How Often to Dance As a Beginner

Complete beginner or experienced dancer

First of all, it can make a big difference whether you’re a complete beginner to dancing or whether you’ve already gained some experience in another dance style.

As a complete beginner, you lack the muscle memory and proper fundamentals to excel. Your brain will need to take over the grunt work of dancing, often leading to information overflow. This unfortunately means that you will need practice more and for a longer period to get a good grasp of the style.

On the other hand, as an experienced dancer, if you already accumulated a solid foundation in another similar dance style, your new dance journey will be sped up considerably (e.g. Salsa and Bachata).

If you are reading this article as a complete or fresh beginner, you’re at the right place!

Dance frequency for beginners

Have you ever heard of the advice that should study regularly instead of cramming the night before an exam if you wish to remember the material long term? The same applies to dancing. It’s important to dance regularly throughout the week, even if only for 30 minutes. You need to give your brain and body time to properly grasp the fundamentals, figures and music. An issue I encountered as a leader when I first started dancing Salsa was that if I only danced once a week, typically at a dance course, I would pretty much forget everything the following week.

Bare minimum

After this realization, whenever a newcomer talks about their struggles with learning to dance, I would always recommend to dance twice a week. Once in a lesson, and ideally once in a practice evening or party where you can try out the figures you learned. It’s important to pay attention to one small detail: you should not wait more than 2-3 days between each dance session. Otherwise you will have difficulties recalling the figures and their details.

Recommended

I would recommend any new dancers to dance at least three times a week. To some people this can seem excessive if they have other hobbies or obligations. However, in my view, unless you have some hidden talent, this is the amount of work you’ll need to invest for a couple of months to get to a decent level. I’ve experienced many dancers go through an intensive period of dancing in which they practiced almost every day at lessons or socials. By the end of it, they made considerable progress from where they started.

I won’t deny that it can be exhausting to dance so often. I would argue that most people need to struggle though their first few months before one can truly start enjoying a dance. But whom you practice with can also make a difference. Friends that you make on the way can make the experience much more enjoyable.

Be conscious of learning

Nothing is worse for your progression than going through the motions of your figures and not consciously trying to improve your dance and style. Not only does the frequency of your practice matter, but the quality of it, too. Experiment, fail, and succeed. This journey does not need to be pursued alone. Invite fellow dancers to practice sessions. Ask more experienced dancers what you could be doing wrong. Don’t be afraid to try out new figures at socials. Usually the most fun is had when once screws up a figure.

Follower or leader

On a final note, it should be mentioned that the learning curve as a follower and leader is very different. The harsh reality is that followers will typically learn at a much faster rate than leaders given the same amount of practice. Hence, followers can technically get away with less practice than leaders.

Whatever frequency you decide to dance and how difficult it may be, there’s one thing that trumps it all: consistency. Embrace the journey, learn from every experience, and enjoy the rhythm of dance!