How to learn a K-pop dance cover fast
Most people learn a cover by pressing play, rewinding, and pressing play again until it sticks. It works, slowly. A little structure makes it much faster and a lot less frustrating.
1. Pick the right video
Use the group's dance practice video, not the music video. The camera stays still, you see full bodies, and nobody cuts away mid-move. If there's a mirrored version, use it (or mirror it yourself, see how to mirror a YouTube video), so their right is your right, like dancing in front of a mirror.
Decide which member you're following before you start, and watch the whole thing once without trying to dance. Notice where the chorus repeats: you'll learn it once and reuse it.
2. Find the count
Choreography is taught in 8-counts: eight beats, counted 1 to 8, then again. Find where a "1" lands (usually where a phrase of the music starts) and count along out loud for a bit. Once you can hear the 8s, you can talk about the dance in pieces: "the second 8 of the chorus". More in how to count music in 8-counts.
3. Learn one 8-count at a time
Don't try to learn a whole verse. Take one 8-count and loop it until you can do it without looking at the screen. Then the next one. Small pieces are easier to remember, and you always know exactly which bit you're stuck on.
4. Go slow, then faster, then full speed
Start each 8-count at around half speed so you can actually see what the hands and feet are doing. Once it's clean, try three-quarter speed, then full speed. Going straight to full speed trains you to do a blurry version of the move, and blurry is hard to fix later. See how to slow down a dance video.
Count yourself in: "5, 6, 7, 8" before each attempt. It gets you starting on the beat instead of a fraction late.
5. Chain the pieces together
Knowing eight 8-counts separately isn't the same as knowing the dance. The transitions are where it falls apart. So after every couple of new pieces, run them together. Then, every so often, go back to the very top and dance everything you've learned so far. It feels slower, but it's what makes the dance stick.
6. Run the whole section with the music
When a section is done, dance it at full speed from start to end without stopping. Don't stop to fix mistakes on these runs. Note where you slipped, then go back and loop just that 8-count.
7. Film yourself
Record a run on your phone and watch it next to the practice video. You'll spot things you can't feel: arms lower than theirs, a turn a beat late, drifting off to one side. Fix one thing at a time.
8. Short, regular practice beats one long session
Thirty focused minutes on several days works better than three hours once. Start each session by running what you learned last time before adding anything new. Warm up first, and give your knees a break from repeated jumps and floor work.
Do all of this automatically
Run It Back was made for exactly this method. Paste the practice video and it plays mirrored. Mark the beat once and it counts for you, cuts the dance into 8-count blocks, and runs each block slow, faster and full speed with a 5-6-7-8 count-in. Then it chains the blocks together and runs everything from the top, so you just dance.
Open Run It Back
Free, in your browser. Paste a YouTube practice video and start.