At some point, you will ask the question. Don't worry, when it comes to your dance program, everyone does it.
"Why do I need all of these dances?"
In order to avoid the classic "because I said so" (made famous by parents around the world), we offer some better answers to his age old question. Comparisons that, on first take, may seem bizarre, unrelated, or even weird. The nice thing? Once you understand how your program is constructed, you may not think of your dance teacher is the weird one.
Think about it - There is a golf club for every situation on the golf course. You may have a few clubs that you use more often, but you wouldn't leave the rest of the clubs at home in favor of your favorites.
There are dances that you work on that are like a 1 Iron - aka "seldom used". Other dances are more practical, like your Driver, 5 Iron, and Putter. These might be popular choices like Salsa, Foxtrot, and Swing. Just like a golf bag, your Arthur Murray program is designed to give you a working knowledge in a variety of dances, so you're ready for any situation.
You learn how to swing a golf club, and apply it to all of the clubs in your bag. In dancing, you learn how to move, lead, follow, and listen to the music so you can apply it to all the dances you know.
There's a purpose for every crayon. You may have a favorite color, there may be a few that are more practical than others, but every crayon has a role in your crayon art ambitions.
You may never feel like there's a purpose for the dance version of a white, peach, or burnt sienna crayon, but each dance serves a purpose - even if it's only function is to make your favorite dances improve faster.
The best artists know exactly how to utilize the largest array of crayon colors. In dancing, the more experience you have, the better you will understand the role and function of the dances available to you.
You may have a favorite flavor, but would you really turn down a pint of ice cream? Sure, there may be a flavor you don't care for, but it's ice cream. Stocking your freezer with your favorite flavor may seem great but, aside from the extra calories, but you may run into a snag when your guests request something besides Pistachio.
It's important to plan your dance strategy around something other than your immediate needs. After all, there will be others you will be dancing with. That would be like an ice cream shop owner only stocking their favorite flavor. Instead, we recommend that you choose dances that you may run into in a social environment - even if they aren't your absolute favorites.
Learning to dance can burn enough calories so you can eat more ice cream.
What do you think? Do you need more analogies like this? Have some weird comparisons that you'd like to see if we could pull off? Send your feedback and ideas in the comments below. We'll give you a shout out in our next article if we feature your idea. [Note: there is a never ending shortage of comparisons like this, so stay tuned for more.]
Your brain is capable of some amazing things, yet sometimes we don't give it enough credit. We multi-task, and take a multi-stream approach with so many everyday things, like driving, installing a new software suite, or doing anything involving children. So why do we forget that so quickly when it comes to dancing?
It's new.
It's very natural to sweep the early stages of driving, computers, or children under the rug in favor of the accomplished, multi-tasking version of today. So our brain may need a little coaxing, we may need to sneak up on these ideas the way you would if you were planning on giving your cat a bath.
It takes strategy.
Consider these bizarre connections that strategy. A sneak attack under the guise of randomness that hits home, and allows your brain to lighten up and allow the learning to happen. Learning to dance is still "learning to dance" whether it's with one dance or ten. Just like ice cream, you've learned to eat it, and maybe it's only been a single flavor, but as soon as you're ready, you can use that skill for some new flavors and nothing that bad will happen.