If you want to supercharge your dance progress, you've got to follow one simple phrase:
It takes pressure to turn coal into a diamond.
It's not comfortable, your heart my beat a little faster, and you can't assign this to your executive assistant - but the goal is to travel far outside your comfort zone, learn, grow, and return to laugh at what used to hold you back.
The last thing we'd want is for your family, work, or personal calendar to interfere with your quest for dance improvement. So let's get smart, let's get strategic, and let's get a better idea behind the rhyme and reason of the dance events that may be in your future.
3 Types of Dance Events
Dance-O-Rama® - a 2-5 day dance vacation Showcase - A one day Dance-O-Rama® simulation with freestyles and/or routines In Studio Event - demonstration, Extravaganza, Spotlight
Approach: Small, Medium, then Large
Strategic Dance Advice: When it comes to any dance event, from a dance party in your studio to, to a large competition, waiting until you feel "ready" is completely overrated.
That would be like waiting until you knew all the lights were simultaneously green before you drove to work. The sooner you dive in, the sooner you'll begin to change for the better.
Taking this "Steady Growth" approach means that you'll be attending events in chronological order based on their scale.
Dance Calendar Example:
For more ideas on Medal Ball, check out 11 Secrets Of The Medal Ball That Everyone Misses
Approach: Build up confidence, and then capitalize on it
Strategic Dance Advice: You've done it all in the studio, but haven't taken it on the road yet.
Are the local events fun and beneficial? Absolutely.
Are the events challenging enough to give you a surge of dance confidence? Perhaps.
If you've been zigging and zagging between small and medium events, it may be time to add that multi-day, total immersion dance catalyst to your calendar.
Dance Calendar Example:
Do you need a little Italy in your life? Check out "An Incredible Dance Week in Roma"
Approach: Go to something Large as soon as possible
Strategic Dance Advice: Large events have a way of putting smaller events in perspective. Think about this like a theme park. If you start with the biggest roller coaster at the beginning of the day, you've already won. Every ride after that has been unlocked because you took the road less traveled.
Dance wise, it's no different. Your goal with events is to accumulate confidence dancing in front of people. The more minutes you log, the more relaxed you become. Starting your calendar with a multi-day event will put single day events into better perspective.
They'll be easy to walk into, and to prepare for. You may even start using the small and medium events as the dress rehearsals for your large ones.
Dance Calendar Example:
Approach: Pinpoint times of the year where motivation may be lacking, and place a large event there instead.
Strategic Dance Advice: Consider your current level, comfort zone, and waist size officially obliterated with this approach. The goal is to keep at least one medium-large event in your calendar pipeline per quarter.
Sure, it may sound demanding, but it will drastically reduce the chances that you'll get complacent. When that occurs, your progress and motivation can flat line, and that isn't good.
Having a broad, and carefully mapped out, plan like this one will keep your improvement steady, your spirits lifted, and your waistline shrinking.
Dance Calendar Example:
One event that should be on everyone's calendar, we literally say it's the best "O-rama", is the Unique Dance O-Rama®. Read "What Makes Unique So Special?" here.
You don't need a strong desire to compete, win, and destroy the competition to attend a dance competition. Dancing is a sport, but it's more like golf than football. You're only competing against your own best efforts, nothing else. For more ideas on that, we recommend reading The Survival Guide To Your First Dance Performance.
Now that that's out of the way, we recommend that you go into each event with a bonus objective in mind. Here are a few:
Final Thought
Hopefully by now you've gathered that a competition doesn't have to be the only agenda item on your dance calendar. There are plenty of activities to help keep you motivated, having fun, and seeing improvement.
Unfortunately, we can't create the free time for you if you don't have it.
Our goal is to give you the tools to plan effectively, and to understand the thought behind each invitation you receive. This way, if everything goes right, you've got the first right of refusal, and understand why your teacher would present the idea.
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