Learn a Dance from a Video
This article covers how to learn a dance from a video, such as a music video, a video from a dance group, or an animated video. This is particularly aimed at people who want to learn dances from anime such as the ever-popular Hare Hare Yukai and Motteke! Sailor Fuku or from a music group such as Perfume.
Contents
Steps
- Download/Buy/Bookmark the video(s) you want to learn the dance from. Find one or more where you can see the dancers' whole bodies for as much of the video as possible. You may want to get a slowed-down or mirrored version of the video for extra help. Putting the video on your ipod/mp3 player can be helpful for learning on-the-go.
- Pick the person/character whose moves you will be learning. There are often multiple dancers in one video doing different things, and you don't want to get confused over what you're supposed to be doing. If you are learning the dance alone, however, it may be more advantageous and interesting for your audience to follow whichever dancer is in front at the time. It's your choice.
- Start learning the moves. Study the video, try one move, and look at the video again to see if you're doing it right. Then do the move with the video. For complicated moves, slow down or pause the video. Make an attempt at the move, even if it's not very close, and refine it until you do get the move. Mirrors are helpful! Do this for each move, one at a time.
- When you have a section of moves worked out, do them together. Look at how each move flows into the next. Make sure you don't have any 'dead periods' where you're not doing anything. This usually means that there's more to the moves before or after the dead period, or that the moves take a little longer.
- Once you've learned all the moves, polish them. This means going back through the video and making sure you're doing everything exactly right, or as close to perfect as possible. Dance with the video, or videotape yourself so you can compare. Even ask friends for their honest critique, preferably those who are more skilled than you or who have already learned the dance. There are so many people who skip this step, but still think they've learned the dance. Without polish, you'll look horribly sloppy and all your efforts will have been for nothing.
- Practice! The better you learn the dance, the easier it will be and the more awesome it will look. Practice it over and over again until you don't have to think about what you're doing. Make sure to keep up the quality of your dance; don't get lazy!
- Perform. Find someone to show all your hard work to! You might even inspire someone else! You can try filming yourself and uploading the video to Youtube.
Tips
- Looking for something new and challenging to dance to? Try Vocaloid dances (dances made with Miku Miku Dance, such as Love & Joy), IdolM@ster dances, dances by Perfume (such as Electro World - warning, some of these are very difficult!), dances by other pop, hip-hop, j-pop, or k-pop groups, of just search "fun dance" or "anime dance" and see what you can find.
- Pay attention to the subtle things that the dancers do; these can often be crucial in making your dance look polished. This includes small movements of the hips, head, where your weight is, a slight tilt in your body, and even expressions.
- Unless the mood or the dance specifically says otherwise, smile! Even mouth the words. It's just another thing that makes your dance look better.
- Dancing is in counts of 8,(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8); 16ths, (1 and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight); and 32nds ( 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a 5 and a 6 and a 7 and 8 ) and so on.
- You'll always count to eight, "and" and "and a" are between beats
- For beginners or near-beginners, choose a dance that is under two minutes. Also, you may want to find dances with simpler moves. For example, Haruhi no Gekidou dances (NOT Hare Hare Yukai; this is a spin-off with lots of simple and repetitive moves), You Make Me Happy (Fresh!Pretty Cure), or for extreme simplicity, the Nyan Nyan dance.
- When learning and polishing your moves, know where every part of your body is supposed to be at all times. Your left hand may not be doing anything, but does that mean that it hangs uselessly by your side? No! It could be on your hip, behind you, or in some other posture that you didn't notice before.
- If you have little or no dance experience, take a class or look at some basic how-to-dance videos/articles first. This will be easier than just jumping into the dance, and it will help tremendously once you start learning it.
Warnings
- Try to find a large area to dance in that has minimal hazards on the floor. For most dances, you'll want carpet or mats so that you don't slip and have a soft landing. Some dances, however(especially some of Perfume's), require a floor that you can slide on.
- Stretch before you dance, and stay hydrated! Don't over-exert yourself.
- Get anything that you could bump into/knock over out of the way. And watch where you're going.
Related Articles
- Learn the Hare Hare Yukai Dance
