Dance Like You Mean It

To make sure you truly learn the movement, it has to hold meaning for you. Material that you place value on will “go” to your long term memory. With no emotional or meaningful connections, the brain won’t store the information and it will be soon lost.

How often do you find yourself not able to remember movements that you drilled in your last class? The brain was not forced to pay attention to those particular movements through an emotional reaction. It wasn’t linked to a particular experience from the past in search for meaning either.

Naturally, not all the movements will bring out emotions in you. Be aware of what moves you. Find movements you feel attached to, movements that express you most. Put all your feeling into performing them. Do they remind you of something? Perhaps a dance step you’ve seen in “Dirty Dancing” just before your date kissed you for the first time? Does your favorite song makes you want to move in a certain way? Those will be the movements that will stay with you for a long time if not forever.