How to Learn Choreography

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Oct 7, 2001

Some people seem to have a natural gift for learning choreography. But most of us don't. Fortunately, memorizing choreography is a skill that can be learned.

The primary keys to learning choreography include:

Set realistic goals.
Absorb the music.
Try not to learn too many things all at once.
Understand which learning method works best for your brain, then look for a way to apply it to learning choreography.
Take notes.
Practice, practice, practice.

Set Realistic Goals

If you're new to learning choreography, don't put too many demands on yourself. If you attend a 4-hour seminar taught by an internationally-famous instructor, remember that many of the other dancers there will be seasoned professional dancers who are looking for new challenges. Don't expect to learn as quickly as them, and don't expect to look as graceful as them. Most of all, don't expect to retain the full choreography that was taught over the course of 4 hours. Just expect to come away knowing something you didn't know before: maybe one or two great new step combinations, or a few tidbits about the dance's history or ethnic context.

Be kind to yourself. Pick a goal that matches your level of dance experience. Even though I've been dancing for over 20 years, my own personal goal for those 4-hour workshops is to emerge with one or two great new moves to incorporate into my personal style. I don't seek to come out with a full choreography to perform, just selected moves that inspire me for use in my own solo dances. With this attitude, I can relax and enjoy seminars.

Even if you're learning new choreography in your local weekly class, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Let's say you've been dancing for 5 years, but always your own personal improvisation. Then you start classes with a new teacher, and you discover that other students who have been dancing only a year are learning faster than you. That could be discouraging.

But remember, if they started with that teacher in the first place, and if she taught them at the beginning how to learn choreography, they have more experience with that particular skill than you do. They have also previously been exposed to that teacher's favorite step combinations, which you may be seeing for the first time. Don't place yourself into the trap of thinking that you should learn faster than they do just because you've been dancing longer.

As you adjust your goals & expectations to match what's realistic for you, you'll put less stress on yourself. It's hard to learn something new when you're feeling stress. So plan your goals according to what makes you comfortable. Take that corner of your brain that was fretting about your fear of failure, and redirect it to enjoying the class. You'll learn more!

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