The Power of Visualization for Dancers

I've been reading "The Law of Attraction". It is a very simple book with a simple point. Whatever you want in life, you must first identify what it is. Then you can focus your energy on attracting it in to your life. It's basically the power of positive thinking and visualization.

As I thought more about this and started practicing this to improve my life, I realized something important. Visualization can be a powerful tool in dance too. It can most certainly help a young dancer in their quest for improvement as well as enhance self esteem.There is nothing more powerful than the human mind! It can greatly affect our physical world.
Some people find this simple and others just can't stop the barrage of negative thoughts. It's not necessarily easy, but with practice (as with anything) we can get better at it.

Every day I encounter an array of different types of personalities in my dance classes. Some kids are instinctively positive and confident, while others are less sure of themselves. I do my best to convey this important principle to all of my students: In order to achieve a goal, we must first BELIEVE that we can do it. The next step is to set our minds on it and visualize success. The more a dancer is able to imagine themselves accomplishing things, the quicker they improve and achieve. Apparently I have been including these visualization principles in my dance classes for many years but just never realized that I was encouraging the "Law of Attraction". (Hmmm.. could I finally be growing up?)

There are times when a dance student is able to master the steps while following the teacher (with a "visual" in front of them) but when the teacher steps away, they are unable to remember the movement. The learning comes when the dancer can visualize the steps in their mind. I always encourage students to mentally rehearse the dance movements in order to truly know them. Visualization is a key component to success. We must identify what we want. It's seems it is easier to identify what we don't want. However, once we figure out what we do want and put that firmly in our sites, there's no telling how far we can go!