Learning to Dance as an Adult

Question: Can I learn to dance as an adult, even if I didn’t have dance lessons as a child or am uncoordinated? 

Answer: YES! Let me tell you my story, and I’ll prove it to you! Keep reading for a list of options to help *you* learn to dance as an adult too!

I used to have *zero* coordination!

When I was a child, I was not athletic to say the least. I didn’t do that wonderfully in PE (physical education) class, was not in shape, and was one of the most uncoordinated people you’ve ever seen. I was (and still am) that person who throws a tennis ball up in the air to serve, swings, and… misses! More than once. Yep. Just sit there and picture that for a second. Anything that involved a ball or any hand-eye coordination wasn’t my forte. (Except dodgeball, in which I could *avoid* a ball! Hey, it’s fight or flight!) 

As a little girl, I didn’t have much interest in dance lessons. I enjoyed reading stories about girls going to dance class, but wasn’t much enticed by the idea of actually doing it. My grandmother even asked me if I wanted to take ballet, but my answer was… not really. 

Choir, but with dancing? Hmm, sounds interesting…

Fast forward to high school: by this time I loved singing in chorus. There were two choirs at my new school, the Madrigals (think Renaissance festival) and the show choir (the “cool” dance chorus). I decided to try out for the latter (why not, right?). I didn’t make the cut (big surprise), so I spent three happy years in Madrigal choir and/or drama classes. When my senior year arrived, I was given a new opportunity: Madrigal switched to jazz choir, with automatic inclusion in show choir. I finally got my wish!

Show Choir: Can I really do this??

Before the school year started, the show choir held a week-long sleepover camp to get an early start on routines for the upcoming year. Dance didn’t come easily to me, but I wasn’t used to quitting something if I really wanted to do it. I busted my butt working on the moves and memorizing the choreography. By the end of the week, our choreographer informally gave me the prestigious honor of “Most Improved Dancer”!

It’s all about Muscle Memory

I found that dancing was a matter of grasping muscle memory, the concept of muscles repeating an action, helping you learn the feel of it and anticipate it. My memorization skills also exceedingly helped when reviewing choreography, i.e., the exact steps and their order. After a year of show choir, I was finally learning the skills needed to dance.

I continued on to enlist in several dance electives in college, participating in basic introduction to dance; ballroom/folk/salsa/merengue; clogging; and swing. I had so much fun with each of these dances, and the exposure to multiple types further engaged my muscle memory. In addition, when doing partner dancing, I learned the cues to expect from my partner, to anticipate the next move.

I even perform now!

Dance is now an essential part of who I am; it just gives me a joy that I never could have imagined as a child. I have now performed with the wonderful clogging group Happy Feet Cloggers for a full 10 years! I am still continuing to learn as well! I’ve been taking Irish dance classes since January 2020 and have even participated in a virtual competition set up for my school.

So you see: I wasn’t kidding! I started out completely uncoordinated, and over time, as an adult, was able to learn how to dance!

Here’s what it comes down to:

1. Muscle memory.

When learning new steps, it’s important to repeat the step, over and over, doing the step as slowly as you need to, just to learn the basic movement. Once this starts to feel more familiar to you, then you can start practicing it a tiny bit faster. Practice really does make perfect. This will help to engrain the movement in your “muscle’s memory.” Once your body knows the movement, it will be a lot easier to recall it when the step comes up during the natural course of dancing.

2. Each dance usually has one basic step.

Learn just that one step, and you learn the foundation for the dance. It’s like building a house: it all starts with one brick. You then build on top of this first step, or brick. Next, you learn a few more basic steps, ones that are most likely to be seen in the type of dance you’re doing. When you’ve learned a few basics, these steps can then be combined in any order to form the beginning of a dance routine!

3. Many complex movements are just a combination of steps.

It may be intimidating to see some of the more complex dance moves performed. But here’s a secret: many steps that may look complicated are actually just a combination of the simplest steps! They may incorporate a slight variation or addition, but what it boils down to is smaller steps put together to form something a bit bigger. It’s just like the notes “Do Re Mi” in the movie The Sound of Music; once you learn each piece, you can just put them together!

Opportunities for you to learn:

Now you’ve seen that it is indeed possible to learn dance; so you may be thinking, well, how do I get started?

Private lessons

Signing up for private lessons with a local dance instructor is one great option, as it will provide one-on-one guidance and allow you to move completely at your own pace.

Adult beginner classes

Believe it or not, there are plenty of adults just like you, who have the desire to learn something completely new. In an actual class, you can learn with others who are at the same level as you, creating a feeling of camaraderie as you all learn together! Check out your local recreation center or community center for adult or senior beginner classes. Local dance studios will oftentimes have adult beginner classes as well.

Online video instruction

If you’re not comfortable with either of the options above, you can certainly find introductory videos online. Youtube is a great resource for learning basic steps in probably any dance imaginable. Many instruction videos are even uploaded by professional dance instructors, who want to provide a feel for the dance in which they excel. (If you’re interested in clogging in particular, check out these introductory step videos uploaded by Happy Feet’s director, Martha.)

Happy Dancing!

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Cover image photo credit: IStockPhoto.com/kbycphotography