The Significance of "Watching" Others Practice

In the past, we enjoyed ourselves leisurely at the practice studio

Forty years ago (has it really been that long?!) when I started attending Nihon Buyo lessons, there were no such things as culture centers, so many people from the neighborhood who wanted to try dancing would gather.
We would be taught by the teacher in the order we arrived for practice.
Naturally, several people would wait while drinking tea and chatting, watching others practice.
While watching, we would say things like, "I want to dance this piece next," or "I see, so that's how you dance it."
It was a chance for students to become friends, and I think this community, different from family or school, was one of the charms of a Nihon Buyo practice studio.
Currently, at my studio, we use a reservation system so you can practice immediately without waiting, which avoids wasting time.
Students have cram schools and club activities in addition to school, and many housewives work as well, so there is no one who spends half a day at the studio like in the past.
Because of that, it's hard for students to become friends with each other, which makes me feel a bit lonely.

Watching others practice

However, besides that, what I think is a waste is that there is no time to watch others practice.
Having your own movements corrected is certainly practice, but watching others is a valuable time to understand the meaning behind those corrections.
I know the teacher is skilled.
But I don't really understand how to do it.
I can also tell when someone else's movement is poor (laughs).
Then the teacher gives advice, saying, "Try doing it like this."
Then, it looks skillful.
You can clearly understand the method of "if you do it this way, it will go well."
Even though I should have been told the same thing, for some reason, when I watch others, I can understand it well—or perhaps I should say, the logic becomes clear.
Then, the next time the teacher tells me the same thing during practice,
I clearly understand, "Ah, that's right, I couldn't do it well because I didn't do it this way," and I become able to correct it myself.
Being able to correct it yourself is a very amazing thing.

To make practice time meaningful

Everyone doesn't really understand the essence, and they often learn passively, just correcting because the teacher told them to, or doing it well because they were told to.
I have truly heard the phrase, "I can't dance if the teacher isn't there," many times.
People who improve are doing it from the beginning.
In other words, even if they aren't watching others practice, they try to understand the essence of "this is how it should be done" and correct their own movements.
Practice also becomes a place to confirm whether your own thinking was correct.
Currently, it is difficult in terms of time, but during recitals, I try to have students experience group dancing as much as possible.
This is because it is a good opportunity to watch and coordinate with the dancing of the people you are paired with.
Since many people are busy, even just forming groups is often difficult (laughs).

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