ok here is my problem. i am doing to dancesport in september, and i am away at school. my teacher is not here nor is he close to me so we can practice. i will not see him until 2 days before the comp and i am feeling frustered. i am 11 hours away from him so cant take a lesson. what should i be practicing or doing until i see him again. i feel like i should be practicing, but its hard when your unsure. and how much should i be practicing right now?

grrrrrrrrrrrr...... i just wish that i had a regular partner to dance with and would not have to worry about this.... if anyone finds a partner tree please send some seeds my way.

why is it so hard for girls to find a partner?

You should be doing any technique drills that he's taught you, and you should be practicing dancing all your routines on your own without him.

If he hasn't taught you any technique drills and if you don't know your routines well enough to dance them without him, then perhaps you might want to ask yourself if you're actually prepared enough to be competing in this upcoming competition. It might be better to skip the whole thing (if it's possible for you to get your money back at this point).

well, he has taught me drills. as for routines, well he dosent dance routines. he dances sequences. and over the summer, i worked with him to learn the patterns that he dances. so during comp, i basically know what he is going to dance, but i wont know when.

as for drills, i practice them, but i feel like i am not geting anywhere with them. when i practice, my mind goes ffrom one thing to another. i think i need to organize my time better. maybe practice each dance for 30 minutes a day....
this will be our first comp together just to see how things go, so then we can prepare from there for ohio star ball.

is it a bad thing to compete without routines?

ok, can you guys do me a favor and describe to me what your practice seessions are like. what do they entail.... do you use music? mirrors? notes?

any input will help here!
thanks

Competing without routines is fine. In fact, it's often preferable. Since he's got sequences that he typically dances, try dancing them youself and even stringing them together while playing music and dancing by yourself.

When I was super serious about practicing on my own, I'd go down to the studio and practice there. I'd start by doing some warm-up drills and whatever "homework" my teacher had most recently given me. When I felt like I'd achieved something, I'd move on to working on dancing. I'd do the routines from memory for a while, and also work and rework any area that was causing me problems. Since I was dancing Standard, I could look up questions regarding footwork or timing in the ISTD Standard book. In the last part of my practice session I'd put on music for each of the dances, and dance "rounds." I'd start by dancing my usual routines, and after I'd gotten through them a couple of times I'd just dance around doing whatever felt natural with the music.

If you've got notes, bring them with you in case you need to look something up. When you do your drills, use the mirror from time to time to check your posture, head position, leg lines, etc etc.

If you feel yourself getting really bored and you can't concentrate, try doing something else. Make up new exercises. Dance around to something you like, making up moves as you go. Put on music and visualise yourself competing as you dance, including imagining where your teacher is and how it feels when you are actually dancing together.

Hope this helps!

You must have SPECIFIC goals when you practice--(like: "...today, I'll try to keep my elbows level for at least 1 minute..."). The goal should be measurable so you know you've reached it. Otherwise it is pointless because you'll find your mind keeps wandering around because you don't know when you've attained your goal for the day.

I start by writing the things I want to accomplish for the week. A week's worth is a manageable chunk of time, and it is realistic too, not overwhelming.

During practice, I stretch and warm-up (15 minutes). Then I work on the goals for the day. I start with a mirror to gauge the form I need to work on. Afterwards, I step away from the mirror to see how a movement feels on my muscles.

When satisfied at the level of progress, I move to integrating the new movement into my routine or segment, as the case maybe. From warm-up to this point usually takes about 2-4 hours depending on how much time I have.

Then, much like Laura, I integrate the music into the practice. I then cool down by doing Viennese turns and Quickstep hops, and stretches afterwards.

You cannot expect to do a figure with a partner if you cannot do it well by yourself. So, 70-80% of your practice time should be devoted to practicing without a partner. This will decrease somewhat as you get better, but not by much.

Oh, and I drink a glass of water every twenty minutes.


my two cents...

Eleven hours to the competition. Imagine you can see yourself walking onto the floor. Get a mental picture of yourself dancing. When you take to the floor you will feel you have been there before. This is not anything new. It has been used by sports psychologists for years. A friend of mine goes one further. He puts a tape of a competiton on and pictures himself right among it