Dance Articles & Dance Tips

The following are free dance tips, resources, tutorials and guides that will help you improve your dancing faster. Please leave your comments and questions on the posts that interest you.

Incredible Dancing From 18 Year Old Teddy Tedholm

by Leon Turetsky 5 Comments

For those who don’t know I am a big fan of the contemporary dance style. Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance had just begun and already I had been blown away by an extraordinary young dancer, Teddy Tedholm! His ability to convey emotion in his dancing is “genius” as Mia Michaels noted. And he’s only 18 freaking years old! I wish I was that mature back then… I hope he will make it to the top 10! Nevertheless, his audition performance was just brilliant.
WATCH THE AUDITION VIDEO:

My Teaching System Revealed

by Leon Turetsky 5 Comments

I want to share the teaching system I am currently using in each online dance instruction video. I would love to get some feedback on how you enjoy the methodology and whether or not you think I am missing something.

The main teaching structure:
1. Demonstrate the dance move TO COUNT.
2. Breakdown MAN’S STEPS.
3. Breakdown LADY’S STEPS.
4. Explain the TECHNIQUE used and offer extra TIPS.
5. Explain the LEAD. CONTINUE READING>>

How To Cha Cha Dance: Beginner Guide with Videos

by Leon Turetsky 37 Comments

Cha Cha is one of the funnest Social Ballroom dances you can learn. The videos below will teach you the most basic Cha Cha dance steps for men and women.

Table Of Contents:

Cha Cha Dance History & Character
How To Count Cha Cha
Cha Cha Basic Steps – Video
Cha Cha Progressive Basic Steps – Video

Cha Cha History & Character:

The Cha Cha originated in Cuba and has been named so because of the “triple shuffle” that is apparent in most basic steps. It’s a dance that incorporates small quick steps to match the fast Cha Cha music. This dance has lots of hip and body action on every step to give it a latin look. Social style cha cha fits many modern Latin and pop songs like Marc Anthony’s “I need to know” and Santana’s “Smooth” (Feat. Rob Thomas).

How To Count Cha Cha:

The way you count the cha cha dance is: “1,2,3, Cha, Cha” and repeat. The 1,2,3 counts are all full beats, while the Cha, Cha are half beats (therefore faster). An alternative way to count it is “Slow, Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick”. It’s 4/4 time signature.

In the first video you’ll learn 2 most popular Cha Cha basic steps. Right below it you will learn the progressive basic step, another popular cha cha step.

If you enjoy these 2 videos let us know in the comments below. WATCH DANCE LESSON NOW

The Athleticism Of Dancing

by Leon Turetsky Leave a Comment

Dancing is as physically demanding as some of the most mainstream sports out there. Here is a video that proves that this is so. Professional “Dancing With The Stars” duo, Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo were motion captured to observe the strength, speed and flexibility they exude when dancing. A few key points from the video: A professional dancer doing Jive can reach foot speeds of 15MPH. A professional dancer spins at 180 RPM – Which is 4 times the speed of a record player spinning. I found out that the average tennis serve speed is of 175 RPM. Alright! We got 5 RPM on those tennis players! After watching the video, do you still have any doubts about the athleticism dancing requires?

How To Become A Better Dancer: 5 Tips

by Leon Turetsky 47 Comments

So you want to know how to become a better dancer?

Here are 5 important tips that will help you improve as a dancer fast:

1. Take Lessons Consistently (You’re not special)

Some people think that they can get good without ever taking any dance lessons…

This is a mistake. Think about everything else you ever learned in your life, did you just wing it? No, you probably took lessons to become good at it. The same goes with dancing. You can take lessons in person or online. For in-person lessons you can do group classes or private lessons. For online lessons you can learn from videos. Check out our online Ballroom dance videos here.

Furthermore, it is important to take the time to find the right dance teacher for your goals, because some are definitely more qualified than others. My recommendation is try out a lesson with several teachers before committing to one specific dance instructor. Read our article on what makes a good dance teacher.

2. Practice Daily At Home/Studio

One of the most important habits you need to adopt is daily consistent practice. No matter how naturally good you are, you need to practice if you want to become a better dancer. Many people assume that just because they take lessons, they don’t need to practice. This could not be further from the truth. It is precisely because you take dance lessons, you need to practice even more to make sure you retain everything you’ve been learning.

Becoming a better dancer requires muscle memory. And muscle memory requires a lot of repetition through practice. So don’t overthink it – simply make some room in your living room, get a mirror and practice the things you worked on at your last lesson/class. Check out our practice guide for Ballroom dancers.

3. Have A Goal

One of the fastest ways to improve your dancing is simply to have a goal to work towards. The goal can be a performance at your studio’s showcase or party. It can also be a dance competition. Even if you don’t want to perform you can still come up with a social dance goal such as “be able to dance comfortably at next month’s party”. Be creative with it as there is no wrong or right goals. The most important thing is to have one and to have a future date that you’re working towards. This will keep you motivated with your daily practice!

4. Feel your body

After you’ve learned the mechanics of the steps and routines, you need to make sure that you let your body “Feel” the movements so that all the steps and styling can really sink in to your muscle memory. You don’t want to be stuck in your head when you’re practicing or taking lessons, you need to be in “your body” to retain the dance moves, and progress faster.

After you got it pretty good, just put on the music and try to feel your body going with the music… This will also add enjoyment to your dancing.

5. Keep yourself inspired

It is critical to work on staying inspired and motivated with your getting better in dancing goal. Life gets in the way, so some days you will be more inspired than others… The key is to figure out some specific triggers that can energize you quickly to get back in the groove, whenever you’re not feeling it.

For example, let’s say you don’t feel like going to your dance practice today. What you can do is watch some videos of your favorite dancers performing your favorite choreography on youtube!

That should get you back on track fast.

Watch Video – 5 Tips For Improving As A Dancer:

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

By: Leon Turetsky
Professional dance instructor

Rumba Dance Show Performed By Yours Truly

by Leon Turetsky 4 Comments

I thought I would share a little bit of my own dancing with you in this post. This is an International Latin Rumba dance show that Kim and I did on March 20, 2010.

Why Do You Dance? It seems you’re lost in music By Peter Lovatt, PhD