5 ways to Improve Your Performance

Does your performance suck? If you have to ask, then yes it probably does. But don’t worry, here are 5 important steps you can take to improve your dance performance. Why do I give this information away? Basically, I’m tired of seeing performances that could be a lot better, if everyone would take the following rules and apply them. Here we go…

1. Music

There are thousands of songs that are available for creating a performance to. However, when it comes to most shows, it seems that 75% of the routines that are out there choose from a selection of about 30 songs. Choose a song that isn’t in this list and you are already taking the big step towards creating a performance worthy of the stage.

In choosing a song, however, the litmus test of “Have I seen anyone else perform to this song?” will not always work. There are some songs out there that haven’t been performed to for a reason. They don’t work. Maybe they are too slow. Maybe they aren’t dynamic enough. One of the most important things to note is:

A song that is great to social dance to is not necessarily one that is great to perform to.

(For the aspiring DJs, the reverse is also true. Not all performance songs work on the dance floor. )

Once you have selected your song, now comes the next step. Cut it.

Most Salsa performances are too long. Television commercials used to be longer than a minute. Then they shortened to 30 seconds. Then 15 seconds. Nowadays the commercials we see online range somewhere between 5 and 15 seconds. When searching for something on youtube (example-“How to remove the kitchen faucet”) do you want the 2 minute video or the 8 minute video? Chances are that you will click the 2 minute video first. If there’s a video labeled “How to remove your kitchen faucet in 30 seconds”, then you will click that one.  With that in mind, your 4:45 Salsa performance is probably about 2:30 too long. I recommend the following as a general guideline in planning your performance length:

 How long should my Salsa Performance be?

• Solo – 1 :00-2:00
• One Couple – 2:00-3:00
• More than One Couple – 3:00-4:00

There are always exceptions to the rule, but this can give you a good idea of what the audience’s attention span will tolerate. Take “So You Think You Can Dance!” as an example. Each performance lasts roughly 1:30. The solos are 30 seconds long. The full company pieces might push 2:30. It’s not a matter of how long you can dance. It’s a matter of how long people will be interested in watching you dance. So take the hot 4:45 song that you have and cut it. Not trim, CUT. It may be hard, you may feel that you aren’t doing it justice, that you are insulting the musicians, etc. Don’t worry, you will get over it and once it’s cut it will be a lot easier to put a hot choreography together that leaves the audience wanting more. Now that you have the song down to a reasonable length, you’ve put the show together, and you want to make it stage worthy, let’s take a look at your presentation.