This post is no longer available as it has now been greatly expanded upon and become 10 ways to learn choreography faster, the free 20 page ebooklet you get when you join the mailing list!
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Can you relate?
You take class regularly but just don’t seem to pick up the choreography as quick as everyone else? Or maybe you just want to be the star!! Whatever the case, the ebooklet will help you on your way.
Remember, we all learn at our own pace and that’s OK. You have your own unique gifts to bring to the dance and after reading the ebooklet you will have some extra tools to help you along! Happy dancing – love Jade
Jade Belly Dance 
Apr 12, 2012 @ 21:03:58
The only thing that’s hard for me is writing stuff down. I rehearse and visualize at night, in bed, but writing things down seems weird to me, for some reason. Maybe partially because reading to learn has never been one of my strong points. Then again; the stick puppet idea makes sense. I might not be an impeccable writer but I can draw stick puppets real well!
I learn from watching, listening and doing.. And I wholeheartedly agree on visualizing. Which in itself is a great feat to practice; it can help with falling asleep or finding inner rest, too! It’s one of the basic hint&tips for practicing meditation. Or having 3D insight when you’re an artist, for instance. Very useful and carrying much farther then just this. ❤
Love the Desiderata quote you gave.. That poem is sheer truth, isn't it 🙂
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Apr 12, 2012 @ 22:58:49
Listening is my strongest point. The words make all the difference to me. But we all have our different strong points and once you identify them it can make it all happen so much easier. I like that you visualise too. I think this is a great technique that I need to do even more.
Having a copy of a choreography written down though is still great to have, even if you don’t learn the choreography best that way. So many times I have attended a great workshop or learnt a great dance – then life happens, other dances come along and years later I can’t remember those great combinations that I thought I would never forget.
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Apr 12, 2012 @ 23:10:21
I’ll keep it in mind, who knows it might turn out useful later on regardless of what I think right now 😉
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May 10, 2012 @ 01:25:54
I use number 1 a lot, but often, I only use actual self “talk” if I learned it from a teacher who is a talker. If not, I sing the music in my head which I’ve associated with the moves and it works the exact same way as self talk. And I add in mental notes I’ve made like, “bring your arms higher!” or “don’t rush here” to supplement the singing and enhance my dancing.
I also like to use writing down the choreography and reading it and visualizing it in conjunction with each other. Once I have written it down, I try visualizing without my notes and refer back to them whenever I get stuck in my visualizations.
Great list! Thanks for posting!
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May 10, 2012 @ 11:36:58
Ahh, yes thanks for bringing it up – after the choreography is sinking in, adding those pointers is a great idea. I do that too. Sometimes it is nothing more than “Elbows” or “extend” to prompt me to improve my execution. I like that you sing too, because my Arabic is only basic I don’t tend to use singing much. I do tend to make noises a bit like the tune though – much to the great amusement of my students! (Da DaDa Da Da, Do DoDo Do Do 🙂
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