Everyone has had a nightmare at some point. The featured characters may differ but some of the basic plot points remain the same: Something scary, a frantic escape, and, for one reason or another, an inability to move at the desired speed necessary.
Spacecraft need to reach a certain speed to escape Earth's gravity. Athletes need to compete at a desired speed to remain competitive. Drivers need to reach a desired speed to blend in with the flow of traffic.
Guess what? Your dance program has a speed, or better still, a frequency. Whether your goal is to escape the pull of your comfort zone's gravity, blend in with the flow of dance traffic, or compete at a high level, this article will help you find it.
What is Dance Lesson Frequency?
Your dance lesson frequency is the rate at which you take your private lessons on your dance program.
The early stages of your dance hobby can be both exciting and challenging. It's exciting to learn something new, but challenging to retain the information without muscle memory. To top it off, your brain can act as a "demotivational speaker" and attempt to pull you back to the non-dancing comfort zone you tried to escape from.
The solution is to accelerate, build momentum, and muscle memory as quickly as possible. If your dance program includes 10 private lessons, don't consider that a 10 week course. If you truly want to escape your comfort zone, develop muscle memory, and see a great return on your investment - turn that into a 5 week plan or less.
As your muscle memory improves, the enjoyment of the learning process will double, and you will see consistent results because of it. Usually, by the 12-16 lesson mark, the basics, some turns, and timing will be internalized and you can adjust your schedule as needed.
New Students: 2 Private Lessons per week for the first few months to build muscle memory.
If your goal is more of a casual one, like to use dancing as a date night or a fun after work activity, then there's a frequency to that too.
Using the above strategy #1 will help to quickly build your dance skills. Keeping at least one lesson per week is a great way for the blend in type to maintain their dance skills.
But let's keep something in mind, there are 10,080 minutes in a week. If your only supervised instruction is happening for 45 of those minutes, you're putting 10,035 minutes between your learning. Not good.
If blending in is your only option, make full use of the Arthur Murray Unit and keep at least one group class and practice party in your weekly rotation.
Blend In Students: 1 Private Lesson per week, plus group class and party to maintain dance skills.
Loving your dance hobby doesn't mean you have to compete. Standing out doesn't mean you want to look like a professional either. There are plenty of tennis fans that enjoy the game even if they aren't playing in tournaments at Wimbledon and the same came be said about your dancing.
Whether your goal is to compete, or just to complete some of your dance program projects, revamping your lesson frequency will ensure that either will happen.
Most hobbyist students come in for 4-12 lesson per week. This allows a variety of projects to have time for development and completion. A limited schedule will mean limiting things like dance routines, dance program graduations, or adding new dances to the program.
If your goal is to compete, your lesson frequency should accelerate based on the goals you've set with your teacher. [For more on that, check out this article on Dance Competition Strategies]
Hobby/Competition Students: 4-12 lessons per week. Increase as needed based on goals, timeline until the next event, and the total number of projects in your lineup.
The worst thing that will happen with your Arthur Murray dance lessons is you'll become a better dancer. The worst thing that will happen if you keep your dance lessons closer together is you'll become a better dancer... faster.
The reality is that every Arthur Murray professional understands that breakthroughs can only occur with enough momentum. They understand that it's those breakthroughs that will demonstrate the true value of your dance hobby, and that, along the way, you'll experience the life changing benefits that come with your Arthur Murray experience.
Whether it's improved posture, social skills, or fitness level, your lesson frequency can ensure that you experience those things... faster.