Once you start taking a dance class, the only thing you can do in order to get better is to practice. You will need to practice more and more during your dance membership and even at home. There’s a reason why they say practice makes perfect, because it really does that and it encourages you to try out new stuff and explore new ideas.
How much practice do you need?
That being said, a lot of people restrict themselves to the dance studio practice under the supervision of a dance instructor. Obviously that’s not something which will work very well for you if you want to become a better dancer. In fact the thing to keep in mind is that you want all the experience you can get to become a good dancer including all the floor time you can get at the dance studio practicing by yourself.
"The problem is that most people work 8 hours per day and also take a commute to and from work. As a result, practicing outside the regular dance class can be rather limited."
We recommend that you should try to practice as much time as you can. Some people can commit around 20 minutes per day to dancing practice. But even 5 minutes of practice per day will do wonders. The idea is to make a habit out of this and stick to it. Of course it will be difficult in the beginning, this is not extremely simple and the challenges will be extremely demanding. On the other hand, if you commit to practicing even a tiny bit every day you will have fun and you will enjoy this quite a lot. As long as you stick to the idea of practicing this, the results can be really good.
the golden rule is 3 hours of practice for 1 hour of lessons
That’s the best approach and it works for most people. If you do 3 hours of practice for every hour at the dance studio you will be fine. The problem is that a lot of people don’t even do any practice from one lesson to another. It’s crucial to understand that the dance instructor can't do all the work for you. The trick with those 3 hours of practice we mentioned earlier is is that you can split them in any way you see fit. As long as you perform them and stay focused it will be more than ok.
In the end it all comes down to having patience and understanding your practice routine. It’s not easy to practice outside of the dance class, but it will be worth it. In the end it all comes down to starting this new habitt and actively trying to dance more and more every day. Practicing dance will also help ease stress, anxiety and it will make you happy. That's why we also call it " meditation in movement". At that point you will start to practice more and more. But remember that you should always have a strategy when you practice. Avoid practicing mindlessly and actively focus on practicing in a way that’s engaging, fun and rewarding. Set up small goals before you start and keep yourself accountable. As long as you do that right, things will be worth it. Just take your time, prepare every practice lesson and go for it!