Need Help Remembering Choreography? Try This Trick

August 29, 2018

Struggling to remember all your choreography? Thankfully, just as there are ways to improve your stage presence and technique, you can improve your memory.

One proven strategy is the method of loci, an ancient mnemonic technique used by Greek and Roman orators and still practiced today. Also known as the memory palace, it involves memorizing a list of words by visualizing yourself walking around a familiar setting (such as your home) and placing a mental image representing each word in a specific spot.

For example, if you want to memorize a grocery list of apples, oranges and carrots, you might visualize an apple rolling off your kitchen windowsill, an orange clogging the sink and a rabbit chomping on a carrot on the counter. Later, return to the familiar setting in your mind, retrace your steps and retrieve the list of images that you left there earlier.

According to a study in the scientific journal Neuron, practicing this technique 30 minutes a day for six weeks can dramatically improve your memory. While it doesn’t make sense to use loci to recall choreography in the moment, regularly taking a walk through your own memory palacecan improve your cognitive function enough that you’ll never forget that last 8-count again.