How to learn street dancing from the comfort of your home

Common misconceptions about street dancing

1. This guy is a genius because he improvises

Let me tell you a secret: everything that you see here, every smallest movement, is the result of long training and repeated repetitions. Do you see how easily, for example, a "wave" passes along the hand of the Marquis? Before he did it, he:

flexed the wrist thousands of times;
bent the elbow thousands of times;
put my shoulder forward a thousand times;
he connected these movements in series tens of thousands of times.

Over time, awkward hand rotations turned into a smooth wave. Actually, here, for clarity:

And so with any element that you see in the dance. Each of them first goes through a long process of cutting and settling in the motor memory of the body. Improvisation is a free combination of these elements.

2. This guy has talent, not everyone is so given

The movements of each dancer, no matter how free and light they may seem now, were initially just as timid and clumsy as yours. The same Marquis Scott, whom many would call a genius, before the start of dancing, moved no better than anyone else. Dance is not some kind of school of magic, inaccessible to mere mortals.

Dance is primarily a technique. Technique worked out to perfection.

Do you hear the music, try to move to it, but something extremely awkward comes out? But the body of the masters "dances by itself"! But how can your body dance if it doesn't know movement? First teach it to them, and then it will dance for you on its own. And everyone can cope with this.

3. I will never succeed

If desired and diligent, everyone will succeed. Let go of vain thoughts about your exclusiveness.

Surely, while watching the video, “Wow! I wish I … ", but you don't even dare to continue this thought to the end, because, of course," such a talent is not given to everyone, and even more so to me."

Most likely, many of you watched the video, went to the mirror, tried to depict a "wave", instead got a real storm with 11 points on the Beaufort scale, laughed and went on to go about their business. For some reason, people think that a street dancer is gifted by nature. No, he just goes to the mirror one day, tries to do something and laughs at the failure. Only then does he go to the mirror again and again.

Street dance in most cases is an improvisation based on the free combination of perfected elements of various dance styles.

Yes, street dancing is a very broad concept that includes break dance, locking, house and much more.

So, did you understand that there is no magic or mystery in a masterful dance, and the secret of its lightness lies entirely in the elaboration of various movements? Already good. Let's go further.

Technique

What is technique development?

Selecting a specific movement.
Breaking it down into elementary components.
Multiple repetition of each of them separately.
Their consistent connection in the desired movement.
Repetition of this movement, using it in conjunction with others.

Repetition, repetition, repetition is what lies at the heart of the technique. Why? Because this is the only way our body learns. At first, the path to each movement will lie through tremendous volitional efforts, control and concentration. Everything will be slow. But with each repetition, new movements will be adapted by the mechanisms of your motor memory. And in the end, the movement will be carried out naturally and easily, like a wave of the hand. You don't have to think about it. It's like learning to ride a bike.

So, mastering the dance is available to everyone. But the path to it lies through the elaboration of technology. And the work on the technique is labor, long, not easy and from which sometimes you want to cry.

But there is good news as well.

You can work at home. And most importantly, it will be interesting for you to work.

Because any routine, unpleasant work gets motivated and becomes much more interesting when it brings any result. And the sooner this result manifests itself, the more noticeable it is, the greater the desire to continue to light up the person.

Believe me, you can learn the simplest techniques of magic plastics in the shortest possible time without leaving your home. Of course, you will not become the Marquis Scott so quickly, but you will definitely succeed in surprising your friends and family, and yourself. Take the aforementioned “wave”. By following the instructions from the second video of this article every day for at least 15 minutes, in a couple of weeks you will be making the movement correctly, quickly and with the necessary automatism.

Dancing at home

Now about the main thing. The studio has a professional choreographer who teaches and shows the movements. And at home? And at home there is YouTube, on which no less professional dancers have already posted thousands of training videos.

If you are one of those people who have the thought “Wow! I wish I could …”when watching the first video, the action plan is as follows: you go to one of the YouTube channels below, watch dance videos and determine whose style you like, open the training videos and, getting up from your chair, without leaving monitor (well, if there is a mirror nearby), start doing what is shown in them. That is, repeat, repeat, and repeat movements.

Don't worry about the small space: we are not mastering the waltz, and there is enough room for learning the basic movements and performing simple lines. Here, of course, a lot depends on the dance genre. For example, you will only be able to master the bottom break if you have a lot of space and a slippery floor.

The life hacker chose the most undemanding styles in terms of square area, united under the name dubstep. It doesn't really matter if you like this music: elements of the style itself can be used in completely different directions.

1. Here is the wonderful school of Alexander the Dragon, in which you will find a huge number of videos teaching all the elementary movements of completely different directions, many lessons, ligaments and dances. This school has perhaps the most saturated YouTube channel, capable of completely replacing studio classes.

Don't be put off by the abundance of videos. And in any case, do not immediately tackle bundles like this:

To successfully accomplish what Alexander is doing, you first have to learn the basic principles and movements of waving, tatting, popping, and so on. Do not be alarmed by these words: in the "School of the Dragon" you will find information about each direction and you will find a video with a detailed analysis of any movement. The illusory style practiced here is closest to what you could see in the video at the beginning of the article. This school is my personal choice.

2. There are good dubstep and electric boogie lessons on MotionUD.

3. Among foreign channels, TheRussianTiger and El Tiro can be distinguished. Thanks to the latter, you will learn to perform the "robot dance" relatively quickly.

4. There are good videos on break dance at Break Dance School and Volnorez. Again, this style is not easy to practice at home due to the large space and flooring it requires.

Remember, the main thing is a sincere desire and regular practice. Without one, there will be no other. At the same time, desire and practice are a universal remedy for all "does not work."

Good luck in your dancing endeavors!