Can Anyone Learn How To Dance?

Yes – With Practice Anyone Can Learn To Dance

We have all heard the famous saying “born with two left feet”. This is an often an excuse for people who are too self-conscious to get up dancing in front of others. But the truth is that with a little practice, anyone can learn to dance. It’s very unlikely that you will become a professional after only a few years of practice but it’s never too late to get up and enjoy yourself while learning to become a far better dancer.

The hardest obstacle the majority of people struggle with and find the most difficult to overcome is finding the rhythm. If this is something you struggle with, the good news is it can be overcome.

Rhythm Is A Skill That Can Be Learned With Practice

If you are finding it difficult to move to the rhythm, remember practice makes perfect and don’t give up. All you may need is the right dance teacher who can help you improve the areas you are finding difficult.

Rhythm Tends To Come Naturally To Most

Rhythm tends to come naturally to most of us, however, even those who believe they have no rhythm may be held back by another issue such as a lack of confidence. The main thing to note is rhythm is a skill that can be worked on and improved upon with a little dedication.

Like most things in life, you need to take the time to practice to get good at them. There are not many ways to get better at rhythm than learning to dance. But to truly improve, there are more than likely a few obstacles you will need to overcome beforehand.

Self-consciousness

Self-consciousness is a major reason why some decide not to take up dancing. Let’s be honest, the idea of a room full of people staring at you can make even the best of us feel nauseous.

When you’re so worried about how you look to others, it is very hard to focus on your next move, and when the rhythm doesn’t feel natural or come easy, that’s when you’ll need that focus. You will need to forget these feelings and not allow yourself to be affected by others in the room. Remember you are in a room with many people who are in the exact same position as you are and will mainly be focused on their own moves.

When you master your self conscious and no longer feel insecure around others, you can then begin to work hard and focus on your rhythm and movement.

Sometimes it can feel like your brain understands both the sound and movement patterns but the body is unable to catch up, This is to be expected when starting out and can be fixed with practice.

We are born with the ability to learn patterns like these and have done since the day we were born. It just feels a lot more difficult as the patterns are more complex. Start off slow and you will get there in no time.

Teaching Your Muscle Memory New Moves

Another hurdle that can hold us back is our bodies resistance to change. We all have specific patterns of movement that are unique to us which we learned growing up. This is called muscle memory

Your body is set in its own ways and programmed to move in a way that feels natural to you. Dance is going to take your body and limbs down certain paths it’s never been before and will require you to move your arms and legs in ways which will feel strange and unusual as your body is used to the same repetitive movements it has been doing since you were born.

You may find it takes a while to get everything in synchronisation as it can take a while to teach your limbs to interpret these unfamiliar movements.

Just be patient with yourself and understand it’s how the body works. It won’t be long until you program your muscle memory these new moves

Choosing The Correct Dance Style Is Key

If you have already tried to take up dancing in the past but found it too difficult, it’s possible you chose a style of dance that was not best suited for you or was maybe a little too technical. There are certain styles of dance which are by no means suited for the beginner, Flamenco is a dance routine that involves complex rhythms and very fast footwork, and would not be suitable as a first dance style. Same with ballet dancing if you are not very flexible. If ballet is something you are considering, we would recommend you do some yoga or pilates to get your body loosened up and used to the demands that doing ballet will bring.

Starting Point For Beginners

Dances that are a good starting point for beginners like ballroom, latin, street Latin, modern jive or swing as they’re reasonably paced perfectly if you’re looking to find your feet.

Maybe You Had The Wrong Teacher Before
like we mentioned before in the chapter above, if you tried dancing in the past and had a bad experience, it may possible that your dance teacher was not the right teacher for you.

Everybody is different and every teacher will have a different way of teaching. It’s not to say the dance teacher was incompetent, it may just e that their style of teaching was not suited to your way of learning. Most teachers have the ability to adapt the way they teach to suit the student’s needs. This is not always the case and maybe one thing to consider if you’re finding it difficult to learn how to dance.

So if you have already joined a dance school sometime in the past and did not learn much, ask yourself…was it your fault or was it the fault of the teacher?

Any of these obstacles you are faced with can be overcome with practice and self-belief. Start off slowly while having some fun.

It won’t be long before you begin to see an overall improvement in your dancing ability

Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to give it another go, just give it your best shot and see where it takes you.