A Different Mindset on Teaching & Learning:

Lessons from Dance Instruction

Excerpted from Barbara Bernstein’s book:

Salsa Dancing & Rueda de Casino Guidebook
for Beginner to Advanced Dancers:
Steps, Styling, Technique, Latin Rhythms, Humor & Anecdotes ©

Fall 2024

A Fundamental Law: Learning Is on a Continuum

People generally understand that when someone learns to play a musical instrument, they don’t just have the ability to play it or not. It’s well recognized that this kind of learning is incremental; it keeps improving over time with practice. Learning a language is another example; it’s a gradual process.

But learning isn’t always thought of that way. In fact, our language itself tends to be binary in this regard. Students often say, for example, that they “know” or “don’t know” a dance move. Yet clearly, there is no on/off switch for learning dance steps. Dancers continually become faster and more polished over time. You might have studied a move and feel you know how to do it, but still not be able to do it smoothly or automatically. In that case, if something distracts you, or if the music is faster than usual, you may not be able to get through it. And yet in some sense, you do know the move.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, to become a top-level expert in a skill, 10,000 hours of practice are necessary (though not sufficient). The average dance student may not be looking to become an expert, but Gladwell’s “rule” underscores the concept of incremental learning. It essentially means that continual improvement comes with continued practice.

When students learn a new dance move, they do it hesitantly at first. They may feel that they know the move after 25 repetitions—and sometimes want to go on to other moves. But after 500 repetitions, they’ll certainly know it much better. Students should keep all this in mind, as it helps them be patient with their progress as they keep practicing to improve.

To do advanced dance moves, the foundation of underlying moves needs to be very solid. It’s not enough to “know” the basic moves; students have to be able to do them automatically and smoothly in order to use those basic movements in more complex steps. It’s all about the continuum, which is why dance classes drill skills. Hopefully, understanding this can help prevent students from being discouraged as they work to progress.

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Side Note  ♬

Here is an analogous situation that helps clarify this issue. In a math class, if a student “knows” the multiplication tables but has to think for thirty seconds to figure out each answer, that student isn’t ready for long division. To do long division, the tables must be very automatic because there are so many calculations that have to be made in each problem. (Likewise, it wouldn’t be feasible to do the calculations needed to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with fractions, decimals, and percents—until the student can multiply faster!)

A student may be right in thinking he/she knows the multiplication tables. But that’s not what is important. What’s important is how well (i.e., fast) students know them. When students are first learning multiplication facts, they don’t have this perspective. But teachers do, which is why they drill this—to prepare students for what is coming.

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An obvious implication of this is that students advance their skills when they review or drill moves they already “know.” The drill helps them achieve a greater level of skill and a deeper level of understanding the movement. This is especially true if they are guided to work on certain things as they dance. For example, a teacher may be guiding them to work on keeping stricter time with the music, or to be in the correct location with respect to their partner while stepping through a move, etc.

It is not unusual for students to equate being a good or advanced dancer with knowing a lot of moves. But many times, the way someone can really become a better dancer is to focus more on how they are moving and less on accumulating more steps.

Admittedly, it’s seductive to watch advanced dancers on the floor and it’s natural to want to learn the cool things they do! But in a class, the teacher may see that it’s more important for a student to work on improving underlying skills such as timing and making steps steady and even, for example.

Learning new moves can feel thrilling, but dancing well is more important.

People Can Go Farther Than They Think

The implication of the insights above are clear and encouraging… We have patterns of movement in our daily lives that we have been doing since childhood. No one should expect to learn different ways of moving without practice.

The key to learning most new dance skills is the patience to put in whatever time is needed to master them.

I’ve seen students start out very slowly, but they steadily improve and ultimately become strong dancers. With continued effort, you’ll be surprised how far you can go! We often think of how important it is for teachers to be patient with students when students are learning. But I believe it’s just as important for students to be patient with themselves.

Educators have done research on the importance of a “growth mindset” which means holding the belief that everyone can improve their skills with continued effort or practice. This contrasts with the outlook that ability is innate and cannot be changed, which implies that some people can’t improve that much. Those who subscribe to the latter belief don’t go as far and may feel “defeated” when they aren’t doing well at a task.

By contrast, people who believe that improvement is always possible with more effort keep plugging away. They ultimately go much farther. Carol Dweck’s popular Ted Talk describes the research on this and offers a very empowering message!

It’s helpful to recognize that the key skills in Salsa and Casino dancing are the ones “between your ears.” You don’t need to be strong, fast, or flexible to become a good dancer. Dance teachers are fond of saying “If you can walk, you can dance.” And I’d argue there are also ways to adapt dancing for those who can’t walk.

Moreover, the styles of dance in this book are accessible to everyone—young and old alike. Many sports and physical activities require strength or speed, which is difficult for older people. But the necessary skills for partnership dancing are simply understanding footwork, timing, and movement, plus the patience and empathy to work cooperatively with a partner.

Author Profile

Barbara Bernstein, Director of “DanceInTime,” teaches and performs in the DC area and beyond. DanceInTime has been featured on the ABC News, the Fox Morning News in DC & Baltimore, Telemundo, and the Voice of America. Bernstein has produced shows for the Kennedy Center, the Capital One Arena, World Bank Red Carpet Galas, and the Washington Nationals Baseball Park. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland’s School of Education and has taught credit dance classes at George Washington University, George Mason University, the University of Maryland, and American University, and coached some other college Latin dance teams. Barb has also run “Dance Boot Camps,” Hispanic Heritage Month programs, and taught wedding dance preparation. The DanceInTime team has performed or taught nationally and internationally—in London, Vancouver, Dublin, Puerto Rico, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and more!

References

Dweck, C. (2014). The power of believing that you can improve. Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. Little, Brown and Company.

Additional Resources

For more information on learning physical skills, visit: www.Salsacasinorueda.com
For details on Salsa classes and activities: www.Danceintime.com/classes