The Technique of the Mind: Improve Your Dance Skills with Mindset Mastery
You may have heard of the 80-20 rule: the principle that 20% of what you do results in 80% of your outcomes. Also known as the Pareto principle, it was first introduced by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1906 and still holds up to this day. If you focus your energy on the most important 20%, you will achieve the greatest outcomes.
I’ve found this 80-20 concept to be true in other ways as well.
For instance: It only takes 20% skill to achieve success when overcoming a challenge, like improving a new dance step.
So what is the other 80%?
Your mindset.
Yes, you heard me. It takes 80% mindset and only 20% skill to successfully master that more advanced dance step you learned in class.
No matter how skilled you are, if you don’t also focus on improving your mindset, you may find it challenging to succeed when trying to advance your training.
You know what you need to do to improve your dance technique: go to dance class consistently, apply corrections, and practice to make progress.
But how do you improve your mindset? It may be easier than you think.
Actually - it’s a lot like making sure you have proper alignment when starting each ballet exercise.
Think back to when you first learned about developing and maintaining proper alignment. I bet it didn’t come naturally at first. It probably felt a bit foreign and you had to keep revisiting all the different parts of your body to make sure they were staying aligned. But with time and practice, it became easier to maintain.
This is the same process as developing and maintaining a strong mindset that will support your dance training.
When you first learn basic mindset skills (which we will get into below), it may feel a bit foreign, and even uncomfortable. You will have to keep revisiting the new mindset skills you are learning and even practice for a while before they start to occur naturally, just like muscle memory.
Once you have developed your mindset to the point of it supporting you like muscle memory, you will have the ease of using it through all of your dance training moving forward, just like you can rely on your proper alignment now with ease.
Yes, there are days when you are “off” and you need to revisit and make some minor tweaks and check-in. But ultimately you don’t have to spend as much time on your mindset as you did when you first started.
To ease into the power and technique of your mindset, let’s learn a basic mindset skill titled “The 4 C’s” method.
This is a tool that you can come back to and rely on again and again, just like your alignment. You will use the “4 C’s” method whenever you are facing a difficult challenge in your dance training.
The “4 C’s” Method
Claim: Get clear on the exact thought you are telling yourself that is holding you back
Challenge: Can you prove without any doubt that the thought you are having is 100% true? (the answer is usually no)
Change: Change that thought or reframe it into what is actually true
Call: Say the reframed thought out loud to let your brain and body fully believe and embrace the new thought faster
Let’s try it out with the example of advancing from consistently clean double to triple pirouettes en dehors from fourth position.
When you first start attempting the triple pirouettes, you may keep falling out of them and start to tell yourself that you can never get triples. Let’s take that thought and put it in “The 4 C’s” method.
Claim: The current thought you’re having
You keep telling yourself that you will never get triple pirouettes
Challenge: Can you prove 100% without a doubt that you never get triple pirouettes?
No, there is no way you will know for certain that you will never get them.
Change: Now reframe it to what is true
“Yes, I am struggling with getting my triple pirouettes right now. But I also used to struggle with getting doubles and with practice I eventually got those. I just need to keep practicing and be patient and I will start to get them consistently.”
Call: Then say it out loud to help you start to embody and believe the new thought
Let’s use another example of when you’re auditioning for a dance company. Say there are 50+ dancers auditioning for 3 spots in the company and you find you’re comparing yourself to other dancers, beginning to think that there is no way you will get selected.
Claim: The current thought you’re having:
“Why am I even bothering auditioning? There is no way I will get one of the spots in the company. There are so many dancers much better than I am here.”
Challenge: Can you prove without a shadow of a doubt that you are not going to get into the company?
No, you have no idea what they are looking for and if the other dancers are better than you. That’s just your perception.
Change: Now reframe it to what is true
“Yes, there are many good dancers here. I am a great dancer too and deserve to be here and I have no idea if I will get in or not. But I will still give it my best and know that whatever the outcome, it will be the right one.”
Call: Now you say that out loud to help yourself embrace it faster
The beautiful thing about using the “4 C’s” method—Claim, Challenge, Change, and Call—is that it can be applied to big and small challenges, both in and outside of the dance studio. Remember, it's your mindset that will guide you through challenges and help you achieve your goals. With practice and patience, your mental resilience will become second nature, empowering you to overcome challenges faster and work through setbacks with more ease.. So, take a moment each day to align your mindset just as you align your body, and watch as your dance journey unfolds with newfound ease and success.
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