Adele had a night that went from unbelievable to unforgettable – and, oh yeah, she also won Album and Song of the Year. But the 2017 Grammy’s will be remembered as the night when Adele made a mistake on a tribute to a musical icon.
What she did in response to that was a master class that ballroom dancers should learn from.
4 Things Adele Can Teach To Every Ballroom Dancer
1. Recognize the Mistake and Fix It
Let’s see, reinterpreting an iconic song, by an iconic artist, to commemorate his life’s work after his unexpected passing – it’s a wonder that Adele didn’t faint.
So, despite the incredible buildup and video backdrop, the song wasn’t sitting right. Adele pulled the plug, swore, apologized for swearing, and then slayed the second installment of her cover of George Michael’s “Fast Love”.
The Dance Angle:
Social Dancing may not present as much pressure as Adele’s George Michael tribute, but it does present plenty of opportunities to make a mistake. For some, they complete half of the Adele approach: Pull the plug & swear.
Dancing with someone will rarely be mistake free, but a quick apology and a return to moving with your partner is a very Adele way of hitting the dance reset button.
2. Speak From the Heart
A pre-written speech on an awards show can cause a nation to eyeroll in unison. It’s not that we are against elegant prose, it’s that it can come across as phony or contrived.
We’re pretty sure that none of what Adele said in her acceptance speech was written down, and her management team didn’t type up a 3×5 card with the words “make sure you thank Beyonce… a lot.” Adele spoke from the heart, and that made what she said endearing.
The Dance Angle:
A pre-rehearsed routine is a fantastic way to work on performance skills. Nearly all of the musical performances had pre-rehearsed choreography, lighting, and musical arrangements.
Your dance routine is like a musical performance. It’s built for show.
The acceptance speeches – the most human Adele-like ones – center around some basic ideas, but are freestyle. Like social dancing. Being skilled at leading and following allows you to dance from the heart, without having to rely on choreography – or special lighting.
3. Even Your Bad Day
It would be hard to call Adele’s night at the Grammy’s a bad day – she took home some serious awards. Yet, she probably was a little disappointed in her first rendition of the George Michael cover.
For all of her disappointment, every second of her night at the Grammy’s was remarkable.
The Dance Angle:
Often times we focus on a mistake that wasn’t as obvious to others as it was to us. We fail to realize that our dance problem could be the greatest moment to a non-dancer.
So instead of apologizing profusely for a dance problem, remember that Adele apologized more for her swearing than for her singing. Do the same with your dancing.
4. Pay Tribute, Especially When This Happens
“I really deserve this award”, “… all my hard work”, “no one believed me except me…” Blah, blah, blah. If a struggle will reveal someone’s character, then a shiny trophy sure can reveal the award winning jerks.
Adele wasn’t, isn’t, and could never be.
She masterfully redirected the praise to the production team that encouraged her with her album “25”. When it came to her win for Album of the Year, she shared, so honestly, about her genuine love for Beyonce’s aritstry and album “Lemonade”, that it would not have been surprising if she had handed Beyonce the award.
She was thoughtful, incredibly honest, and spoke from the heart in a way that brought Beyonce, who was up for the same awards, to tears.
The Dance Angle:
Your dance studio, and your teachers are your production company. They are there for the challenges. They are there to chart a course to a spot, far from your comfort zone, and will be there to course correct and find the teachable moments along the way. No matter how far you go on the journey, it’s important that you stay tethered to where you started.
Tethering to your starting point, the version of you before you began dancing, will allow you to, not only, see your own progress, but redirect praise to the people around you that have guided the way when things go well.
Final Thought
What makes Adele such an inspiration is that she, along with artists like Chance the Rapper, appreciate the journey. The human-ness of their acceptance speeches, and the F-bomb on live television remind them that they’re just like us, and that they haven’t forgotten how far they’ve come.
This doesn’t mean that you should seek out a “restart like Adele” moment for dramatic effect in your next dance routine, but it should remind you that it happens to the best of us.
And on this special night, that happens to be Adele.
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