Those of you who know me well, know that I have been dancing salsa for the better part of the last decade.  What those formative years taught me is that doing is super important and what you focus your attention on is equally important.

Doing is More Important than Practice (Dancing or Film-making)

Speaking from personal experience, doing is more important than understanding (at least at first).  Embarrassingly enough to admit, towards the end of my first year of Latin dancing I still struggled to tell the difference between Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata (three different Latin music styles). However, and you can ask any close friend who witnessed this, it did not stop me from having the confidence to step back on to the dance floor night after night to practice each move or pattern that I had recently added to my repertoire.

Ok.  So, what does this have to do with film-making?

The key take away to learning any new skill is that doing it over and over is much more important than just practicing in a classroom setting or watching other people do it.  All these things will help you in your development, but actually stepping into the art, in a real-life setting, is what will separate you from the talkers and watchers. It is what will make you the doer or professional. Sure I sucked at first, but trying and failing time after time is what made me grow as a dancer and is what is making me grow now as a filmmaker.  Just scroll back through some of my work and you will the development.

There are Three Parts to Every Good Score (Dancing or Film-making)

Just like salsa dancing, film-making has a rhythm, a flow, a dance.

If you are a dancer and are interested in getting into film-making then you may have a huge advantage over others because you understand the concept of musicality already.  As in life, everything has a flow or a rhythm.  All you have to do is capture it and make the motion picture flow, just like a dance. But don’t forget, to practice.  Hitting the record button is the same as stepping on to the social dance floor.

Another great practice, whether you are learning to dance or learning to make movies, is to document what you’re doing in order for you to see what you have done and critique yourself and your own work.

You Get to Choose What You Focus On (Dancing or Film-making)

Focus…

This is a challenge for a lot of people in dance and in film-making.  You have to remember that you are there to learn and grow yourself.  If you want to be a movie critique or a dance judge, go and be those things.  However, without having that hands-on experience, your opinions will not mean much in the dance or film-making world.

So, get your ass out there and practice, practice, practice.  And practice what you preach.

Good luck!