"Salsa Bachata Class Accelerator" Lesson 7: Trying Harder

The video below is part of a paid program on one of our sister sites. We're giving the program away for free here at Movers and Shakers.

This "Local Class Learning Accelerator" series is about learning how to learn.

The series will teach you to squeeze the absolute most benefit from your salsa and bachata classes.

The series is meant to be completed in order, so start from Lesson 1.

Audio Transcript: Below is the audio transcript of this lesson. Headers have been added.

The Importance of Putting in REAL Effort in Classes

So let's talk about trying harder in class. This is a really interesting topic because we probably like to think that we go to class and we're always trying while we're in class, and the fact that you're showing up for class is great.

You know that already sets you apart from a lot of people, but what tends to happen in class is we tend to get lazy, and we may be following the pattern that the instructor is teaching, but not putting in full effort and you know why this happens, it's a deep topic but basically really, dancing takes a lot of energy.  

There's really a lot of effort, and if you're really are going full on with the move every single time in class? No, that's not practical. When I'm doing a rehearsing with a choreography, am I going full out every time? No way. You know, we might mark it, and by "mark it" -  I mean do it slowly without music, focusing on details 30 times in a practice session and then go full out maybe three times depending on where we are in our progression with that choreography.

The reason or one reason is that it's not practical to go full out all the time. It's exhausting. You're gonna start sweating like crazy and like, you know, potentially burnout really fast. So it's really just human nature to conserve our energy and  just be practical. 

Avoid the Trap That Will Hinder Your Progress in Class 

What often happens in class is we end up doing almost all the class without really trying and without really giving it effort and it's really easy to fall in this trap of being lazy and just yeah, kind of doing it - Oh yeah, they're doing that. I'm gonna do that too. OK. I'm kind of doing it.

I'm super guilty of this myself. Again, I say this from a very humble place because it's just an easy trap to fall into, and I fall into it all the time when I'm working on new things, learning new things.

Focus on Trying Harder During Class

What I want you guys to start playing with is focusing on trying harder during class. It really comes down to making a decision, a conscious decision in your mind - OK, we're doing it again. I'm going to give this one my all. I mean, this sounds silly on the surface, but it really does work this way.

I mean, you really do have to remind yourself again and again and again, OK, I'm going to go. I'm really going to do this one. OK, now I'm going to do this one better than the last one.

Setting Personal Goals for Improvement 

If you're competitive by nature, you might say I'm going to do this one better than my neighbor, the other students in the class. You know that can be a dangerous path to go down, really. You don't need to be comparing yourself to other students in the class.

It really doesn't matter but if you have the personality where that fires you up and that motivates you, use that. Use that to your advantage. So I think, - oh, I'm going to do this better than my neighbor or if that's not your personality, do it better than yourself, because that's really the most important thing. So think - I'm going to do this better than I did last time.

So the instructor is doing a pattern of Susie Q instead (you can't see my feet, but you can tell I'm doing it in a very lazy.) They think alright here, I'm going to give it my all. I'm really moving my body and then they're going to repeat it. Okay, I'm going to give them my all again.

Focus and Give Your Best in Class

You have to remind yourself again and again and again, and that's actually really important for learning the material from the class and actually getting it into your muscle memory you need to feel it, not just in a lazy way, but feel what it's like when you're really moving.

So that's gonna help you a lot. So again, this is an interesting one, but I really want you guys to start thinking about that, remind yourself, I want you to try harder while you're in class.