Ritika A.

I’d say it depends from people to people. Needless to say, if dance is someone’s given talent, then, of course, it wouldn’t take long for them to master the moves.
For me, I started dancing since I was 7 through a dance program that my mom forced me to attend since dance was an unfulfilled dream of hers. I am 19 years old as of today, and I have never once regretted starting this dance journey 12 years ago.
Though it has been 12 years, I’d say I have yet to master dance, and to me, I started PROPERLY dancing only two years ago (2017). I’ve slowly realized that I haven’t understood what dance is to me in the first ten years of my dance life, and instead, I have been dancing just for the sake of it.
Dance to different people has different meanings. Some may think that dance is a form of exercise; some may think that dance is a way people party, while others (mostly dancers) think that dance is a way of expressing your feelings/emotions through movements. I’ve slowly started to incorporate feelings into my dance steps and also to understand what my body moves in a certain way.
Other than finding your purpose, it is also essential to make sure that you are doing a particular step or movement correctly, and this boils down to your basics. I think that for a dancer to be properly dancing, their dance basics/techniques should be strong and sturdy. One example of working on your techniques is to take dance courses, mainly focusing on basics. What I meant strong and sturdy is that your form of dancing should be accurate. It can be as detailed as the way you stand, the way you bounce (hip-hop), the way you point your toes, your arm placements, your eye line, etc.
All these will not come to you immediately after you start dancing, even for gifted dancers. Gifted dancers may look good while doing choreography, but they may not know what the most crucial element of dance is; basics and techniques.
In a nutshell, I don’t think there is a specific timing or period for you to be able to ‘learn’ dance. It depends on how your body moves, how hardworking you are and most importantly, how YOU want YOUR OWN body to move.
Don’t worry :) Even some professional dancers are still figuring out how they can improve to move better. It all takes time.