The Importance of Learning Your Dance Vocabulary

It's very important to take a minute to learn the names of certain actions. It will help you to see that the same action is danced in many different dances (with slight variations to the timing or step to achieve the desired fit).

For example, there are "Open Breaks" in almost every dance across the board (whether in Ballroom or Rhythm). Open, means to release your partner to enable her to move away from your body. Break, is another term for a rock step. So, the action "Open Break" means to dance a rock step away from your partner and release the hand on the back to create an open space between the bodies. Once you understand your dance vocabulary, it's easier to realize that you might be learning the same action in several different dances.

Listen to the name of the pattern you are learning as well. More often than not, the name will reflect the actions that are needed to create the pattern.

For example: "Open Break and Underarm Turn" means you will dance an open break followed by an underarm turn.

Many times I hear students say, "the little spinny thing with the twist at the end"...huh? This won't help your dancing because you'll soon have a thousand little pet names for everything and your patterns won't cross reference to other dances. Trust me, it's worth the extra effort to learn and understand dance vocabulary.

Get to studying and I'll see you on the dance floor!