Category: Blog

Welcome to Your Ultimate Guide to Practicing! This month-long course is designed to help you develop a practice routine at any level. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced dancer, this course will give you the tips and tricks you need to build and improve your practice routine.

Over the next month, you’ll learn how to choose the material you want to practice, how to focus on specific techniques, and how to set up a dedicated practice space. You’ll also have access to a private Facebook group where you can post your progress, share your wins, and ask questions. I’ll be offering coaching and feedback sessions throughout the month for those who are interested.

So if you’re ready to take your dancing to the next level, sign up for Your Ultimate Guide to Practicing today!

The month of September we will be running a challenge and a course on practicing. Members and non-members can participate. Sign up for the membership here and/or join the free private Facebook group.

If you’re like most dancers, you probably struggle with having a consistent practice routine. The month of April, let’s challenge ourselves to build a practice routine one step at a time.

James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, has some great suggestions for building habits. Two things that I use from his book are:

1. Keeping your new habit doable and small
2. Habit stacking

Number one, keeping your new habit doable and small. Make a commitment to yourself to do 5 minutes of dancing everyday. You may end up doing more, but don’t put so much pressure on yourself that you dread your practice time. Build the habit up slowly and steady. 5 minutes a day is better than an hour once a week. You will make great progress with just 5 minutes on a consistent basis.

Number two, habit stacking. What is habit stacking? What habits do you have on lock already? A morning cup of joe, brushing your teeth, taking your dog for a walk or making your bed? Try stacking your new habit of dancing 5 minutes a day with something that you do without thinking. I am going to stack my 5 minutes of dancing with opening my office door. Between opening the office and turning on my computer I will do 5 minutes of dancing each day. 

Let’s break down our challenge into manageable steps. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Choose a time of day that you will practice each week.

2. Commit to practicing for at least 5 minutes, even if it’s just a few basic steps.

3. Join the facebook group! Find a practice buddy or join our online dance community to stay accountable.

4. Track your progress! Seeing your progress on video or in a notebook will help with motivation. Your brain will get a little hit of dopamine as you check off your habit tracker or record your progress each day. Consider recording a before and after video. Video yourself dancing before you start practicing and then record yourself at the end of the week or month to see your progress. You don’t have to share this with anyone, it can be just for you to see how much you improve over the month. Very motivating to see your progress so clearly! 

Building a consistent practice routine doesn’t have to be daunting. By taking it one step at a time, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a better dancer in no time!

Build Your Dance Practice Routine One Step at a Time!

Are you looking to improve your dance routine? Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced dancer, it’s important to take the time to build your routine step by step. In just five minutes, you can use this practice challenge to work on one element of your reputare or routine. Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Maldon Meehan Dance is Challenging You to Build a Dance Practice Routine in April. Will you join me?

All you will need is 5 minutes a day, a notebook and a goal.

We start April 1, 2022!

Join the facebook group to share your porgess. I will be doing this challenge along with you and sharing my progress at https://www.facebook.com/groups/maldonmeehandance

The last thing you want to be doing is trying to memorize the material from your dance class and struggling with it. That’s why we’re going to help you out! In this blog post we cover five ways to make remembering the material easier. Let’s get started! 

1. Use a dance journal. It’s a simple yet effective tool for any dancer.

2. Breakdown the steps into smaller parts – make it easier for your brain to process and remember.

3. Visualize your learning, practice and performance experience.

4. Practice, practice, practice! Dance is a skill that needs to be developed over time just like any other.

5. Record yourself dancing, then watch it later! You’ll be amazed by how much progress you’ve made.

1. Dance Journal

A dance journal can help you keep track of steps from class. It’s a great way to do it right after the lesson or if there isn’t time, just write them down during the session and then go over your notes later!

Before leaving class, write down the steps you learned in your notebook. This will help solidify the movements and words into memory better than if you just danced them during class. You can also record yourself dancing these moves for future reference to make sure that they are accurate!

2. Breakdown the steps

Break down the steps into smaller parts and practice them on repeat. This will help you understand the step, like a muscle memory in your body. Once you have practiced the small movement, put them back into the whole to get better results! 

Breakdowns help with overall understanding by breaking up large sequences into less intimidating chunks which allow us more easily place new information in context while still retaining previous knowledge.

3. Visualize 

When we dance in our heads or visualize ourselves flawlessly executing choreography, there are two things happening at once: We’re practicing technique without putting wear-and-tear on our body like when doing physical exercise. Most importantly, we are  learning new material! This visualization process works any time during your day. Also before you practice, visualize the last lesson, who was there, what the teacher was wearing and what you learned. To help me with this I often write that information in my dance journal. 

4. Practice, practice, practice! 

Practice makes perfect! It’s the saying that has been repeated over and over again. And for good reason too – it is true. Dance, like any other skill, needs to be practiced in order to get better at it with time. When practicing dance you can’t just cram a bunch of hours into one day; instead, plan what moves or routines you will practice each day so they are spread evenly throughout your routine schedule (i.e., 5-10 minutes every weekday).

5. Record yourself 

Practicing a new dance move? Record yourself dancing, then play it back! You’ll be amazed by how much progress you’ve made. After practicing for 5-10 minutes a day just record yourself at the end of the week before your next class. This will show your progress and you can have an easy reference to jog memory if needed later on. I also like to record myself right after class for memory and reference. 

I hope these Five Ways to Remember the material from your dance class quickly and easily will help you. They are simple yet effective in the challenge of remembering choreography or routines in classes! 

1. Set up your practice space for success. 
2. Set up a practice schedule for yourself, even if it’s just 10 minutes and stick to it.
3. Make a list of all the things you want to practice and put them into your calendar. 
4. Create a playlist of tunes or songs that you love to dance to and put it on repeat.
5. Review your progress after every session and make adjustments accordingly so that you’re constantly improving.

1. Set up a Practice Space!

Set up your dance practice space for success. One of the best ways to get more practice time and improve your dance skills is by setting up your home for success. One way you can do this is by creating a space in your house that you will be able to tap out steps at any given time, even if it’s only when inspiration hits. You could set up an inspiring picture or quote on the wall as motivation while practicing and make sure there are some comfortable shoes nearby just waiting for those moments where spontaneity takes over!

It is important to remember that practicing your dance routine should be a priority. To make the process easier, consider setting your area with the necessary items nearby: a practice notebook, dance shoes, music (speaker, ipod) and a danceable surface (or dance board). Other items to consider: a towel, water bottle and a mirror.

You can also set up your tablet or laptop to camera settings and see yourself practicing. You’ll be able to notice any mistakes you make while watching back the footage like a coach! In your practice notebook you will want to track your practicing, write your goals and track your progress, more on this later. 

2. Set up a practice schedule!

Set up a practice schedule for yourself, even if it’s just 10 minutes and stick to it.They say it takes 1,000 repetitions to get a skill down pat; that may sound like a lot but if you break up the practice into 10 minute chunks, this could take less than 5 minutes per day!

It might seem like you’re just going through the motions while learning a new movement, but when you really start to think about it your brain is firing on all cylinders. When you practice for 5 minutes at 7 times in one week that’s 1,000 repetitions of this pattern! Your accuracy and speed will increase by leaps and bounds each day as well so don’t get discouraged if things are tough now because they won’t be later.

Here’s a video to get you started in Irish sean-nós dance practice. Dance it 3 times during your session for a week that’s less than 5 minutes a day. If you want more sign up for the fee jig course. There the course is packed with lessons and practice videos.

3. Make a list practice list!

Make a list of all the things you want to practice. If you are unsure where to start, here are some ideas to get you started. 

1. Practice your timing with a metronome.
2. Improve your flexibility by stretching out before and after you dance.
3. Increase speed, but not at the expense of quality.
4. Work on new routines and choreography for upcoming performances or shows.
5. Practice your entrance and exits for each performance piece. 
6. Train for endurance and stamina by practicing dancing for at least 15 minutes every day or doing 10 minutes of jump rope. 
7. Drill small components of larger steps or dances (i.d triplets or shuffles and focus getting accuracy with both right and left foot).
8. Learn how to use your fingers while tapping so you can create different sounds.
9. Practice learning new steps, always trying to be creative with what you are doing on your feet.
10. Film yourself to see progress and areas you would like to work on. This is very helpful to see yourself and hear and hear your timing. 
11. Face a mirror and focus just on your poster and head movements. 

4. Create a Playlist!

Create a playlist of tunes or songs that you love to dance to and put it on repeat. This saves time searching for music when it’s time to get down to practicing. You can also listen to your playlist while you are working or diving around. Listening to music is practice! If you are unsure where to start with music playlists I have created a playlist for the various tune types you will find in Irish music. You are welcome to save these to your spotify account and use them for your practice sessions. I add to these on a regular basis. I have spotify and a youtube playlist. One advantage of a youtube playlist is that you can slow down the music 25% up 75% of the original speed. All thought I will worn you 75% slowed down is very distorted. I use the amazing slowdowner to slow music down when practicing. 

Use the time you spend commuting to work as practice time by listening to a dance podcast or music 

Here are a Reel playlist from my spotify account. I have many more on my Spotify Page. Feel free to save and use any of them. I’m always adding more.

Follow my youtube account. I have many music playlists as well as dance playlists. You can find them under created playlists. 

5. Track & review your progress!

Review your progress after every session and make adjustments accordingly so that you’re constantly improving. Keep a practice notebook. I just use a lined notebook and write down what I practice each session as well as what progress I make and what needs improvement. I also note which speed I am able to dance a step cleanly and my goal of where I want to get with that step. I write my daily practice goal down in my notebook as well as a weekly and monthly focus. Filming yourself is a great tool for making adjustments and improvements. It also shows your progress. Rewarding yourself and being able to see your practice pay off it key. I keep a habit tracker so that I can get that little hit of dopamine each time I tick off something in my tracker. Here is a free tracker that you can use. 

This is a subject that comes up a lot when talking to musicians and dancers. We have a different language or terms to describe the same things. Curious how a musician describes or explains music? Curious how a dancer describes the something? Join the conversation.

Tune, Beats, Bars, Dynamics, Tone, Steps, Trading eights. How do musicians and dancers communicate? How can we communication better?

There has been a lot of talking lately between the musicians and dancers in our community about playing and dancing in sessions. What are the rules? What makes a session really fun? Each community or session has their own culture and rules around their session. What are your communities values in a session?