How to Stay Motivated for Dance Training

As dancers, we all know the importance of staying motivated in order to improve our skills and reach our goals. But sometimes, it can be difficult to stay motivated when we’re feeling stuck in a rut.

Here are some tips on how to stay motivated to improve as a dancer:

💃🏻 1. Work On Different Elements

Create excitement and try switching up your focus on different topics or techniques!

Dancing is a vast and diverse art form – why get stuck in on a rigid training methodology when there are always new elements to explore and improve upon?

For example:

Body movement drills
Arm styling techniques
Footwork cleanliness
Basics & fundamental drills
Choreography challenge
Memorisation work
Musicality
And etc.

🥅 2. Set Some Dance Goals

A big part about staying motivated is also knowing that we are making progress.

So take charge. Don’t just follow what everyone else is doing, and set specific goals that YOU want to achieve. (Also because we all have different personal bad habits to tackle if we are serious about improving)

For example:

7 days body movement drills challenge to increase your movement range
Improve the looks of your arm styling by working on technique drills
Perfect a double spin in 2 weeks
Clean up the way your basic arm movement looks
Tackle the choreography that you’ve always wanted to learn

🥰 3. Keep Your Practices Short & Sweet

Instead of committing to long and exhaustive practices, just 20-45mins is often enough to keep the momentum going and prevent burnouts!

Remember – it is about the quality (and consistency), not the quantity.

It is way easier to commit to short daily practices than 2-3 hours sessions. #noexcuses

👯‍♀️ 4. Find a Practice Buddy

Why practice alone when you have friends who love dancing too?

Dancing with a friend can be a great way to stay motivated and accountable. You can encourage each other and share tips and tricks to improve your skills.

🎥 5. Celebrate Every Small Win

Progression is motivation.

So celebrate every small win in your dance journey, no matter how small. These little wins will help you push forward and reach your big goals. So don’t take them lightly. 😉

✨ 6. Aim For Progression, Not Perfection

I get it. I’ve been there before. I’ll over-obsessed with a dance move that just doesn’t feel perfect, equate all my mistakes with failure, then get burnt-out and upset easily i.e. lose all motivation.

I had to learn this the hard way – perfectionism is the killer of progression!

Stop allowing it to hold you back from getting further in your journey. Just like all other skills, dance requires practice and PATIENCE.

Aim for progression, and celebrate your small wins – remember?

😃 5. Last but not least, Remember To Have FUN!

Never forget the reason THE REASON why we are dancing: because it brings us joy.

Not every dance practice session needs to be super technical and full of high expectations to smash a goal or perfect that advanced routine.

Sometimes I am guilty of this too and it is a total mood killer. JUST HAVE FUN!

To sum it up:

Remember, staying motivated is all about finding what works for you. By trying different strategies and approaches, you can find what helps you stay motivated and keep pushing forward in your dance journey.

Love, B.

Brenda Liew