What motivates dancers to improve their dancing?

People have many reasons for dancing. For many dancers, it is a social activity and improvement of technique is not a large focus. For others, advancing in skill is a fun part of swing dancing. Here are some reasons why dancers choose to focus on improving their dancing:

  1. It can be fun to work on improving. 

    For some dancers, it is fun to work on improving. They enjoy practicing and making gains in their dancing.

  2. More skill can mean more fun. 

    Knowing more moves and stylings can allow a person to be more creative when dancing. This can make social dancing more fun. In addition, improved skill can make dancing more comfortable and efficient. This means that a person can dance longer without pain or fatigue.

  3. Competition. 

    Competition can provide motivation to practice and improve dancing. It provides a concrete goal and timeline for improvement.

  4. Performance. 

    Similarly to competition, a performance opportunity can provide motivation for improvement. Most people want to look their best when dancing in front of people. They will train harder if they know they will be performing in front of an audience. Like competition, it gives a concrete goal and timeline for improvement.

  5. Specific goals.

    Dancers need specific and attainable goals to help them improve.

  6. Peer pressure. 

    Sometimes peer pressure can help people focus on improvement. Choreography teams can be a great way to encourage improvement. Many will practice much harder because they do not want to let down the team.

  7. Inspiration. 

    Dancers need inspiration to want to improve. When dancers watch inspiring performances or videos of dancing, they often want to spend time working on their own dancing. Traveling to events with master level dancers can provide inspiration for newer dancers. Great music can also provide inspiration.

  8. Opportunity. 

    Sometimes dancers are not provided with enough opportunity to improve their dancing. Numerous and varied opportunities will encourage more people in the scene to improve their dancing.