How to improve "Dance Technique"?

[Guest njnazj]

First of all,

I've use the SEARCH button to find anything about DANCE, but all I can see is DANCE AUDITIONS Crew, and etc. Forgive me if i've violated the rules in any way.

Next,

I would like to know how to improve my dance technique?

I never attend any dance classes, I just learn the choreography for certain songs in youtube.

The problem is, when I record my self , seems like I'm very sloppy at dancing.

No matter how hard I tried to improved it, It didn't work.

Any idea on how to improve my dance technique?

Thanks!

[Guest BukAlan]

practice practice practice.

i'm a musician... if i want something to sound good... practice practice practice.

if you like to draw.... you've gotten put the lead to the paper.  these skills takes time to develop.  the more you do it, the more fluid you will look.

no one decides.. hey, i want to moon walk and magically accomplishes it. 

you want to look good dancing?  then you need to dance.  some people are just quick learners and some people are naturally good dancers.  but they still have to practice also. 

if you want to learn something faster, have someone teach you.  get with a friend.  they'll tell you what works for them. 

[Guest lalosoke]

Practice practice practice as said above. ^

I started off learning hiphop to krumping to bboying to pop&lock. It takes a while to make a move look easy and simple. You have to be dedicated. Dont lose interested and dont feel a failure for taking too long to learn something. That's part of learning. Get back up and practice practice practice. recording or dancing with another individual or a group is the best way to learn. 

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill 

[Guest njnazj]

@BukAlan and @Lalosoke..

Thanks a lot guys.. Help a lot, I think I have to start practicing again.

My self-esteem went really low when I saw my self dancing ( after recording ) hahaha .. =P

But I still love dancing though, never fade.. >_<"..

I can't get any partner or have any partner who can dance -.-".. They're like "Man shouldn't dance, because it's woman works" -.-".. THat's the thinking of people around me these day.. I think, I have to convince my parents to let me enter any dance classes ( even Ballroom is okay ) when I'm going to live with my older brother at the city. Huhu

[dolcee.]

maybe make your movements tighter? even though a lot of dance moves require relaxed muscles to execute in a natural looking way, it's still important to keep all the other body parts tight and sturdy. my dance teacher always says to move with a purpose. if you're jumping, don't just kinda bounce up a bit... REALLY jump like you want to bump your head on the ceiling. tighter and more determined movements will appear sharper and snappier, making them actually exciting to watch instead of sloppy. an easy way to tell if you don't have enough of a snap in your dancing is if you can't clearly tell each individual move from each other. usually choreographers teach moves one by one, so it's a good sign if the dancer can show clear a change from one pose to another instead of an ambiguous flow of movements.

and some people just don't have the strength to move that sharp and fast... which is why there are things like sit ups to strengthen your core (: my hip hop teacher always makes us do sets of sit ups every other week so we can build a strong core that can tighten up our moves. you'd be surprised how many muscles are engaged even if it looks like we're only moving one small part of our body.

but yes, just keep practicing and don't feel bad! the best dancers are usually people who aren't easily embarrassed and just kind of go for it, even if they might look silly : P

[Guest A.Kim]

I have danced in high school. I did a lot of popping and bboying. I think popping and locking would be something you should look into because of body isolations. It'll help you look less sloppy when you learn to isolate your body and control it. Because I loved to dance so much, I have even tried ballet, jazz, and contemporary. I am a guy. The different genre of dance styles may not relate, but they are skills a dancer should try and learn to improve themselves and push their potential.

[Guest Ayumi]

Love this topic! I'm 23 and have been dancing since I was four, so dancing is my entire life. I get really excited when people are interested in pursuing it.

In all honesty, I think taking classes is the best way to learn. I know the money may not be the easiest to come across, but learning on your own is really difficult and instructors teach you so much that expands past just moving your body to some music. Many people think they can learn on their own, but I find it's a bit easy to differentiate between a dancer who's been learning under a professional and a dancer who is self-taught. I'm not saying that the latter is worse--one of my best friends is an incredibly talented, self-taught hip-hop dancer--but I do think he is of the smaller percentile that has been truly gifted.

Also--and once again I mean no offense to anybody--I see a lot on the forums people raving about their favourite celebrities being amazing dancers, when in reality they are great memorisers. Anybody can learn to perfect choreography, but that doesn't make you a dancer except for with that one routine. For example, last year I had to substitute for a friend's show and had to learn her flamenco dance routine in only a few days. I was able to learn it confidently and gave a believable performance, but the fact of the matter is, I would never consider myself crafted in the flamenco style. Similarly, just because you took a few courses on anthropology and did well on your exams doesn't make you an anthropologist.

Of course, I understand many people just look to dance as a hobby and aren't quite as serious as I am about it. If that's the case, the most obvious and crucial thing I can tell you is that you must practise! If you want to improve, you must dedicate your time and honest effort. Rather than look up dances to songs, look for basic moves and make your way up from there. You have to be stylised in your own way, rather than memorise how others do it. Don't be afraid to mess up or look silly, because everybody does when they just start out. You recording yourself is already a good start because you can review your mistakes and focus on correcting your weaknesses. Oh, and please don't forget to stretch.

And since you mentioned you wouldn't mind learning ballroom, I wanted to tell you that it's loads of fun and that I'd highly recommend it!

Good luck!

[Guest BukAlan]

its all practice and just not giving up. 

i started dancing when i was in 8th grade.  it was embarassing though, i had no rhythm at all.

but by the time 10th grade came around, everything clicked.  people started telling me i was actually looking pretty decent.

11th and 12th grade was just fun all around.  you might get laughed at, but just stick with it. 

i had to learn how to dance because of marching band.  have you seen the movie drumline?  that's how all the bands in Miami are.  we get down and make it look gooooooood.  but i definitely felt like that stiff white bass drum guy when i first began.  LoL

[Guest kassieisawalrus]

LIke everyone said, practice.

But you also have to know your own body.

Try different types of dances, there's many out there.

Lyrical, Jazz, Pom, Hip-Hop, ect.

Try ballet or something.

It seems a little weird but, it's hard work!

I had a bellet class on Tuesday and I'm still sore.

Being flexible also helps.

Also, try and make your own moves and own dances.

To me, dancing is another language, being able to tell someone a story using your body. Amazing!<3

[Guest njnazj]

Oh my.. I can't believe I would received a lot of advices from you guys..

I'm not expecting to have lots of answers.. but seriously thank you!!

At the moment, I warm-up using the Expert Village's video in youtube by Emily Lerew..

She pretty much helps me to do the isolation stuff..

And I really hope I can go and try BallRoom soon since I'm going to live in the city with my brother.

Eventhough it might be only a short period of time ( now till june//september ) .. =]

[Guest kassieisawalrus]

Sounds fun!

[Guest njnazj]

, i've improve a bit.. have to find dance class studio still T,T~