Beginners Guide to Dancing
If you’ve always felt like you have two left feet when stepping onto a dance floor, it can be awkward when your partner or friends want to have fun. It can also be highly embarrassing when you don’t know the basics to attempt to join in and friends tease you for avoiding dancing.
While we can’t all have the natural grace and sophisticated moves of Craig Revel Horwood, there are some simple yet key things to know which will allow you to hold your own on the dance floor without blushing.
The following guide will outline the most crucial steps to get you dancing with relative ease.
1 – Getting Started (in Private)
The best way to get started with practising some dance styles is to close yourself up in a room where there’s nobody to make you feel self-conscious. Find a private space that is large enough to dance in without bumping into anything and where you won’t be disturbed. Also, wear something comfortable that allows for movement and flexibility (anything that will leave you feeling hot or constrained will be counterproductive).
Next, crank up some energetic music that you find inspiring – anything that makes you feel good. At first, simply move about a little, feeling the sound in your body.
2 – Weeding Out the Worst Moves with Mirror Work
One of the best ways to figure out what dance moves you feel comfortable with and don’t make you look idiotic is to dance in front of a mirror so that you can see what your body movements look like. Don’t spend too much time concentrating on the mirror however, especially at first, since this might have a tendency to make you feel self-conscious and less satisfied with your efforts.
If you find the mirror is making you dance more stiffly and causing you to pose rather than enjoy the movement then it’s a bad thing. The main point is to make note of any seriously bad moves, but generally allow yourself to experiment with whatever feels right while keeping in time with the music.
3 – Go Back to Basics
If gyrating wildly in front of the mirror isn’t working, return to the most basic steps of dancing. For example, simply step out with your left foot, step back in, then step out again with your right foot and step back in. As long as you keep in rhythm to the music, these simple movements will suffice. Remember to stay relaxed – bend your knees slightly, keep your hips, hands and arms loose.
It’s also a good idea to watch some DVDs to learn specific dances that you know you’ll be asked to join in on. And if it’s for a special occasion such as a wedding or anniversary, consider having a few easy lessons to get your head around the basics – even if you only dance the first waltz, it’s better than been seen as not bothered to even try.
4 – Enthusiasm Counts
Take note of children – they are rarely self conscious about dancing since they simply let their joy carry them away. For many people the worst part of dancing is feeling awfully self-conscious and worrying about appearing foolish. This can be a major barrier to cross in a person’s mentality, but consider that dancing is for everyone no matter how untrained.
Here are some other key points to help you loosen up:
Just feel the music and movement. Rather than focusing too much on the actual steps to begin with, simply concentrate on how you feel in response to the sounds. The more you allow your body to handle the dance thinking, the more you’ll develop “muscle memory” and be able to stop your brain worrying.
Some people will laugh at your dancing because they’re just as embarrassed about themselves, so don’t take criticism to heart. Other people criticise out of good intent, thinking that if you listen to a few pointers you might learn how to do a dance step more easily. If this is the case, take their comments with good grace – try the step they show you but if it doesn’t feel right then that’s fine too.
Conclusion
The above guide gives you the main starting points to help get you dancing without feeling embarrassed, while Part 2 of my following guide will offer tips on what to do when you make it to the dance floor. Always bear in mind that while not all of us are blessed with the dancing flair of someone like Craig Revel Horwood, we can all learn to hold our own while enjoying music.
Author Bio: Rio Spelling is a choreography and dance enthusiast.
Processing your request, Please wait....
