Anecdote

My journey as a dancer began when I joined a dance crew that performed and competed in hip-hop, b-boying, popping, and locking. The way I was taught to dance was by memorizing choreography, and that approach lasted for at least six years. During that time, I competed and performed numerous times at various events.

That was fine until something clicked. It happened when I was hired to work on a cruise ship in the entertainment department, about two or three years after I left the dance crew. Even when I was off-duty, the guests didn’t know that, and they would constantly interact with me.

One night, while I was off, I decided to go to the nightclub on the ship. There, I noticed something: no matter what I did, everyone seemed to appreciate it. I attribute this to the fact that I performed every move with confidence, even the weird ones, and they were all in sync with the music. Think about the dance Carlton performs on the TV show "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"; Everyone loves it, even though it’s a bit weird, because it’s performed with joy and confidence.

From that day forward, I danced in many different places—parties, nightclubs—and learned that I can do whatever I want as long as I do it with confidence, assertiveness, and a connection to the music. This is an incredibly liberating feeling. I never dance to show off or draw attention, but inevitably, just by dancing, people notice and come talk to me about my moves.

Fast forward more than a decade, I decided to learn Salsa. I started with group classes and hated them. The reason was that I never received any feedback on my dancing. I was dancing with brand-new followers who didn’t have enough experience to give me feedback. To make it worse, whenever I went social dancing, I couldn’t get feedback, and if something didn’t work, I had no idea how to fix it. So, I decided to take private lessons.

The way the classes were taught was based on choreography. In every class, I learned a new routine with 4 to 6 different moves, and then I would repeat that routine over and over. The instructor provided personalized feedback along the way. In the first month, my dancing improved a lot, but another issue came up: I could only remember the sequences, not the individual steps. So, in every dance, I ended up repeating the same sequence over and over. It’s like trying to recall the 6th digit of your phone number without repeating it from the beginning—nearly impossible!

Then something even worse happened. I went social dancing, and my first four dances were terrible. The problem was that the sequences I was trying to use weren’t well-led. This happened because I didn’t know how to lead each move individually, and I was rushing to the next move to stay on beat. My instructor was at the social that night and noticed I wasn’t dancing. They came to talk to me, and we had a long conversation about dancing, which led to a change in strategy.

For the next four classes, we focused on learning how to lead each move I knew, and it was up to me to decide how to combine the moves, rather than following a sequence from my instructor.

On my birthday, I went social dancing, and that night, three followers I had never danced with before complimented my leading skills. I was so happy to see how well the changes we made worked.

So, what did I learn:

• Learning choreography didn’t make me a better dancer.
• Leading moves with assertiveness and confidence is far better than executing multiple moves poorly.
• Dancing in connection with the music greatly enhances the overall experience.

Model System

All the dance classes and workshops I attend follow the same pattern: they teach a choreography so we can learn a new step. I believe this is not a productive way to learn and teach.

The instructor decides which steps to teach and in what order, presenting that as a final product for the students. They memorize the sequence but usually don’t know how to perform each step separately. Recently, in a dance class, one of the students felt overwhelmed by the need to remember the next step while still struggling with the previous one.

The results of teaching using a predetermined model:

• Students can perform a series of steps in an okay fashion but remain tied to the sequence.
• It does not encourage critical thinking about their learning; they are merely copying the instructor.
• There is less variation in the moves performed, as they are always repeating the same sequence.
• Most basic and intermediate classes I attended focus primarily on steps rather than on musicality, resulting in sequences being executed regardless of what is happening in the song.

Developmental System

An alternative approach to teaching dance is to focus solely on individual steps rather than choreography. The goal is to develop the student’s ability to dance independently rather than merely copying the instructor.

The results of teaching using only steps:

• Students can learn how to properly perform and lead each step, which generates confidence.
• Part of learning the steps is understanding where those steps can be used in relation to the music.
• The repertoire of movements will increase because there are no sequences; students will be able to remember steps individually.
• Students will need to think about how to connect steps together, fostering independence and critical thinking, which leads to creativity.
• This method may take longer to produce a basic dancer compared to students who use the Model System.

Application

In Contact Improv dance, also a partner dance, there are no basic steps. Instead, we have fundamental concepts that can be used in many different ways. It is even more radical than the Developmental System proposed because no specific steps are taught during class. The result is that every dance is completely new, filled with discovery and fun.

Some of the people I helped learn how to dance Kizomba lack key elements in each step, which leads to an unsatisfactory dance experiences. We focused solely on how to enhance and execute each move, which was clearly perceived by their partners during social dancing, resulting in better connection and fluidity in the dance.

Conclusion

I believe the Model System is used so widely because of capitalism. Schools need to sell a service, and when students see themselves executing steps and dancing, they perceive it as a worthwhile investment. This also creates a vicious cycle where they constantly feel the need for more classes to improve their dancing.

I was talking with a friend, and he mentioned that the Model System is like painting by numbers. The final product looks good, but the person doesn’t learn how to create on their own; they are merely a hostage to what is being offered to them. The Developmental System, on the other hand, intends to create painters, in our case dancers.

I intend to apply the Developmental System with the goal of creating dancers who are more creative and confident in their dancing.