ISSUE 007- THINGS I WISH EVERY BEGINNER DANCER KNEW

Starting dance classes can feel WEIRD.

You walk into a room full of people who somehow all seem to know where to stand, what the terminology means, when to move lines and what the fuck a 5, 6, 7, 8 is supposed to prepare you for 😭 Meanwhile you're trying to copy the person in front of you without making it obvious that you have absolutely no idea what's going on.

I've taught beginners for years, and there are so many things I wish I could drill into every new dancer's head before their first class.

Not steps or technique, just things that would make being a beginner a whole lot more enjoyable.

So, if you're new to dance, this one's for you!!

You are SUPPOSED to get things wrong

Please read that again.

You're going to forget choreography, go left when everybody else goes right you will lose your balance and you are going to hear the teacher explain something, confidently think “yep, got it”, and then realise approximately four seconds later that you absolutely do not got it 😂

That's the point.

You're learning!

Class isn't an exam where you're supposed to arrive already knowing the answers. You are literally paying someone to teach you something you don't know how to do yet.

And I think beginners sometimes put this insane pressure on themselves to immediately be good at something they've only just started.

Give yourself permission to be shit at it for a while, that's where everybody starts.

Yes, you're probably going to cringe yourself out

I'm sorry 😂

There will probably come a moment when a teacher tells you to perform and every bone in your body wants to curl in on itself.

Facial expressions feel embarrassing, looking at yourself in the mirror feels super weird, trying to be sexy might make you feel like you're doing a parody of someone trying to be sexy.

And don't even get me started on your first freestyle.

But at some point, you're going to have to get over yourself a little bit.

Confidence doesn't magically arrive one day and THEN you start putting yourself out there.

Usually, you put yourself out there while feeling awkward as fuck, realise nothing terrible happened, do it again and eventually it stops feeling so scary.

Unfortunately, the only way out of your cringe era is through it.

Nobody actually cares

And I mean this in the most reassuring way possible 😂

You mess something up and immediately think:

EVERYONE SAW THAT.

No babe.

The girl next to you is trying to remember what foot she's supposed to be standing on or the person behind you is worrying about their own performance and someone else is annoyed because they keep forgetting the same eight count.

Everyone is FAR too busy thinking about themselves to spend the entire class analysing you.

You are the main character...

in your own life.

Everyone else is busy being the main character in theirs.

Once you realise that, dance class becomes a lot more freeing.

Nobody is going home thinking about that one time you turned the wrong direction in the second group. I promise 😂

Learn the unwritten rules

Dance classes have some weird little rules nobody actually sits you down and explains.

Where should you stand? Can you film? What do you do if you're late?

Luckily for you, I've already written an entire Unwritten Dance Class Etiquette Guide, so I'm not going to lecture you twice 😂

Go read that one.

Knowing basic class etiquette will make you feel much more comfortable in the room AND prevent you from accidentally pissing everyone else off.

Win win.

You do NOT need to take five classes a week

You discover dance, you love it and then suddenly you're looking at every timetable within a 30-mile radius trying to work out how you can fit seven classes into your week 😭

Relax.

More classes doesn't automatically mean more progress.

And how much you should train completely depends on why you're dancing in the first place.

If this is your hobby and you just want to have fun? Go when you want.

Once a week might be perfect for you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dance simply being the thing you look forward to every Thursday evening.

If you decide you want to take it more seriously, then yes, you might eventually want more consistency and structure in your training.

But you don't need to turn your new hobby into a full-time training schedule three weeks after discovering it.

Figure out WHY you're dancing

And no, I'm not about to tell you to journal about your life's purpose 😂

I literally just mean: What do you want from dance?

Do you want to have fun? Build confidence? Exercise? Meet people? Perform? Work professionally?

There is no superior answer.

But knowing yours makes it much easier to decide what your dance journey should actually look like. Someone who dances purely because it makes them happy doesn't need the same training schedule as somebody preparing for professional auditions.

Neither person is doing dance “properly” or “improperly.”

They're just doing it for different reasons.

Your training should serve YOUR goal.

If you want to take dance seriously, train outside of one style

Now this one depends completely on the answer you just gave.

If you fucking LOVE heels and all you want to do is take heels classes because they make you happy then take your heels classes and have the best time.

But if you're telling me you want to become a versatile dancer, pursue professional work or seriously develop your movement...

One style isn't enough.

Different styles will give you different tools. One might transform your musicality, another might improve your lines, another teaches you groove, another challenges your coordination, another gives you a completely different movement vocabulary and all of those things eventually start bleeding into each other and making you a more interesting dancer.

Cross-training doesn't take away from your favourite style.

It gives you more to bring to it.

Stop comparing yourself to people who have been dancing for YEARS

Please be serious 😭

You've been dancing for twelve Tuesdays and you're devastated because you don't look like the person next to you who started training when they were six.

How is that a fair comparison?

You don't know somebody else's training history just by looking at them, you don't know how many classes they've taken or how many years they've trained and what other styles they do. And social media makes this even worse because you're usually seeing everyone's best version.

Their best take, best class, best angle, best 30 seconds.

You're comparing your entire learning process to somebody else's highlight reel.

Progress takes time!

PLEASE film yourself

And before anyone says “but didn't you write an entire blog complaining about filming?”

YES 😂

Because filming isn't the problem, the pressure to constantly produce content is.

You don't have to post it or even have to show anybody.

Film yourself for YOU.

Film your first class, the combo you're struggling with, film yourself practising at home...

Because there will probably come a point where you feel like you're not improving.

Then you'll accidentally find a video from six months ago and think

OH.

Suddenly you'll see all the tiny changes that were impossible to notice week to week.

Your posture changed, confidence changed, you are picking choreography up faster, that movement you used to think about now happens automatically.

Progress can be difficult to feel while it's happening.

Sometimes you need to look backwards to realise how far you've actually come.

Put yourself out there

You already did the scary part. You came to class.

So don't spend the next hour trying to make yourself invisible, don't permanently hide behind seventeen people at the back,try going a little more full out, try the freestyle (even if its 3 seconds) You're allowed to take up space in that room even while you're still learning.

And yes, sometimes putting yourself out there means getting something wrong where people can see you.

Good. Now you know you survived it 😂

ASK QUESTIONS

PLEASE.

Teachers cannot read your mind, if you genuinely don't understand something, ask.

You're not stupid for not knowing terminology nobody has ever taught you.

You're not annoying because you need something explained differently.

And chances are there is somebody standing behind you thinking:

Thank FUCK she asked because I didn't understand either.

Obviously there's a time and place for questions, and your questions should be appropriate for the level of class you're taking.

We've already discussed what happens when they're not in Why Is Everyone in Such a Rush to Be Advanced? 👀

But in a beginner class? Beginner questions belong there so ASK THEM.

Make friends

This one sounds small, but it can completely change your experience.

Say hello to somebody, ask their name, give someone a compliment instead of thinking it in your head, if you keep seeing the same person every week, introduce yourself.

Dance classes become SO much less intimidating when you start recognising faces.

Suddenly you're not walking into a room full of strangers anymore.

You've got someone to stand next to and someone to ask “wait, was it the left leg?”

Someone who understands why you're ridiculously excited that you finally nailed the move you've both been struggling with for three weeks 😂

Dance can give you an incredible community but only if you allow yourself to actually become part of it.

And most importantly... ENJOY IT

Please don't become so obsessed with getting better that you forget you found something you love.

It's very easy for:

“I love dancing.”

to slowly become:

I need to get better.

I need to take more classes.

I need to move up.

I need a good video.

I need to look like them.

I need to be good at this.

And suddenly the thing that used to make you feel amazing has become another thing you're putting pressure on yourself about.

You don't need to be the best dancer in the room or become professional, you don't need to post your videos and you don't need to progress at the same speed as anybody else.

You're allowed to dance because you fucking love dancing.

One day, you won't be the nervous beginner standing at the back anymore.

You'll understand the terminology, know where to stand, your body will understand movements you once had to consciously think about, you'll walk into the studio without that little nervous feeling in your stomach and there might be a brand-new dancer standing behind you thinking:

I wish I could dance like her.

So enjoy being a beginner while you are one.

Make mistakes.

Ask stupid questions.

Cringe yourself out.

Film the bad runs.

Make friends.

Put yourself out there.

And have a fucking good time doing it.

You only get to experience everything for the first time once.