What Is Mastery? The 4 Stages of Learning in Dance

The short answer: mastery is the fourth stage of learning, unconscious competence. It's when you've repeated a skill so often that it's hardwired, so your routine just happens without you having to think about it. Every dancer moves through four stages to get there, and it takes deliberate practice and a lot of hours.

Why do top dancers look so effortless?

When you watch someone who is really good at their craft, like a tennis player returning a serve at around 200 kilometres an hour, or a professional Ballroom or Latin dancer, it's easy to think they're just gifted. What we forget is the hours and hours of training that went in beforehand. They look effortless because they've reached the mastery stage of learning.

Why do dancers get stressed when steps get harder?

Most people don't understand what mastery means. When their steps become difficult, they get stressed and feel like they can't continue. Understanding the four stages of learning shows you where you are and what has to happen next, and it applies to any skill you want to develop, not just dancing.

What does unconscious mean in learning?

Unconscious means automatic. It's where your habits and behaviours live. You tie your shoelaces without a thought, but there was a time you had to learn where the loop goes. Driving is the same: at first it's stressful, working out the key, where to look and what to adjust. Once it's automatic, you can hold a conversation while you drive.

What are the four stages of learning?

1. Unconscious incompetence: you don't know what you don't know, and you're not yet good at it.
2. Conscious incompetence: you've stepped into your first dance class. You can't close your feet or dance on time yet, and you know it. Some people stay here for months or even years.
3. Conscious competence: you know your routines and can dance them to music with confidence, closing your feet and dancing on time, but you still have to think hard about them.
4. Unconscious competence: this is mastery. You've danced it so much that it's hardwired, so you don't have to think about your routine. It just happens.

Common mistakes

• Assuming top dancers are simply gifted, and forgetting the hours of training behind what they do.
• Getting stressed and giving up when the steps get harder, instead of seeing it as a stage of learning.
• Treating "I know my routine" as the finish line. If you still have to think your way through it, you're at conscious competence, not mastery.
• Putting in hours without being deliberate about how you practise.

Try this in your next practice

Go through each dance you know and ask which of the four stages you're at. Can you close your feet and dance on time? Do you still have to think about the routine as you dance it? Then pick one routine and practise it deliberately, again and again, so it moves one step closer to being hardwired.

Frequently asked questions

What is unconscious competence?

It's the fourth stage of learning, and it's what mastery means. You don't have to think about the skill because you've done it so much and so often that it's hardwired into your body, your brain and your nervous system.

What does "what fires wires" mean?

The more you fire off the neurons in your brain doing an exercise a certain way, and repeat that skill again and again, the more it becomes hardwired.

How long does it take to master dancing?

There's a saying called the 10,000 hour rule. To become unconsciously competent you need to give at least 10,000 hours to the skill, and your practice has to be deliberate.

Which stage are most medal dancers at?

At early medal levels like Bronze, and even Silver, I often see conscious competence: dancers who know their routine but are clearly thinking about it as they dance. I see it in some top amateurs too.

Do the four stages of learning only apply to dancing?

No. They apply to everything, from tying your shoelaces and driving a car to playing tennis or a musical instrument.

Related lessons

• Quality vs quantity of practice, part 1
• A 7 step framework for successful dance practice
• The E.M.C. mindset framework of high performers
• How to stay motivated to train and practise

Vaughan Liddicoat is a 4 time World Professional 10 Dance representative for Australia, an accredited coach and the founder of Ballroom Mastery. He has a passion for dance and wants to help you become the best dancer you can be and have an amazing time doing it.