A Recipe for Consistent Dance Practice Routines

Staying consistent with at-home dance practice can be a challenge. Not only is there no teacher present to guide and prompt your steps, but there is also nobody checking to see what is right or wrong with those steps.

While practicing dance at home can be a challenge, it is not impossible, and I have a few tips that can help make it easier to develop your routine. For the most part, I will structure my at-home practice as if it were an in-person class, but I can tailor the exercises to meet my needs for that day.

You can join me in using this repeatable recipe for every dance practice session:

• Warmup
• Technique practice
• Choreography or Improv
• Stretch
• Log my notes

One reason I like having a standard list to turn to is that I have a reference of options to choose from. There may be days when I only have 20 minutes to practice, or may only be practicing for the sake of running through choreography. There have been many times when I just jump in to practice and do the thing, but I’ve learned that on the fly means I would be leaving off some of the important parts.

Warmup

Warming up is one of the most important parts of your dance practice. With a proper warmup for dance practice, you will be less likely to experience injury and soreness. An ideal warmup includes moving all parts of the body, and light stretching with a focus on preparing for the technique and choreography for the day.

Technique practice

Practicing techniques may look different depending on which style of dance you are working on. For ballet, for example, technique practice may look like a full barre or a series of targeted barre drills. If you are a ballroom dancer, you may take to the bar or wall to practice the feeling of resistance you may have with a partner. When it comes to practicing dance techniques on your own without a dance teacher, it can help to focus on repeating and solidifying what you have already learned, rather than trying to get ahead.

Choosing which technique to focus on will relate to either what you’re working on in class, personal goals you say, or even both.

Choreography or Improv

You may not always have a routine or choreography to practice, depending on your dance goals. Choreography run-throughs of whatever I may be working on at the time, and if not, I will throw some improv into the mix. The reason for this is that mentally, practicing technique and drills translates to dance moves.

Stretch

I already mentioned warming up as a necessary part of a dance practice session. Stretching is also important. While I do include stretching as a part of the warmup, I also like to add additional stretching after I have been moving. This also makes for a great cool-down after practice or class.

Log your dance notes

At the end of the practice session, I log my notes into my dance diary. This allows me to reflect on any challenges, or celebrate successes, and I can also see how consistent I am in showing up.

While each dance practice session will differ in the specific tasks and details, keeping a broad outline of what to include in your practice can help with the planning.