Keep Your Dance Skills Sharp This Summer: Teacher Tips to Maintain & Boost Your Progress – Including Summer Dance Camp Information!

When summer rolls around, it often brings a welcome break from structured classes and rehearsals. But for dancers, time off can also mean losing strength, flexibility, and technique if you’re not intentional. The good news? With the right approach, summer can actually boost your progress and it does not require committing all of your time!

Summer is a great time to set goals for the upcoming year and focus on the areas you’ve struggled with.  It’s an opportunity to slow down and refine your technique, work on mental practice and visualization, or simply enjoy dancing without the usual pressure.

Dance! Set a schedule and come to the studio and dance! Regular intentional practice is so powerful! In the ballroom world, this means finding a partner to dance with if you possibly can. If not, work on improving yourself.  Lessons, classes, teams and competitions all help, but most important is to simply make a regular practice schedule and stick to it!

Repeat skill building exercises daily with a set focus. “Off seasons” are a time to build technique and skill that can be applied to your competitive or performance routines later during competition season or team rehearsals. During the off-season, practice should still be completed 4-6 times a week to see improvement. It is important to see how far you can push specific principles like balance, extension, posture, movement, etc.

Things to practice would be: 

• • Rumba Walks – 15-30 minutes straight – focus could be full foot rotation, balance through standing leg, utilization of abdominal muscles for balance, posture, leg extension, where is the body opposition etc.
  • Cha Cha Walks/Locks – 15-30 minutes – do legs straighten fully before delivering a full weight transfer, utilize a turned out and beveled foot, when does the leg bend in the lock, where is the most foot pressure, are arms fully utilized, etc.
  • Samba Walks/Locks – 15-30 minutes straight – where is the balance, at what point does the leg bend, posture is up and forward not back, when does the foot finish turnout, how is the bounce applied, etc. 
  • Waltz Box Step/Open Natural Turn/Open Reverse Turns – 15-30 Minutes – find full extension in the body, keep posture while moving, full rise and fall, keep frame still and up, etc.
  • Tango Walks/Promenade Walks/Opening to & Closing From Promenade – 15-30 minutes – Keeping posture, foot pressure/footwork, speed in steps, exactness in position, etc.
  • Quickstep Scatter Chasses/Open Natural Running Finish – 15-30 minutes – keeping posture up, swinging steps vs. running steps, build quick foot pressure release, etc.

Do drills and exercises for each dance slow, with slow music, and then with full speed music. Utilize full energy in the body and don’t be lazy in your dancing. Build skills into routines by running routines slowly and at least once a week doing a full out run through. Lazy practice can be a detriment to skill building. Focus on details and creating body connectivity. Don’t forget to have fun! Find joy in the dancing and the effort!

Go back to the basics! We, as humans, naturally want what’s next in life, and dancers are no different. In the midst of that, we forget what will ACTUALLY get us there. Dancers constantly need to return to the basics and back to the foundation.

Take time over the summer to rebuild, drill, and be disciplined in the fundamentals. Not only will that help your mind remember the nitty-gritty, but it will train your body to automatically apply what it needs to advance into the next season. It allows your muscles to re-train with good effort while letting go of bad habits. 

This will make learning “what’s next” easier, because your foundation is solid. As humans, we often want what is visually pleasing, what “looks cool”, but if it isn’t stable, it will crumble one way or another.

This summer, the challenge is to:

1. Remember
2. Build
3. Practice a strong foundation.

The future YOU will thank you!

Get ahead with learning material for your next season! If you know you’ll be in a new class or team, or dancing with a competitive partner, start learning those routines ahead of time over the break. Use online resources and get creative with where and how you practice if you’re not able to physically be at the studio working with coaches.

I often tell my students that the fastest way to improve is learning how to fix things on your own in practice. Growth doesn’t only happen when someone corrects you, it happens when you start noticing and adjusting for yourself. When you’re not sure what to work on, go back to what I call the yes/no principles of dance.

Ask yourself clear, concrete questions: Is my frame up the entire time? Yes or no. Are my legs straight in my cha cha locks? Yes or no.

Dance has endless layers and details to refine, but mastering these yes/no fundamentals will take you farther than anything else. They give your practice direction, build consistency, and create the foundation for everything that comes next.

As you head into summer, staying consistent with your dance training can make all the difference in maintaining and even elevating your skills. Just like a Summer Dance Camp, our All-Access Pass is designed to keep you moving, growing, and inspired all season long—giving students the opportunity to open practice space, join (2) Guided Rounds a week, and build strength through weekly focused drill classes. Our Summer Performing Team also comes with the All access pass and offers an exciting way to stay performance-ready!

Have STARS AGE dancers?
(Age 3-3rd Grade)

We are offering STARS Dance classes that provide a fun and engaging introduction or continuation of skill for dancers! Also, don’t miss our STARS Week-Long Summer Dance Camp, happening July 27–31—a perfect chance to immerse in dance, build confidence, and make unforgettable memories.

 Let’s keep the momentum going all summer long!