HOW TO LEARN ANY CHOREOGRAPHY IN ONE DAY
New dance students have to face the challenge of memorizing movements. Once the basic skills of dance have been mastered, however, one can acquire the ability to remember choreography quickly. Each case is different, of course, but there are a few useful techniques to learn a pattern of dance movements such as writing them, recognizing a pattern, putting words to movement and repetition. It is a job that involves a deep knowledge of dance and its techniques to find the simplest way for dancers to assimilate choreography. Also, from the point of view of some dancers, there are some recommendations on how to make the learning process and appropriation of the routines, easier.
Write them
Write the movements and steps that make up the dance in a list. Visualizing the list in your head and remembering what you wrote can help you quickly remember the choreography. Assign keywords to each movement to help you remember better. An expert recommends the tool to use keywords and provides this example: “Wash your hair”, that will be the movement of making fast waves with your arms around your head.
- Practice the dance without looking at the paper. If you cannot remember each step, go back to your notes to help your memory.
- Separate choreography by parts and assign keywords to make it easier to understand and remember movements. Shorter sentences may be easier to remember than long sentences.
- Practice and repeat until you can remember the choreography.
Recognize a pattern
Perform the dance slowly and recognize the segments that are repeated in the choreography. Learn those sections first, since they are the ones that will make up most of the piece. Separate patterns that refer to specific body parts. If the dance contains movements of arms and legs, remember the feet first, then move the arms. Nichelle Strzepek, editor of “Dance Advantage”, recommends separating a dance according to the different parts of the body involved, in this way, it helps to remember when there is information overload. Try to focus your attention on your feet only; if you combine arms, head and rhythms, all at the same time, it turns out to be too much information for you. Sort the patterns and join them to combine body parts and choreography.
Put words to movement
Create a story or song to repeat or sing along with the beat. The words can help you with a visual image in your head of the choreography. Repeat the dance singing or telling your story along with your visual reference. Repeat the dance without singing or repeating your story aloud to see if you can remember the steps.
Repetition
- Learn each movement of the dance slowly.
- Repeat each movement until you can gain speed.
- Practice dance consistently for maximum retention.
The time of individual practice is essential for each dancer to master the work as soon as possible. When this happens, then they must devote themselves to repeating the complete choreography and polishing the details that disrupt or disfigure the routines. The constant work, both in the stage of familiarization and assembly, is essential for the dancers to feel the work as an extension of their common movements and vital activities.