10 Habits of Highly Effective Dancers (#3)
photo credit: klynslisThis is the 3rd post in the “Habits of Highly Effective Dancers” series. If you would like to view the other posts in this series, start with the first article. At the bottom of that post you will find links to all of the other posts in this series.
Habit #3: Highly Effective Dancers Practice In Between Class Meetings
The topic of practice has been covered many times on this blog in the past. It is an inescapable fact that practice outside of the classroom is necessary if you ever want to excel at dance.
Savion Glover, in his book “My Life In Tap”, said that practice is what separated him from the other students in his class. He stated that while his classmates would practice a lot in class, he would do something different.
Here is Savion’s perspective.
I would dance when I was walking. I would dance when I was waiting for the bus. I would dance on the bed, in the shower. I’d just dance. I was just happy to be…dancin’
Here are the results of all that tap dancing (pay attention to the introduction):
Check out these posts for tips about practicing tap:
If you would like help practicing, head over to eTapDance.com where I am constantly adding new instructional videos, articles, and interviews designed to help you take your dancing to higher levels!
It’s the best place to go for quality tap dance lessons.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Taps,
I previously asked you if you thought I should make Taylor (age 7) practice. I also asked the same question to a lot of other tap instructors. My point was that if she loves tap, shouldn’t she do it without me telling her to. The overwhelming response was ” make her practice, my mom made me practice and I am glad that she did”.
Luckily most of the time Taylor wants to practice BUT sometimes a couple days will go by and she hasn’t put her shoes on. I start throwing the hints out there. Or she would decide she wants to practice when it is bedtime, saying that she didn’t get a chance to practice on that day.
I think we have resolved this issue. I asked her directly (when we were away from the practice area)., “Do you want me to make you practice?”. She said “yes, you better, your my mom your supposed to.”
So this is what we do now. We made up a daily to do list of about 7 or 8 things including practicing, reading, doing math and some chores. Whenever I am doing my “to do list” Taylor does her list.
I tell her how many things she has to accomplish off the list (never all), and she gets to pick them.
We have been doing this for quite some time, she has never not picked practicing tap. She also almost always picks the reading and math over chores which is an additional bonus. I like it because I am not telling her what to chose so I am not “making” her practice (or making her read or work in her math book.) Most of the time, she ends of practicing for longer than I expected.
Having your website etapdance.com makes it easier for her to decide what to practice. She usually starts there with your warm ups then combos then she she trys some of the routines or the challenge video. By then she starts remembering what she learned in class and practices that. She ends it dancing to her own music or dancing to clips on tapdanceman.com. Taylor loves to mark it off her “to do list” when she is finished.
Johnna
June 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Taylor’s Mom,
What an awesome strategy! I can see using a similar system with my 4 year old as he gets older. Thanks for sharing that. Kids are much more likely to practice when their parents are encouraging and supportive. Tell Taylor I said hi and I am proud of her!
Can’t wait to take her class one day!!!
Taps
July 14th, 2008 at 7:56 am
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