  Not a place to perform.  Its the exact place to be messy, make mistakes, and learn and grow from them.  So if you're thinking about how you look or what people will think, its the wrong place to think that.  Here are the things to consider instead: 

 
Be honest about what your goals are: If your initial goal is just to get to class, that's a good start.  And if you get to class and you finish the class, then you've reached your goal.  And don't forget to celebrate small wins.  If the goal is to get to class, its self defeating to beat yourself up if you didn't understand a certain move - that wasn't your original goal (and its always pointless to beat yourself up for not understanding something).  Your goal was to just finish.  And you should celebrate that moment and congratulate for sticking it in, because 80% of the work is just showing up.

Put in the time to reach them: If your goal is to learn a particular new move, or to know a choreography, make sure that your time commitments are realistic for your goal.  If you've only got 30 minutes a week to work towards your goal, then its going to take you alot longer than if you've got 30 minutes a day, to put things into perspective.  If you're not happy with your progress, you may want to adjust the time you're putting in to make it happen.

Don't worry about who else is in the room: You came to class to learn something for yourself, not to see how good (or bad) anyone else is.  Just look in the mirror, focus on yourself, and have a good time!

Find a buddy to practice with: If you really want to see yourself accelerate then find someone else who has a similar background (even better if you can find someone a bit more skilled than you to up your game) and make a commitment to meet each other in class.  You're more likely to show up if you have someone to be accountable to.  And you're also more likely to practice if you have a buddy to get together with.

To your dancin'

~Da  Box

PS - If you haven't had a chance to register for the Jumps and Turns Clinic, its happening tomorrow, and a great space to get your practice on. There's a link here to still get in on the early bird pricing, which ends today.