I’m a One-Step Gal – Sean-nós & Set Dance with Maldon

I’m a One-Step Gal

One of my favorite things to do with my students is take a workshop alongside them.

I tell them all the time that I am not a quick learner. I wasn’t naturally good at dancing when I started, and new material still doesn’t come naturally to me.

That can sound like lip service until they see me learning in a workshop.

I love looking around the room and seeing my students understand the steps faster than I do. Meanwhile, I’m the one thinking, “Could we go a little slower, please?”

Maybe some of them are thinking the same thing. Maybe everyone in the room is thinking it. Or is it just me?

I am a one-step gal.

At a certain point, I become full. My brain and body have taken in as much new information as they can hold. Adding another step will not help. I need to stop, take what I have, and spend some time with it.

That doesn’t always happen during the workshop. It happens later, when I can slow the step down and woodshed it.

I find the smallest part I can repeat. I work on that piece until it begins to feel comfortable. Then I add the next piece. Little by little, I put the step back together and give it time to settle into my body.

If I don’t spend that time with the material, I don’t remember it. It doesn’t become something I continue to use in my dancing.

The workshop introduces me to the step.

The woodshedding is where I actually learn it.

When I meet up with my students again, I may be the person who remembers the material—not because I learned it most quickly, but because I stayed with it long enough to make it my own.

It is easy to look around a workshop and think:

“Everyone is learning this faster than I am. I must not be good at it.”

But how quickly you pick something up does not determine how well you can eventually learn it.

Some of us need time. We need repetition, play, and space to let the movement settle in our bodies.

The people you admire are not necessarily people who understood everything immediately or possessed some special “natural talent.” They may simply be people who stayed with the material long enough to make it their own.

You don’t have to learn quickly.

Give yourself time to learn deeply.

This week, choose one small piece of a step—not the entire step—and spend five minutes with it.

Slow it down. Repeat it. Let yourself play with it without worrying about how it looks or how fast it is.

Five minutes may not feel like much, but it is enough time to begin building a relationship with that movement.

You don’t need to keep up with anyone else. You don’t need to collect every step or understand everything immediately.

Bring your curiosity, choose one step, and give yourself permission to learn it in your own time.

I’d love to hear from you.

When you see someone learning faster than you, what do you tell yourself?

Simply hit reply.

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This Week

◈ Online

Guided Dance Session

Wednesday, September 2
6:00 PM PT • 7:00 PM MT • 8:00 PM CT • 9:00 PM ET

Join me on Zoom for a guided old-style step and sean-nós dance session. I’ll provide the playlist, and we’ll dance together.

You can dance your own steps or try material you have learned in class. This is a safe place to practice your steps with music.

Keep ’er lit and dance full-out, enjoy the tunes and see what comes out of your feet, or dance one step for the entire session. It is entirely up to you.

This is a chance to bring your steps up to dance speed, play with the music, and see what happens.

Dance Session Playlist

Class information, recordings, and practice resources

Join the Zoom session