Blog Post
Title: Get Curious
Summary:Keeping curiosity alive in dance
Happy Wednesday everyone! We are entering the second half of our Winter Session and toward the end of our season. This time of year in dance class can bring lots of repetition as we prepare for performances and fine tune what we’ve been working on this year. Many dancers can find this part of the year a little boring and long for the excitement of new skills or choreography. This stage of training however, is so essential for the development of your skills and ensuring you are stage ready, confident to perform and maintain the skills you’ve learned throughout the year. One of the best ways to keep motivated in dance is curiosity. Stay curious about your training and about dance and it will always bring you something new and exciting, even in the most repetitive or mundane times in your training. Here’s our tips on staying curious.
What can you change?
When we are practicing a skill we already know or working on choreography for a long period of time, it’s easy to go on autopilot. The joy and accomplishment you once felt learning these skills can slowly start to melt away. So what then? Many dance steps are recycled, revisited and built upon each year we dance but we can always find something new. Whether it’s trying to focus on a particular correction, a new variation or a new dynamic, what can you change about the way you are practicing a skill? Can you ask the teacher for a new way to look at it? Can you perform your routine with a new emotion or work on layering a style to your movement? Spice up your dance class by finding a new angle to look at it.
Try Something New
Staying curious about dance can also mean stepping out of your comfort zone. If you’re feeling a little stuck in your training, take the initiative to try something new. Maybe sign up or take a class online in a new style or a teacher you haven’t danced with before. Feeling tired of working on the same choreography? Try making up some of your own. Feeling uninspired? Watch other dancers do their thing, whether it be online or by attending a performance. You are in charge of the way you feel about your training and life so if something isn’t totally working, try something new.
Know your why
Staying interested and curious about a passion or hobby takes dedication and commitment. If you are feeling burnt out or uninspired, get curious about your “why”. Why did you start taking dance classes in the first place? Why did you continue after that first class? What about dance makes you happy? Going back to these very important whys can be motivators to stay curious, open minded and dedicated to your training.
At IHD we think it is so important to have a beginner's mindset. In dance, there is always so much that is evolving and so much more we can learn. Staying curious, open minded and open hearted can allow us to stay motivated and dedicated even through the less exciting times in our training. We hope that you will stay curious and grow with us.
