This is a Total Time Saver
By Aaron Wulff
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen
I don’t want to brag, but I have a great memory.
People have marveled at my ability to recall things like people’s names and mundane events decades later. And my talent for memorizing song lyrics and movie quotes has been dubbed nothing short of “encyclopedic.”
I’m not here to brag though. In fact, I’m here to come clean. I can remember a lot of useless stuff, but the bottom line is I still need to take a lot of notes, and you should too.
Especially when you’re taking dance lessons.
Sure, having a reliable memory is an advantage as a dancer and instructor. Remembering combinations and choreography is a big part of being successful in dance. But over the course of my career I’ve had to take a lot of notes to keep it all straight.
I’m always amazed at the number of students who pay top dollar for a lesson only to come back the next week having forgotten most of what they learned. We spend most of the next lesson reviewing the last lesson. I’m not going to complain too much, because for me it’s job security.
But as a wedding couple, you probably don’t have the luxury of unlimited time and lessons.
If you’re the average wedding couple (ok, we know you’re not, but just pretend) you’re going to forget a big part of what you did at the beginning of the lesson and a lot more than that by the time you come back a week later.
Is that really a good use of your precious wedding planning time and money?
Instead, you want to be efficient with the few lessons you can squeeze in before the big day, and taking notes will be a huge help.
Think you’ll look nerdy or waste your lesson time taking notes? Think again.
Not only am I thrilled when a student brings a notepad, but I work extra hard to make sure what I tell them to write down is simple, focused, and effective. That way we spend more time building on what they know and less time rehashing things our brains weren’t designed to store.
Here’s a secret. Your brain isn’t meant to be a hard drive, so don’t force it to act like one when you’re learning to dance.
Even if you have a good memory, taking notes at your dance lessons will improve your learning process and shorten the time it takes you to master things significantly. Note taking frees your brain up to think ABOUT things rather than requiring it to think OF things.
And if you’re going to actually enjoy your dance lessons you want to avoid the mental overload of trying to keep more than two or three things straight in your head. This is especially true for the leader, who’s in charge of a long list of responsibilities including: interpreting the music, picking what moves come next, and communicating it clearly through the body for two people.
How to take dance notes
I still have my dance notes from when I started 20 years ago but I’m no expert on the best note-taking methods. Looking back at my scribbles, here are a few tips that worked for me:
Keep it personal
My notes aren’t meant for anyone else. I assume if people saw my dance diagrams they’d think they were drawn by an orangutan. You’re not taking notes to impress your friends. You’re taking notes to jog your memory so YOU can remember what you learned.
Use the tool that works best for you
I’m a pencil and paper guy, but in the age of smartphones note-taking apps there’s no excuse for not being able to capture anything and everything. And don’t be afraid to ask your instructor about recording your lessons if you want to level up your practice.
Keep it light
You don’t need to transcribe everything your instructor said or draw a diagram for every step. Write just enough to remember the concept.
Capture ideas when they’re fresh, even if you have to stop what you’re doing
I’ve had a million ideas that I swore were so good I wouldn’t have to write them down. But we both know those ideas escape into the atmosphere never to be seen again. If inspiration strikes during your dance lesson, stop what you’re doing and write it down.
At minimum do a brain dump at the end of your lessons
Ok, so you don’t want to spend your whole lesson writing notes. I get it. At least take a minute at the end of the lesson to write down the steps, figures, and concepts you learned.
