Today I'm going to share with you one mom's strategy for improving her dancing from home. It's something you can employ as well. (And trust me, if this busy mom can do it, so can you.) I lay out a simple 4-step process for you at the end of this post, but first, I want to introduce you to Katerina ...

I have a new student.

Her name is Katerina. Katerina had been wanting to learn flamenco for a long time. A few weeks ago she decided it was finally time and signed up for private lessons.

During Katerina's second class I was impressed with how much she'd improved from her first session. The moves she'd been so unsure about before she now danced in sequence with no help from me.

That's when she told me about her routine ...

Katerina is a busy working mom without a lot of time to herself, but she has a strong desire to learn flamenco. So each night after she puts her kids to bed, she watches the video she took on her phone of me dancing our choreography and goes through her dance.

"That's my time," she told me with a smile.

I love this!

I love that she's finding time to squeeze flamenco into her busy life and finally pursuing this thing that she's been wanting to do for so long.

You might be wondering where Katerina is going to practice,

Is she going to her in-home dance studio?

No.

She's going to her kitchen. (As you know I do a lot of dancing in the kitchen myself.)

At night, after she puts her kids to bed and while her husband is off doing other things, Katerina turns her kitchen into a makeshift dance studio. There is a stretch of floor with a window at the end. She sets her phone on the windowsill so that she can see the video of the dance while watching herself in the reflection of the window. And that's where she dances. The kitchen floor becomes her dance floor. The window becomes her mirror.

You definitely don't need a studio to practice flamenco,

You just need yourself and your desire to dance

And by the way, Katerina is not practicing for hours upon end. She is practicing for as many minutes as she can stand to. When done consistently and with focus, even five to fifteen minutes of practice a day can make a difference.

So even if you don't have a flamenco studio at your disposal (most of us don't), and even if you feel short on time (most of us do), I'll bet you can find a bit of space in your home and five to ten minutes of time for focused practice each day.

Give it a try, and watch your dancing improve.

Try It Out

I dare you to try this at home this week with me. Find a spot in your home to dance, your kitchen, your living room, the corner of your bedroom, the bathroom... I find myself dancing in the bathroom a lot; just be careful not to hit your arms. ;)

How many minutes will you dance each day, 5, 10, 15? Where will you dance? What will you focus on? (I'll be dancing in my living room and focusing on the tangos we'll be dancing at the beach this weekend.)

Feel like you don't have five-ten minutes to spare? What about five fewer minutes on Facebook? What about five minutes just before you brush your teeth at night?

(By the way, you might feel tempted to skip a day. (It's only five to ten minutes, what difference will it make?) I say, don't skip a day. Because sometimes skipping one day makes it's easier to skip the next day, and the next day after that. Know what I mean? So instead of skipping a day, perhaps just do the minimum possible, but do something. And, perhaps if you think of it as 'your time' the way Katerina does, you'll be more inclined to stick with it.) That's what I plan to do.

Let's Do This!

Find your in home practice spot.
Set aside 5-15 minutes of your day.
Decide what you're going to work on.
Consider this your luxury, just-for-you daily flamenco time.

Ready to go? Let me know in the comments below where you plan to dance each day, for how long, and what you plan to work on.

What should I dance at home?

If you're looking for ideas and inspiration for dancing at home or wondering how you can get the most out of our at home practices, check out the Dance as if You Were in Class With Mercedes Challenge or the Dancing With David Mini-Challenge.