Having trouble remembering steps when practicing at home ? It could be Context Dependent Memory and the role of Environmental Cues – so you get home from work, ready to try out your new moves, but as soon as you start dancing you freeze, your mind goes blank and you can’t remember even the most basic steps. Why is this happening? Very likely, a change in environment or stimuli is the problem. Remembering moves in the dance studio does not necessarily translate to remembering them well at home or elsewhere.
At your dance studio, you are learning to dance in a controlled environment with appropriate music and a teacher looking over your shoulder. However, at home things are different, the space, the environment, the music, everything, plus your teacher isn’t there to count you in. It has long since been known that environmental cues serve as important factors in recollection and memory, relying on the presence of stimuli with which they were originally associated.
So, your environment can literally affect your ability to remember. Attending regular dance sessions will eventually override context dependency, and then let’s not to forget the importance of regular practice, an essential if you want to make steady progress.
Are You Dancing to the Music? Check out these video clips – they are well put together:
These links will help guide you a lot in achieving good musicality. Once you figure it out, be sure to keep on counting out the beat in your head as you dance – for beginners, doing this makes all the difference to your progress, and for experienced dancers when learning a new move.