100 Days of Breaking

With all dance studios and events out of action due to COVID, I decided to use the social hiatus to challenge myself and break for 100 days. Admittedly, I wasn’t always as consistent as I’d like. What ideally took around 3 months was more like 5 months. Here are some of the lessons gleamed.

Show Up

Practice can be hard. Motivating yourself can be even harder. Half the battle is mentally showing up.

I approached my practice in the same way as a regular 9/5. I blocked off time from my calendar for an hour every day to arrive at the same place with a specific dance playlist. There will always be excuses the mind and body will tell you. “I’m too tired / busy / etc.” Even doing pushups will get our blood flowing. Not every practice session will be stellar, but it will be fulfilling to know that you showed up at the very end.

Have a Practice Regiment

This is where we treat our dance like any other forms of work out. Involve repetitions of moves that come naturally to you and where you feel like you’d want to explore.

I spent the first 5 years of dancing without any sort of structured practice thinking I could gain results. I only saw improvements when I really put intention behind the practice.

During my COVID practice time, I spent half of practice drilling and cleaning movements, the other half was put in movement exploration.

Slow Down

Breaking is technique heavy, but remember to make space for expression within the technique. This is at the end of it about self-expression. Slowing down allows for that much needed mental space to listen to the music.

I tend to rush in my dance if I’m excited, which I usually am. Slowing down makes us to be more conscious of our movement and more importantly to really feel the music.