There are lots of ways to help you learn stuff better. For dance, you need to actually DO it, to get the skills into your body, so you know you're doing the right move. Some people will call that Muscle Memory. But really, it's the nerve system remembering how to fire up the right sequence to make your muscles move in the right way.
But you can only practice what you actually remember from your class... I'll always try to remind you, but once you're back home it's very easy to forget what you did.
That's where dance journals come in, to help you keep track of what dancing you've done, to reflect on what you've learned, and hopefully, to give you another way of keeping your dance skills at the front of your memory.
YOUR Dance Journal
I would start by saying that if you want your dance journaling to become a good habit of yours, then make sure that journaling is a good experience for you. You need to find YOUR way of keeping a record, and make it something that you'll want to add entries to. Find a nice notebook, if you prefer writing things down, by hand, or drawing little diagrams.
If you're a big fan of smartphones, use a text or journaling app that you are comfortable with, maybe use voice notes, or use the microphone to dictate your notes if you don't want to tap them in with the keyboard. Maybe take a photo of the lesson plan I put on the whiteboard, and at the end record a little voice memo with me, to help you remember what we did.
If you're tech-y, create a Word document, or a database or spreadsheet. Or use a blog like this one (you can keep blogs private). Make little videos of yourself talking to camera about your dance practice. Whatever works for you...
Just make sure you keep it manageable, so that it's easy for the journaling habit to stick.
What to record?
It's your journal, you can decide what to include, but here are some ideas to pick and choose from. Take them or leave them... At the end of this post is a template you can use, if you can't decide right now.
To start off with, as a newcomer to bellydance, you might want to stick to simple entries, about what we did in class, maybe including a note about instructions or advice I gave you/the class about how to do the moves, comments that helped you to understand what you were doing. You might want to include the variations of the basic moves that we cover. There are a few basic moves, with a lot of ways to make them look and feel different.
You might want to say which parts of the lesson you particularly enjoyed, or what you found challenging or frustrating. That would give you some idea of what you would like to practise more, and what you need to practise more!
If you are feeling analytical you can start working out why something was more enjoyable - did you overcome a problem to get it working right? Did you feel the moves matched the music in a satisfying way? Did it feel more comfortable for your body than different types of move?
Similarly, you might want to analyse why you are struggling with a technique - is it uncomfortable for your body? Is it too complicated? Has it just not quite sunk into your memory banks yet?
If you are practising at home (and you really should practice at home!), you can keep a note of what techniques you've practised, or if you practised "just dancing" or went through the choreography that we will be working on.
You might want to keep a note of the music we use in class, especially music that you enjoy dancing to, so that you can look it up on Spotify or Youtube. You can always ask me about the music we're using, and I'm happy to provide the artist and song title.
You might want to keep a note of the new terminology you're learning.
If you are more experienced, and are maybe doing classes or workshops with different teachers, you might want to consider how different teachers teach similar techniques, and compare which teaching methods seem to suit you best.
As a more experienced dancer, you may be thinking more about the artistry of the dance, the expressiveness you can bring to your dancing, so you might want to record the feelings that the music inspires in you, and how you felt you were interpreting the music. Or you might want to reflect on how you can "act" the part.
The important thing is to try and write something for every dance class or dance practice you do.
Here's an example from my own dance journal:
So what happens to my Dance Journal?
That's up to you - as far as I'm concerned, just the act of writing/recording your thoughts about how you are learning and progressing in your dance journey is part of the learning process, and will help you to remember better what you have practised in class and at home. It's your journal, so you don't need to worry about spelling or scrappy handwriting, or it making sense to anybody other than you.
I don't need to see your journal, it's not homework (although if you do decide to keep a dance journal, I would love to know about it, and to hear whether it helps you to get more out of your dancing).
Obviously, as you keep the journal, you can use it to review and revisit what you have done, and see how far you have progressed, even in a few weeks.
A Dance Journal Template for Beginners
If you don't know what you want to write in your journal just yet, try this template:
You don't need to write something in every category, just see what feels right for you.
