You Can't Rush a Dancer

One of the things we sometimes forget when we look at a good dancer is that we are usually only seeing the finished product. We see the confidence, the control, the performance and the ability to pick up choreography quickly. What we don't see is everything that had to happen before the dancer was ready to do those things.

As dance professionals, we have to understand the pedagogy of dance. In simple terms, we need to understand how dancers learn and develop, and what should be taught at what stage. You can't simply throw everything at a young dancer and expect them to absorb it because you happen to know how to teach it. There is a progression to development, and getting that progression right is a big part of our job.

At Dance Culture Studios, we start developing dancers from as young an age as possible. At the beginning, it isn't necessarily about teaching them a complicated routine or giving them a whole vocabulary of dance moves. It can be as simple as teaching them to hear music, find the beat, understand timing and become aware of their own bodies. Where are my arms? Where are my legs? What happens when I move this part of my body? Can I make that movement happen in time with the music?

It sounds basic, but it isn't.

Those are building blocks.

And the building blocks are going to look different depending on the style. The fundamentals you might introduce in a ballet or contemporary class aren't necessarily the same as those you would introduce in a Hip Hop or street dance class. Each genre has its own movement vocabulary, history and physical requirements. But underneath that, you're still developing a young person's awareness, coordination, musicality and ability to control their body.

Then, as they develop, we can start adding more.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through choreography. A dancer learns a routine, practises it repeatedly and, over time, becomes better at performing it. Something quite interesting happens during that process. In the beginning, a large part of their brain is occupied with simply remembering what comes next. Left foot, right foot, turn, jump, arms, next section... don't forget the ending!

Eventually, through repetition, the choreography becomes familiar.

And that is when the dancer can start thinking about something more important: how to dance it better. They can think about musicality, dynamics, performance quality, texture, timing and connection with the audience because they are no longer using all their mental capacity just trying to remember the next eight counts.

That's development.

It also doesn't happen at exactly the same speed for everybody. Some dancers become confident very quickly. Others need more time. Freestyle and improvisation are particularly good examples of this. You might have a dancer who can perform a complicated routine beautifully but freezes completely when you say, "Okay, now just freestyle."

That's normal.

Freestyle requires a different kind of confidence and a different set of skills. It asks the dancer to make decisions in the moment rather than simply reproduce something they have rehearsed. That ability develops with experience, exposure and, quite frankly, being given permission to make mistakes without feeling that the world has ended.

The same applies to dancing with other people. We can develop dancers through solos, duos, trios, smaller crews and larger teams. Each format teaches something different. A solo teaches responsibility because there is nowhere to hide. A duo teaches connection and awareness of another person. A crew teaches discipline, spatial awareness and the ability to contribute to something bigger than yourself.

None of these necessarily has to happen in a perfect sequence. They overlap. They support each other. But they are all part of the bigger picture.

The platform changes the purpose

This becomes particularly important when dancers start performing or competing.

A showcase, for example, is not the same thing as a competition. You can dance on a theatre stage with the intention of entertaining an audience and sharing something you've worked on. A competition is different. There are judges, criteria, other competitors and a specific reason you are standing on that floor.

That doesn't mean the dancer should suddenly become robotic.

It means they need to understand the platform.

One of the things we try to teach our dancers is that dance shouldn't only be about self-indulgence. Yes, you need to enjoy dancing. Yes, you need to express yourself. But when you perform, there is also an audience. When you compete, there are criteria. When you represent your school, studio, province or country, there is an added responsibility.

Understanding why you're dancing and where you're dancing is part of becoming a complete dancer.

And that's where I think dance becomes such a powerful form of education. We're not just teaching somebody how to move. We're teaching them how to understand a situation, adapt to it, prepare for it and respond appropriately.

Eventually, once those foundations are in place, we can start looking at results. Regional competitions, provincial competitions, national competitions and eventually international opportunities.

But the result comes later.

The development comes first.

Don't break the dancer trying to build the dancer

This is probably the part that matters most to me.

We have to be careful not to rush young dancers because we are excited about what they might become.

Sometimes a dancer isn't ready.

That doesn't mean they aren't talented. It might simply mean they need more time, more experience, more confidence or more foundational skills before we push them into the next environment.

Our job as coaches is to understand where they are, meet them there and then challenge them to take the next step.

Not ten steps.

The next one.

Because if we push a dancer too far beyond where they are physically, mentally or emotionally, we can achieve the opposite of what we intended. Instead of building confidence, we can destroy it. Instead of creating a love for dance, we can create anxiety around it.

And that is why I keep coming back to one simple idea: we develop the person first, and the dancer develops with them.

A dancer can only dance as well as the person they are becoming.

Their physical development matters. Their technical development matters. Their knowledge matters. But so do their confidence, emotional maturity, resilience, discipline and ability to handle pressure.

If we get those things right, the results have somewhere to come from.

And when the results eventually arrive, they aren't just the result of a good routine.

They are the result of a dancer who has been built properly, step by step, over time.