It’s tough trying to balance taking dance classes with our full-time jobs and various academic obligations. Whenever we do finally take time out to get into a dance class, we really want to get as much out of it as possible. While dance is supposed to be our time to get away from the stresses of work, sometimes it introduces a new type of frustration.

The feeling of being behind in a dance class is universal - everyone has experienced that feeling of being lost at some points in their dance careers. Here are a few tips on how you can get the most out of your precious dance time.

Focus

This ends up being one of the most difficult aspects of dance classes. This is your time away from the outside stresses of the rest of the world. For the hour you are in dance class, let everything disappear. Don’t think about your work schedule, forget that you have an exam in a few days, and let your responsibilities fade away. While you are taking dance class, your only objective is to learn as much as you can in this limited, precious escape time.

It goes without saying - turn off cellphone notifications. Every sudden buzz is a distraction to you, and extremely disrespectful to your dance teacher.

Ask questions

Your dance teachers are there for one thing: TO TEACH. If something is unclear about their instruction, then you deserve for that instruction to be made clear. Don’t be ashamed to ask for an explanation. Simply wait until a small break in the instruction, raise your hand, and your instructor will field your question.

…but before you interpret this advice to mean “Ask about everything”, please remember to be patient! A good dance teacher will come back to specific points in the choreography that they know are confusing or particularly difficult. They may walk through their choreography a few times, each time using slightly different language. One of those explanations may make sense to you, even if the first few don’t.

Give them the chance to re-explain a move before asking to have it broken down. Sometimes, you’ll also learn from watching, so pay extra attention when the teacher is performing.

Practice at home

This is the most important step. Near the end of the class, ask your dance teacher if it is ok to video record a video of the teacher performing the choreography. The night after your dance class when you get home, go to your home dance studio, play the music, and try your best to recreate the choreography from your head. Try it a few times, especially if you get stuck and forget what moves follow.

At first, refer back to the video to remember the moves. Eventually, you’ll be able to remember the choreography and put it all together. The next thing to work on from here is to ensure that you match exactly what your dance teacher is doing: pay attention to the placement of their legs, the angle of their joints, the direction of their focus (which way is their head looking?)

The reason this last step is so important is because it’s something you can do on your own time, outside of work and outside of paying for dance classes. You can learn a lot from developing these skills on your own, which makes each individual dance class all the more valuable and worthwhile.

With these simple tricks, you will be able to maximize the value that you get out of your dance classes!