Let Loose with Massage Therapy

Sometimes letting loose seems more complicated than following a choreography. But the good news is that this movement skill can improve with some tips.

Tips to Improve Your Improvisation

Improvisation is defined as the ability to perform or create something in a spontaneous manner, without preparing for that moment. Improv is part of a dancer’s life, and it should be a strong ability in their repertoire.

However, it’s not unusual to freeze up when your dance teacher says it’s time for an improv exercise. They’re basically telling you “We’re going off-the-books. Do whatever you feel like doing.” It’s a scary moment because you start second-guessing yourself —”but, what am I supposed to do?”. That’s the trick. You’re not supposed to do anything! Just go with the flow.

If you’ve ever felt this way, here are five tips that will help you improve your improv.

1) Let Go

Spontaneity is the name of the game. You can’t be spontaneous if you’re tense. You need to relax and watch the magic happen.

2) Don’t Let Your Wheels Start Turning

The moment you start to think about it, you lose it. You have to be in the moment regardless of what comes out. Let your body do what it naturally wants to do.

Dancing with Confidence3) Do You

Allow yourself to be authentic, to feel what you want to feel and translate that into movement in whatever way you want.

4) Kick Your Nerves to the Curb

When you’re starting out, depending on how you deal with pressure and awkwardness, you’ll feel the need to laugh, giggle or start shaking just to ease up the nerves. Don’t give into that. Stay focused and take in the experience. You will undoubtedly learn something.

5) Focus on Yourself, Not Others

Being aware of what and who is around you is good. However, this means two things: first, avoid comparing yourself to other dancers around because, no matter what happens, you are all different. And second, there’s no need to judge others. In fact, the safer you feel and make others feel, the better the exercise will turn out and the more you’ll be able to take away from it.

Improvisation means to be very organic in your movement. Hopefully, these tips will help you get out of your head and allow yourself to be free. If your next dance class calls for improv, now you know what to do. And if you already love to improvise, our Improvisational Tribal Style Belly Dance class might be an excellent fit for you. If you have more any tips on improv, let us know. We’d be thrilled to see what works for you.

Take Note of our Holiday Season Schedule:

Closed on Thanksgiving.
Closed and no classes from Thursday, Dec 22nd through January 3rd.