Quick Start Dance is a whole new approach to teaching people how to dance. We have identified 5 key ingredients:
- Simplify, simplify, simplify
The best way to learn a new motor skill is to reduce it to its bare essentials, practice this until it is committed to muscle memory, then, with the muscle memory as a base, modify one aspect of it at a time, committing each to muscle memory, until the desired result is achieved. Hence the… - Focus on muscle memory
There’s a lot going on on a dance floor. There are people around you, there are people watching, there’s a lot of activity. The music measures come at you thick and fast. You need to have the steps well ingrained in muscle memory. Now is not the time to think, “OK, now how do I do that step again?” So, we do lots of reps to make sure the steps are there when you need them. - Focus on rhythm skills
Anyone who has ever watched a toddler “dance” can tell you that moving to the beat is not an innate skill – in anyone. It’s a learned behavior, but some people learned it so early in life that they think it’s a gift from God. It isn’t. Anyone can do it, it just takes practice. But you can’t get the necessary practice unless you can focus on it. That’s why we… - Guide you every step of the way.
It’s called “cuing”. The dance steps all have names, so we can just tell you which step to do just before you have to do it. Sure, you’re going to have to memorize the sequence eventually, but we don’t want you distracted in class. We want you 100% focused on “the beat and the feet”. And if you think executing a memorized sequence is easy, read this. - Make it fun.
Dancing’s not supposed to be a chore. We do everything in our power to make sure you enjoy the experience, starting with setting you at your ease. We don’t do private lessons, we don’t have a studio to pay for, we won’t try to “upsell” you. We do offer continuation classes for anyone who would like to learn more, but we figure the best way to attract those people is to make sure that they achieve their goals in this class – and enjoy doing it! This is also why we don’t ask you to swap partners – that just adds to the stress. Relax. You got this. It’s gonna be OK.
Want to learn more about our system? Read “This is your brain on dance“.