Cost Effective Dance Lessons
There are often times when you find our dance classes become a major expense.
You want to keep dancing because we enjoy partner dancing so much.
However, you still need to be mindful of our expenses.
The solution to this conundrum is to make your dance lessons as cost effective as possible.
You can't really expect to get a huge reduction in actual cost so you likely need to think about things like taking fewer classes or shifting from private lessons to group lessons.
In each case the cost will reduce, but the learning effect will also decrease.
This means you need to get as much as you can out of each class.
In this article I will go over some techniques that you can use to squeeze as much learning as you can out of each dance lesson.
Get homework This is something that you might think you do, but actually don't.
I hope you do at least do some practice between classes.
This seems natural to most of us and it's probably expected by your teacher.
However, if you do it without direction, then the chances that you're engaged in the right type of practice is pretty small.
You want to know that you're practicing something that will actually make you a better couples dancer.
Otherwise, there is a good chance that you're doing little more than just going over what you already know or just getting a little better at moving you're body.
In fact, if you're not given proper homework, then there is a very good chance that you're developing bad habits.
At the end of the lesson ask the teacher what you should do between then and the next lesson.
This might actually be a shock to some teachers.
Up until the time you ask them that question they have probably never thought about giving homework.
You might actually need to start off by talking about the areas that need improvement and then asking what you might be able to do to work on it.
This is something that any teachers reading this should think about: if you see a student with a certain weakness, then would you know what homework to give them so that they could improve the related area? Take notes How many times have you walked out of class and then thought to yourself 'what was I meant to work on improving again?' or maybe 'now what was I doing wrong that I need to make sure I do in that routine?' The chances of remembering it the next day or a few days later if you were busy are very small.
Around the same time I started taking notes a fellow student did the same.
When we were talking about it we noticed two things.
The first obviously was how much easier it was to remember what we were meant to work on before the next class.
The second was much more significant.
We noticed that when we went over them in a more relaxed state it was much easier to appreciate what really needed to be worked on.
This meant that we could gain a better appreciation of the subtleties that we needed to improve.
You will find that these small pointers from you teacher, when you make note of them have a hug effect upon how much better you can dance.
It's easy to forget something like 'keep you hip moving until the end of the count.
' But if you have it written down, then you will be able to drill that when your practice so it becomes a habit that you don't need to spend time working on in the next class.
Focus on what you need to improve in class If something can be worked on outside of class, then leave it for later.
Ensure that your class is spent on those things that you really have no idea how to work on by yourself.
You can focus on remembering names and routines outside of class.
If there is one part you have issues with, then focus on that part.
But don't waste time drilling the rest of the routine unless at the same time you are working on technique or something else that needs to be done in class.
By using class time to focus on those things that can't be done elsewhere or formulating your strategy for what you will work on between now and the next class, you can use this time to really augment out of class time, which is free.
Direct efforts on attributes outside of class This is a bit like the flip side of the last point.
You don't want to spend time in class trying to improve your musicality or your flexibility or your fitness.
These are attributes that you can work on in many places and often by yourself at no cost.
If you can improve those outside of class, then class can really focus being a better dancer within class.
If you're not sure what attributes to work on or how to improve them, then there publications out there that can help you.
You can also ask your dance teacher for advice.
The key to cost effective dance lessons is to ensure that you make the most of each lesson and to work on attributes outside of class time.
The above 4 points are excellent guides to help you do this.
If you want to find out more about techniques to improve the way you learn dance to make it more cost effective and faster, then take a look at the e-book Dance Better Now.
It has quite a number of techniques that you can use to become a better student of partner dance.
You want to keep dancing because we enjoy partner dancing so much.
However, you still need to be mindful of our expenses.
The solution to this conundrum is to make your dance lessons as cost effective as possible.
You can't really expect to get a huge reduction in actual cost so you likely need to think about things like taking fewer classes or shifting from private lessons to group lessons.
In each case the cost will reduce, but the learning effect will also decrease.
This means you need to get as much as you can out of each class.
In this article I will go over some techniques that you can use to squeeze as much learning as you can out of each dance lesson.
Get homework This is something that you might think you do, but actually don't.
I hope you do at least do some practice between classes.
This seems natural to most of us and it's probably expected by your teacher.
However, if you do it without direction, then the chances that you're engaged in the right type of practice is pretty small.
You want to know that you're practicing something that will actually make you a better couples dancer.
Otherwise, there is a good chance that you're doing little more than just going over what you already know or just getting a little better at moving you're body.
In fact, if you're not given proper homework, then there is a very good chance that you're developing bad habits.
At the end of the lesson ask the teacher what you should do between then and the next lesson.
This might actually be a shock to some teachers.
Up until the time you ask them that question they have probably never thought about giving homework.
You might actually need to start off by talking about the areas that need improvement and then asking what you might be able to do to work on it.
This is something that any teachers reading this should think about: if you see a student with a certain weakness, then would you know what homework to give them so that they could improve the related area? Take notes How many times have you walked out of class and then thought to yourself 'what was I meant to work on improving again?' or maybe 'now what was I doing wrong that I need to make sure I do in that routine?' The chances of remembering it the next day or a few days later if you were busy are very small.
Around the same time I started taking notes a fellow student did the same.
When we were talking about it we noticed two things.
The first obviously was how much easier it was to remember what we were meant to work on before the next class.
The second was much more significant.
We noticed that when we went over them in a more relaxed state it was much easier to appreciate what really needed to be worked on.
This meant that we could gain a better appreciation of the subtleties that we needed to improve.
You will find that these small pointers from you teacher, when you make note of them have a hug effect upon how much better you can dance.
It's easy to forget something like 'keep you hip moving until the end of the count.
' But if you have it written down, then you will be able to drill that when your practice so it becomes a habit that you don't need to spend time working on in the next class.
Focus on what you need to improve in class If something can be worked on outside of class, then leave it for later.
Ensure that your class is spent on those things that you really have no idea how to work on by yourself.
You can focus on remembering names and routines outside of class.
If there is one part you have issues with, then focus on that part.
But don't waste time drilling the rest of the routine unless at the same time you are working on technique or something else that needs to be done in class.
By using class time to focus on those things that can't be done elsewhere or formulating your strategy for what you will work on between now and the next class, you can use this time to really augment out of class time, which is free.
Direct efforts on attributes outside of class This is a bit like the flip side of the last point.
You don't want to spend time in class trying to improve your musicality or your flexibility or your fitness.
These are attributes that you can work on in many places and often by yourself at no cost.
If you can improve those outside of class, then class can really focus being a better dancer within class.
If you're not sure what attributes to work on or how to improve them, then there publications out there that can help you.
You can also ask your dance teacher for advice.
The key to cost effective dance lessons is to ensure that you make the most of each lesson and to work on attributes outside of class time.
The above 4 points are excellent guides to help you do this.
If you want to find out more about techniques to improve the way you learn dance to make it more cost effective and faster, then take a look at the e-book Dance Better Now.
It has quite a number of techniques that you can use to become a better student of partner dance.