Cassandra's Tips for Learning

Good news everyone! I am getting better and should be back to normal-ish health in a couple of days. Thank you so much for your well wishes and patience❤

The attached video is from June 2009. It was my first time performing a drum solo. I was not great at them but I already loved them. I had been dancing just over a year. My YouTube channel has all my original videos. You can see the progress (and lack there of at times). I left them up so that my students can see that it DOES NOT happen overnight. This month is actually my 11 year Dancversary 💃💃

While being sick I decided to compile and share with you some of my learning tips. These have helped me over the years and continue to this day. Hopefully they will be helpful to others. So without much more preamble I present to you

Cassandra's Learning Tips for Students

Technically these are tips for everyone, because teachers are students too 😁. These are methods I have applied to myself and continue to as I set out to better myself as a student, teacher, dancer, and general human. Learning is a lifelong journey, with no set destination. All aboard ...


Set Goals
Ask yourself what your goals are, both short term and long term.

Examples of short term goals: I want to take a dance class. I want to improve my snake arms. I want to shimmy for one whole minute. I just want to get exercise and have fun doing so learning a new skill.

Examples of long term goals: I want to dance for 10 minutes and not be out of breath. I want to be good enough and knowledgeable enough to be a teacher. I want to perform professionally. I want to be able to layer movements. I want to be coordinated, rhythmic human being.

Gaining an understanding of what you want to achieve can help streamline your motivation. Your goals might change or evolve too. Writing them down is just a starting off point and/or a guideline for your journey.
Also note that short term goals are also sneakily long term ones. Fun fact, I never actually made any long term ones. Just never ending short term goals😂

Work Ethic
You have to want to, truly because that is what will get you going when you don't feel like it. You have to be your own cheerleader and/or your own drill sergeant.
Squeezing in 10 minutes when you are tired or extended a practice session 15 minutes even though you are pouring with sweat is up to YOU.
It is up to you to keep doing to same thing over and over. It is up to you to keep going when it feels boring and you would rather watch tv. It is up to you to get back up and try again when you feel like it has been weeks or months when you have seen improvement.
It is up to you whether or not you stick with something. You have the power!! Rawr!
You can do it so long as you actually do it.
(See what I did there?)

Independent Study
Initiative to navigate a certain amount of learning on your own, willingness to do more research and put the time in are crucial. The internet is vast! Resources are plentiful, but sorting the good from the bad takes time. Seeking the truth out is always educational and enlightening. Seeking independence in learning is essential for growth.
Watch dance. Read about dance. Listen to music. Read about music. Come up with questions. Ask questions.

Self Critiquing
There is an important balance between self complimenting and self criticizing when it comes to improving at anything.

It is very important to remember to compliment and critique the task at hand, not yourself. There is a difference between saying "I need to improve my shimmy technique" and "shimmying looks so ugly on me" . Work WITH yourself, not against yourself.

Learning to watch yourself and honestly say "that move looks terrible" but knowing that what that actually means is "that move does not look good yet". 'Yet' is the key word. Itbdoes not look good now, but it could one day if keep at it. It's not instant. It's not overnight. It takes time. An undetermined amount of time. It might be 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months before a movement starts to look better and improve. It might even be 3 years later that you look back and go "oh wow needed a lot of work, but it looks so much better now". The only way to get to it is to keep going and to be honest (and gentle yet firm) with yourself along the way.
A saying that I started saying to myself was that "All great dancers were once mediocre dancers who never stopped working at it."

Similarly, celebrate little victories.
Did you reach a goal today and shimmy for 1 whole minute? Congratulations! Brag to your bestie. Get yourself a glass of wine. Have some chocolate. Tell your cat! Just don't expect the cat to care ...

Film Yourself (and Then Actually Watch the Footage)
This one is hard. I know. But mirrors have a funny way of showing us what we want to see. I don't trust mirrors. Videos show us what IS, whether or not we want to see it.

It more than likely will genuienly feel like watching yourself dance on film is as uncomfortable as a root canal. But like a root canal, you will get through it although you might be a bit sore after. Hopefully though it encourages you to practice more in the way that my first root canal turned me into an exceptionally committed flossing enthusiast.

One caveat is that it could scare you from not want to dance or film yourself (or go to the dentist) ever again.
Giving you hugs here because I know it is actually hard to see ourselves not being as good as we want and it is oh so easy to be our own worst critic. It hurts. It takes time to work through this whole process of seeing ourselves. Don't rush it but don't completely avoid it. Be brave and bold in your pursuits but remain gentle and empathetic with yourself. Little steps are better than no steps. Don't aim for perfect, aim for improved.

Share It With Someone you Value and Trust

Once you have gained some comfortability with filming and watching yourself, another set of eyes can offer valuable insight. Share what you are working on with your bestie, partner, parent, classmate etc. Encourage them to be completely honest with you. Ask what was good that stood out to them. Ask then what was not so good that stood out to them.
If you (and possibly your chosen confidante) are getting intimidated by this whole concept you might find it helpful to add wine and/or chocolate as needed.
If you don't feel comfortable showing it someone outside of dance or want more knowledgable insight ask your instructor if they offer video critique services. Many of us do.



Be Patient With Yourself

Remember getting better at something is not consistently exciting nor is it a steady incline. There will be plateaus. Times where you feel like you are in a rut. Long periods where you might even ask yourself if you are getting worse. Long periods where it just feels all the same. Where you feel uninspired. These are normal and part of the process.
Keep at it, today might be the day something "clicks"

Your Body Type Is Not The Problem

You're not too skinny, too fat, too flat, too boxy, too busty blah blah blah.
Learning to dance is learning how to move your body. It is learning to communicate clearly and conscientiously with your musculoskeletal system. And then eventually how to coordinate the musculoskeletal system with music. It is cultural. It is cerebral. It is physical. And your ability to do so is not dependent on how your body looks.

Yes the same move may look different on different bodies in the way that the same lipstick might look different on varying skin tones. You might personally think a certain shade of lipstick looks best on a certain complexion but all complexions can wear it if they want to, they just have to put it on.
All body types can learn to dance. They will look different doing so but they all still have to put in the work.
Regardless of your body type what matters is that you put in the work, time, and effort.
If you keep telling yourself you can't do something because of how your body looks, you will end up proving yourself right and that would be sad. Don't limit yourself like that.
Tailor your dancing to your body type. Create your own aesthetic.


Compare Yourself Only to Yourself

Watching other dancers is great for inspiration! I strongly and highly encourage watching and learning from as many as you can. But do not fall into the trap of comparing yourself to other dancers.
Compare yourself as a dancer today to the dancer you were yesterday. That's it.


And if all of this feels overwhelming and not what you are dancing for, remember ...

It's Okay To Do It Just For You
Do you feel like you don't really have goals beyond wanting to do it just for you? Like you are just enjoying it for the sake of doing it. That's cool too. It's really cool. There is actually immense joy is doing something solely for yourself with no expectation or seeking of validation.

In fact this is how I personally feel about swimming. I don't care about my form or getting better etc. I just love to swim. My friends nicknamed me "baby seal" for the way in which I just like to aimlessly frolic and swim around with little to no concern for anything. It's something that brings me great joy without any expectations. ❤❤

I hope you found this helpful.
If you have any tips or tricks you would like to share feel free to leave them in the comments😁

Thank you for reading,
Cassandra