Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for an activity/drill to do to keep my enthusiasm up and get beyond a plateau.

I have been dancing 3+ hours/day (weekly - 1 hr private, 10 hr classes, 2 hr workshop, + practice and social dancing) for 3 months. I pick up steps and almalgamations easily, but what is holding me back is developing strong technique (you know, weight on the proper part of the foot for latin, taking good back stides in tango, clean rumba walks, etc., etc.).

I am a bit of a perfectionist, and do not want to move forward until I have a perfect foundation. I am at Bronze 1 now. However, I am getting a little restless doing the same steps over and over. I have learned but not mastered everything on the bronze 1 syllabus.

Does anyone have any suggestions to get me through this plateau until I develop a strong technique to take me to the next level?

I have felt this way for about a week.

Thank you

Why not take a week off? Sometimes it takes time to let things process. I always find that things jive (pun intended) when I take a little break and go back to it.

A week? I don't mean to make you feel like your frustration and boredom isn't significant, but feeling stuck for a week isn't a plateau. Perhaps you are over training and need to give your mind a rest. Studies have shown that having some downtime, along with getting a good night's sleep, helps a huge amount with transferring learned physical skills to muscle memory. It takes time to develop the skills you need, but that doesn't mean you need to burn yourself out in the process.

If you want to keep working that hard, another idea is to try some cross-training that will support your dancing. Ballet, yoga, Pilates, or other movement classes like Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais are often suggested as cross-training for dancing. Sometimes just using your body in a new context is a good cure for boredom.

Good luck to you!!

Thank you ladies :) Your advice makes sense.

I take ballet classes which is fun and challenging.

I know nothing about Feldenkrais - I'll definitely give it a try. Any suggestions of places to practice Feldenkrais in NY or NJ?

Unfortunately I live in California so I don't have any suggestions on how to find a teacher where you are. I learned about Feldenkrais because my Pilates teacher and one of my ballet teachers both know about it, and I go to my ballet teacher's mother for lessons.

A mat class might be a good place to start, assuming you find a teacher. You'll do a lot of interesting things like lay on the floor and then try to roll over using certain muscles, or stretch a certain way and feel how it is different on one side from the other. It helps you to build body awareness and greater control of various muscle groups. I mostly take private sessions where the practitioner (teacher) also gives me a type of light massage. It's not really massage -- what she does is activate and stimulate muscles that might be holding or stuck in moving only in certain ways. I started going to these sessions when I hurt my back a few years ago, and now I continue to go because it's really helped me to gain understanding of how my feet and ankles can be used.

Of course, your experience may vary. Part of it depends on finding a really good teacher. Mine has worked with professional ballet dancers, so she knows dancers' bodies. Yes, ballet is different from ballroom, but in both you still have to be over your leg, know how to connect to your core, etc.