Dance Tip #2: Balance The Tension

People always say pick classes that challenge you.

I don’t know, but that was never good advice for me.

Dance was always hard for me. I'm not naturally a very athletic, embodied person. I am very intellectual and cognitive. So I found when I was in classes that “challenged” me, I shut down.

I need classes that I love. That I feel good. That I take the baby steps, and I progress.

It’s a matter of tension. You want just enough that it feels within reach, but once it breaks then you’re actually training yourself to disengage.

Don’t do that. Just walk away.

Don’t train yourself to disengage.

We notice, we stop, we modify, and we move forward.

I highly encourage modifications in dance class. If something is too challenging, you make it one step smaller or slower or easier. Once you master that, then you can move on.

You're not going to get better trying to do toe pushups with bad form. It's better to do the knee pushup correctly, until your body grows to the point it can do the toe pushup.