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 HIGHER-ED
VOICE
Do It Again
By Tom Ralabate
How to make practice lead to perfection
As a student, the first words I heard repeatedly in my dance
classroom were “Do it again.” Soon after I began hearing a
connected phrase: “Do it again, because practice makes
perfect.” Later the phrase became “Do it again, because only
perfect practice makes perfect.” Throughout my studies and
performing career, these commands—along with a host of others
like “from the top,” “one more time,” and “a-5, 6, 7,
8”—resonated during endless hours of practice as I strived for
perfection in my art. Today, these phrases still reverberate
in dance studios, on athletic fields, and in music classrooms
across the world. But as messengers of these infamous phrases,
we need to ask ourselves, “How much practice does one really
need?”
From the top
In dance, practicing is done to improve kinesthetic awareness,
polish technique, and develop artistic expression. Dance
practice promotes understanding, which allows students to
achieve confidence in class and onstage. Although few students
will ever become the next Gelsey Kirkland, Mikhail
Baryshnikov, or Savion Glover, teachers must make their
students aware that talent and hard work, albeit part of the
equation for success, is sometimes not enough. According to
Dr. Daniel T. Willingham, psychology professor at the
University of Virginia, research shows that practice meets
three important goals of instruction: acquiring facts and
knowledge, learning skills, or becoming an expert. All three
are part of the dance experience. Willingham says in his 2004
article “Practice Makes Perfect—But Only If You Practice
Beyond the Point of Perfection,” written for the American
Federation of Teachers, “It is difficult to overstate the
value of practice. For a new skill to become automatic or for
new knowledge to become long-lasting, sustained practice,
beyond the point of mastery, is necessary.” Of the many
successful people I know in athletics and the arts, all have
shared stories of mind–body experiences that included
practice, practice, and more practice.
One more time
Dance teachers know that if they guide their students through
a new technical skill or short combination in class, by the
end of that short-term practice session the students may have
become briefly “perfect” at that skill or combination.
However, when they return to the next class or rehearsal, the
previously learned material is no longer so perfect; once
again, review and more practice is needed. For example, in
ballet the concept and execution of turnout is repeatedly
reinforced through the physicality of barre exercises, center
floor work, and across-the-floor combinations. Along with this
repetitive physical approach, teachers employ the power of
words, using imagery to reinforce meaning and ensure mastery
of turnout. With each class, over years of study and long-term
practice, dancers master the concept and execution of this
skill. Turnout then becomes an automatic mental and physical
response. According to Willingham, concentration and
automaticity (when a mental or physical skill becomes
automatic) are necessary for mastery.
Play it again
My niece, Maria Jo Ralabate, starred in the role of
Rumpleteazer in Cats in Europe and in the United States
for seven years. As a proud uncle, I can say she was a
masterful Rumpleteazer and achieved automaticity in the role.
For Maria Jo, the motivation for the sustained practice that
led to mastery of the role came from her desire to constantly
improve as a performer, the pleasure and response she received
from audiences, and a healthy paycheck. When I asked her how
she avoided getting bored over the long run, she laughed and
said that she went through 17 Mongojerries, her character’s
partner-in-crime. She kept boredom in check by making changes
in her characterization of Rumpleteazer and by shifting the
focus of attention away from herself onto Mongojerrie. “This
is a skill I learned in acting,” she says, “to be a good
listener and observer of the action. Some weeks I related to
Mongojerrie as a brother; other times he was my burglar
partner-in-crime; sometimes we related as friends.” To reduce
boredom she also varied the focus in her dancing,
concentrating alternately on turns, leaps, inner balance, port
de bras, and so on.
Repeat the drill
Practicing the same movement skill day after day, week after
week, or even rehearsing an exhilarating dance piece again and
again can become boring for both teacher and student.
Repetitive practice, necessary in teaching and learning dance,
becomes boring unless one manipulates, redefines, and
reinvents the material or process. Dance studio educators
first need to decide which elements merit extended practice.
(These will vary according to the students’ level and
ambition.) Generally, extended practice is appropriate for
skills and knowledge that pertain to
•
dance technique;
•
alignment, posture, and placement;
•
dance aesthetics and the development of artistry; and
•
wellness and longevity in the field of dance.
Designing strategies for sustained long-term practice through
creative problem solving and strong communicative skills can
take the boredom out of practice and replace it with freshness
and vigor. The following classroom and rehearsal strategies
help to prevent boredom by structuring practice in a way that
engages students over a long period of time.
•
Find multiple approaches for every skill you teach. For
example, teach the hinge position from the floor, at the barre,
and at center floor, and then immediately incorporate it into
a movement phrase. Once the students have an understanding of
the hinge position, allow them to examine it in pairs (with
your assistance) and make constructive corrections on their
classmates.
•
Periodically, shift gears and methods. Try not to have the
students always face the mirrors. Teach skill development and
choreography away from the mirrors. Offer choices: Design an
exercise to face front, then let the dancers repeat the
exercise facing in a direction of their choice. Begin
locomotor movement from the opposite side from where you
usually start.
•
Rotate students to lead different sections of the class,
especially learned warm-ups. With more advanced classes, you
can have the students lead followed warm-ups. Be daring and
try different music choices with set warm-ups, dance
combinations, or even at barre. Try a ballet barre to Beatles
music or jazz isolations to the classicism of Bach.
•
Consistently reverse movement and combinations. You do not
want to develop one-sided dancers. Through the repetition and
practice of reversing, you develop inward and outward harmony
and balance in dancers.
•
Borrow imaging techniques from somatic practices such as
Feldenkrais® to allow the students to visualize and sense
kinesthetic movement pathways before doing them. For imaging,
place the students in a constructive rest or supine position.
Use both music and silence in allowing them to visualize a
technical skill or dance variation.
•
Practice skills and difficult stylized movement, such as the
body wave, or polycentric movement (multiple body isolations
working at the same time) with the dancers in tight groups to
create auras of overlapping energy. Weaker dancers will
gravitate to the style and movement pathway by repeatedly
following the flow of their stronger classmates.
•
Encourage laughter in the classroom and during rehearsals.
Laughter has the ability to unleash creative thinking and
reduce the social distance between students. With a smile on
your face, you will find that a sense of humor can renew
attention spans and increase motivation, leading to increased
classroom or rehearsal productivity.
Keep going!
Think of creative repetition of practice as a tool that must
be utilized in order to achieve success. For dancers,
sustained practice is not only a learning technique; it is a
way of life. As educators, we teach skills and impart
information; but we must also foster an appreciation of one
another through the practice of character building. Dance
educators have the privilege as well as the responsibility to
mold bodies into dancers and change brains into minds— hence
transfiguring dancers into artists. When I hear whimpers or
moans and groans because I have asked a class to do something
over and over again, I remind them that they should be
thanking me instead—for giving them, yet again, another
opportunity to embrace perfection.
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