Author: Joe Burgos

We always stress that the students need more time to practice, but sometimes students spend time drilling erroneous methods and techniques that do more harm than good.  So when setting aside some time for some serious practicing make sure an instructor, partner or upperclassman is there to oversee what you’re practicing.  You always want to practice the best possible technique to get the results you’re looking for.

Bad news is there will be times when you waste you’re time on bad techniques, Good news you’re still dancing!

For more,  here is an article by Abigail Keyes of:

Dance Performance and Education in the San Francisco Bay Area: Learn This One Secret to Good Dancing

“How long do I need to take classes for until I’m good?” is a question that students always ask me, my usual response is “What does good mean to you?” and then I get smiles.  The truth is what instructors make look easy is a result of the many years they have spent practicing and polishing their moves.  Honing their skills through countless hours of rehearsing, performing, social dancing and teaching.  Everyone wants the immediate gratification of being able to dance but slowly realize that it’s a lifestyle and not something that can be learned in the short term.

Here’s an article that will shed some light into the journey of a dancer by Caitlin Moynihan in Gotta Dance:

Frozen‘s Nina Lafarga on Getting Her Power from Dance and the Hard Work Behind the Glitz & Glam

Recently a student approached me saying that he hated going to the gym because it was just redundant and eventually the boredom of the repetitive movements and training led him to quit.  He asked if dance would lead him to do the same.

So I told him to take a seat cause I was going to tell him a story from my own personal experience that would maybe shed light to his question.

“When I was a young man,  I studied ballet and although I’ll always be grateful for the techniques I learned in that style of dance, I don’t use them in the social gatherings, you will never see me at a bar/lounge in a passé stance asking a girl if she would like a drink while my arms where in round 1st position.  In contrast, I will use Salsa for the rest of my life”

He looked at me with a bewildered look

“The reason why it will never be redundant and boring is because of the Social aspect of Latin Dancing.  You see when I go to the gym it’s the lack on social interaction and constant repetitive training that make it hard not to get bored, but in Latin Dancing you have to interact with multiple partners making the dances a social experience.  It is that dynamic that will not allow you to get bored, it is the social aspect of partner dancing that keeps the participants engaged and wanting to practice more, because it doesn’t feel like practicing  to them it’s just social dancing.”

His eyes opened wide and a smile came to his face as he asked with much eagerness and excitement : “When is the next practice social!”

What is the best way to learn to dance?  Simply come to a practice party and try social dancing, the combination of the social aspect plus the constant repetition of dance moves that will allow you to get the practice time you need, while not feeling like your practicing because you’re focused on the social dancing dynamic.  See you there!

“Beautiful people have better lives” once said my father and recently I read “8 Scientifically proven reasons Life is better if your beautiful” by Dina Spector in Business Insider.  We can certainly debate, if you subscribe to this ideology but for those that do, how does your perception of beauty affect you on the dance floor?  In social dances where traditionally the gentlemen ask the women to dance, are their decisions on who to ask based on physical beauty or something else? If you believe that it’s based on physical beauty then how do you overcome the feeling that you may not be attractive enough to be asked to dance hence why even try?

In my 25 years of teaching dance, I have found the answer to becoming more beautiful or more importantly changing the perception of how beautiful you are.  The answer is how well you execute your dance and how well your partner perceives your level of dance is.  Again, we can discuss the techniques necessary on achieving a proficiency in dance but more important is that one you achieve it, you become more beautiful to yourself and others.  I have seen students that don’t think of themselves as attractive yet once they’re on the dance floor they become the most beautiful version of themselves.  On the other side I have seen students who are physically attractive only to not be paid attention to at dance events because they’re perceived as ugly on the dance floor.  This is a behavior that has been seconded by Joanna Bose’s book “Becoming Beautiful: Ballroom Dance in America’s heartland“.  I know, I know, we don’t do ballroom but dance is dance and beauty is in the eye of the beholder or is it dancer?

Today I reach out to students and those that don’t feel beautiful, or don’t think their world perceives them as attractive and I invite you to try dance.  Or if you already a dancer, have you gone through this experience yourself?  Finally, let the world of dance change your persona, let dance make you beautiful.