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TOCA TEACHER · Lesson 16 · Teaching

The science of learning a movement, for dance teachers

Repetition only ingrains what is repeated. Twenty wrong attempts build a wrong habit that takes months to unlearn, which is why ten clean repetitions genuinely beat fifty messy ones.

Dawou Tarraxo, pioneer of Tarraxo. The science of learning a movement, for dance teachers

Your role also changes with the stage. Cognitive, simplify and give generous feedback. Associative, reduce your feedback and ask more than you tell. Autonomous, coach timing, dynamics and intention.

And cue the result in space, not the muscle that makes it. Arrive light on the standing leg beats contract your glute, every time.

Motor learning applies to kizomba exactly as it does to any sport.

Design repetitions that require attention.

The science of learning movement, step by step

  1. REPETITION ALONE DOES NOT GUARANTEE LEARNING.
  2. Repetition only ingrains what is repeated.
  3. Ten clean repetitions genuinely beat fifty messy ones.
  4. Cognitive stage. Simplify, demonstrate, give generous feedback.
  5. Associative stage. Reduce your feedback, ask more than you tell.
  6. Autonomous stage. Coach timing, dynamics and intention.
  7. Cue the result in space, not the muscle that makes it.

The full carousel

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This lesson comes from the book

Page 26 of The teacher's guide by Dawou Tarraxo, the TOCA Method page this lesson comes from
The teacher's guide · page 26

The student’s book takes dancers from the first foundations to real feeling. The teacher’s guide gives instructors the structure to pass it on. Both in English, French and Spanish, on Amazon and Apple Books.

The student’s book The teacher’s guide

The method

T O C A

Two bodies. One connection.

TTouchThe connection with your partner. Feeling through contact, never through force.
OObservationListening to your partner’s body, energy and tempo.
CControlMastery of your own movement. Precision without tension.
AAwarenessFull presence: with yourself, your partner and the music.