Caption: Michael Jackson’s Dancing Pack
Credit: Vexels
4 Tips For Learning Choreography Quicker
Learning dance choreography is a skill like any other in dance class; it takes practice. No matter what else you do, repetition is a must.
1. Learn choreography in chunks
You remember phone numbers more easily when the digits are grouped, and your brain holds on to choreograph the same way. In your mind, group the choreography into even smaller bits if you have to and look for landmarks in the sequence. These are the big or important movements that should still be there even if you flub everything else. These also act as signposts directing you to the next chunk of movement.
2. Mark it slowly
Walk through the steps of your choreography slowly when learning it. This technique heightens your awareness of every movement and shows you how the movement should feel. This accelerates muscle memory as well as mental memory.
3. Set a very specific schedule of repetition
After you have learned new choreography, repeat it immediately on your own. Then take a 10 min break and repeat it again. Then repeat it physically and/or in your mind an hour later. And then repeat it again the next day, and again a week later. This schedule can help you quickly learn almost anything. You can think of it as a way to embed information in your long-term memory through a lot of early repetition to get it established in your mind and body, and then allowing a brief but increasing spacing of time to let it sink in.
4. Develop personal, not external cues
It is very easy to associate choreography to specific points on your practice floor, the sound of your coaches’ count, or a particular music that you practice to. The problem is that in a competition, none of these will be there to help you. Instead of external cues, develop cues in your own mind and body. A particular weight shift can signal the next group of steps, or you can associate an arm moment with a step that you frequently forget. Transitions from one dance phrase to another are as important to memory as they are to the fluidity of the dance, but you need to consciously define them as memory triggers to make this technique work.
Happy dancing :)