In the last ten years, we have seen a significant change in the dancesport business. The ways teachers and students get in touch nowadays are different from how they used to do it back in the days. Yes...I am talking about training camp.
The original meaning of training camp is related to sports teams, who for a certain period are involved in a rigorous and focused training schedule. The purpose is to improve their skills.
In dancesport, the training camp finds its roots in those camps organized by clubs at the end of the summer holidays. If you wanted to get ready quickly for the competition that was the place to be.
In a few years, we have come from a few, closed and hard-training focused camps to several camps every month with top teachers and couples from all over the world.
Did this evolution of training camp serve us good or does it have a negative side as well? Here are 6 training camp pros and cons from a dancer’s point of view:
PROS
1. Saving time 
You can have lessons with many teachers in the same place. You save money and time, compared to the old system where we needed to fly or drive to each teacher separately.
2. Increased motivation
You can find a larger group of dancers to train with. Their presence will inspire and motivate you to do better. You will hardly find somewhere else the same adrenaline and energy that you get during stamina practice in a training camp.
3. Expand your team
You can expand your group of favorite teachers. In fact, sometimes it can happen that you book a lesson with a teacher just because he/she is on the training camp list. But in the end, you might get an unexpectedly amazing lesson. Then you’re asking yourself why, until that moment, you’ve never considered studying with that teacher.
You can also read our other article about how to find the right teacher for you here.
4. You’ll get noticed 
Compared with competitions, the atmosphere at a training camp is generally more relaxed. People around you have more time and will look at you with different eyes. If you really are a good dancer, but you didn’t have a great audience yet, during training camps people will notice you and will start to take you into consideration.
5. Making friends 
At a training camp, dancers can let others see how they really are in normal life. Teachers and other dancers can sometimes have a distorted idea of you if they only met you during competitions. During a training camp, you have a good opportunity to turn your haters into friends.
6. Level Up! 
It is very common to see a couple improving their level day by day during a training camp. Whether it's the amount of information, the quality of the lessons or the contagious excitement, the truth is that training camps help you grow and improve. The truth is that it happens often and that is one of the main reason why so many dancers attend training camps.
CONS
1. A training camp can get really expensive 
A training camp can get quite expensive. If your budget isn’t large enough to be free-minded and just take and go, try to plan it ahead of time. Start saving money!
2. Overpricing 
The actual price you are going to pay per lesson can be higher than usual. In fact, more often than not, you'll get to pay an extra price which goes directly to the organization... This overprice enables the organizers to pay for the plane tickets, accommodation, and transport of the teachers.
3. The level of energy 
The quality of the private lesson you get can vary a lot. As teachers are working up to 12 or 14 lessons per day. At the end of a long day, your teacher might not be able to give their 100%.
4. It will affect your program 
As a training camp is not usually planned for weekends and they last for several days, it can be an issue for those who can’t easily get free time or rearrange their schedule.
5. Contradictory information 
The amount of information you are going to get is huge and it all happens in a very short time. This usually will create a few problems. Sometimes the information you receive is contradictory. A teacher will say a thing, and the other exactly the opposite. Funny thing is that both can be true but it’s hard to combine the information. You have to let the knowledge soak in.
Furthermore, it can’t be easy to practice all the knowledge you acquired, before starting the next lesson. Thus, you can easily forget what you’ve just learned.
6. Too easy? Too difficult? 
Quite often you will see that there are different levels of participants, from juniors to seniors, beginners to advanced. The teacher has to find a way to lead a workshop that will be interesting for everyone. But, this is going to be a problem for you.
Sometimes, they organize different groups for younger students or for seniors. Nevertheless, sometimes this isn't happening and the group lesson ends up not being helpful. For example, if you are a beginner and the teacher is touching a subject that is too hard for your understanding or, on the contrary, if you are a top-level couple and the topic is too simple for you, the time and the money you are investing will not pay off.
And talking about dance camps...Make sure you also visit Dancesportlife Academy to check our library of courses and camp lectures with some of the best teachers in the world!
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