So you want to know how to become a better dancer?
This is an article about a quality that I believe people need to have in order to improve and become a better dancer. What is it? In two words, “strong ambition!” When I say strong ambition I mean a willingness to become the best you can be as fast as possible.
It is a burning desire so strong that it would not let anything stop you from becoming the best leader, follower, spinner or whatever your goal is in dancing. I am talking about an urge that would keep you up at night knowing that next day you are going to dance at a party and you JUST HAVE TO DELIVER THE GOODS ON THE DANCE FLOOR! A feeling of I have to have to have to NAIL what I had practiced all these weeks.
Without that strong ambitious feeling, your progress will be very slow and minimal. You will not be motivated enough to put in the practice and therefore your dancing will suffer. Let me share a little personal story with you. When I just started dancing, at the age of 12, I used to come home from my dance lessons and go straight down to the basement to practice all by myself. Day after day, I would video tape myself dancing and then watch it to correct my mistakes – Talk about eagerness to be the best! I was mad – mad with desire to get that hip action right, to nail those turns and many other things. I spent countless hours in front of the mirror perfecting every little thing. My parents thought I was obsessed, possessed… I was possessed by the DANCING FEVER! But I didn’t care. All I cared about was improving my dancing. I think without “strong ambition” I would not have put in the practice that I did and I would not get to where I am today.
Without that strong ambitious feeling, your progress will be very slow and minimal. You will not be motivated enough to put in the practice and therefore your dancing will suffer. Let me share a little personal story with you. When I just started dancing, at the age of 12, I used to come home from my dance lessons and go straight down to the basement to practice all by myself. Day after day, I would video tape myself dancing and then watch it to correct my mistakes – Talk about eagerness to be the best! I was mad – mad with desire to get that hip action right, to nail those turns and many other things. I spent countless hours in front of the mirror perfecting every little thing. My parents thought I was obsessed, possessed… I was possessed by the DANCING FEVER! But I didn’t care. All I cared about was improving my dancing. I think without “strong ambition” I would not have put in the practice that I did and I would not get to where I am today.
Now that I have told you that you need to be ambitious to improve as a dancer, guess what? You can become more ambitious! The great thing about ambition is that if you really love dancing it is usually there hidden inside of you somewhere. All you need to do is re-inspire yourself to feel it again. I wrote an article calledinspiration butt-kicking for dancing which you may want to check out to get some ideas of where to start. After you have gained that ambitious, anxious enthusiasm to become the very best dancer you can be, you will likely develop strong practice ethics which is crucial for improvement. Because strong ambition leads to practice and practice leads to better dancing.
By: W K Colombage
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