5 Habits of Successful Ballroom And Latin Dancers
Sam's Photography
What is the recipe for success in dancing? What do the top dancers do and think about to make them so incredibly good?
We all would love to know the secret to success. This is why I spoke to 5 top Professional and 4 Amateur Ballroom and Latin Dancers to create a list of things they talked about. Here is a list of 5 main points:
1. Trust Your Teacher
Noone has ever been successful on their own. Every single person I spoke with talked about their teachers. Some of them had 1 coach and some had 2 or 3 dance teachers. For some having a personal Trainer, a psychologist and a nutritionist on the team was a key. Dancing can be a lonely world so building a connection and trust with your teachers and the team should be a priority.
It will take away lots of pressure of planning, and it will allow you to focus on "implementing" the ideas.
2. Set Objective
Every has heard about the goals and objectives. You should never underestimate the power of setting objectives. I don't mean just long term goals of winning a competition. This also applies to goals at your practices like
I will keep my head up throughout the whole lesson/practice
I will hold my frame and stretch as much as I can every at each dance
In fact, try setting these small objectives before each single dance practice session. You will notice how much your focus improves.
3. Learn From Mistakes
When you go to a dance competition or you have bad practice session, it's easy to dwell on it for a long time. You know that there is nothing worse affecting your performance than low confidence. When you make a mistake, learn from it and then immediately forget it so you don't linger on it.
4. Cool Down
It's incredible how many dancers miss cooling down after a heavy practice. Why should you never skip it?
Cool downs help to get rid off metabolic waste products you have produced during your practice.
The muscles that you have been using (contracting), need to go back to their "resting" length which will speed up your recovery.
Cool-downs let your mind relax and "finish the practice" (otherwise the emotions and your brain will keep going at 100mph).
5. Visualize Your Goals
You may have heard about the power of visualizing your success. However, have you ever done it yourself. Interestingly, 9 out of 9 Ballroom and Latin Champions I spoke with, said they visualise their goals every single time before going onto the dance floor. Hmmm, maybe we should all do it and prepare mentally as much as physically?
Playing the "mental dancing movie" of your competition should not only help with your performance, but also calm your nerves.
These are the main 5 habits which all dancers I spoke with had in common. They seem quite obvious, but surprisingly not many dancers spend enough time making them their habits. Please share this post on Facebook and Twitter if you like this article.
Photo Credits: Sam's Photography
