265 Just Experience It

Last weekend I was on stage again with my dance team. I've already written here "how I felt on stage" a year and a half before, then I'd like to talk about "how I did off stage". Actually I've been frequently asked why I could keep dancing while already engaged in a pressing work. I'm only sure that the answer is NOT about time management. Here's my ideas and if it makes sense, it'll be keys for anyone who wish to develop dancing skills as I do.

1. Keep listening
Listen to the music anytime you can, again and again and again. Dance is about music. Not just physical movement. I've heard so many great dancers saying that the dancer's body is a musical instrument. So keep listening, memorize the sound, beat, groove, tone, tense, and learn to be part of it.

2. Move Slowly
On the other hand, practice doesn't just mean moving to the music. If you don't get the idea of the choreography and can't control your body in the first place, you never dance with music. So start moving slowly. Move slowly as much as you can (it's harder than expected) and think about every movement, every positioning of your body, and every flow of the choreography.

3. Keep Imagining
When you learn and understand the music and the movement, then imagine yourself dancing with listening to the music. Not yourself from audience's view, but your own eye's vision when you dance. Can we see ourselves when dancing? Actually no. But the view that our eyes catch is the view you'll see on stage. So get used to it, with the music.

Dancing needs not only body. Your ears, eyes and especially your mind matter the most.