Locking is an art and naturally unless you were the creator of the art, some instruction is going to be necessary for you to be able to understand and perform the art to a good standard.
Before you can even begin freestyling or performing in the style of locking you will need to know some moves to begin with. Where is the best place to begin this education?
Different people may give different answers to this question. I believe that it is best to learn in a class environment carefully guided by a teacher.
The reason I think this approach works well is because:
1. You are getting instruction from someone with knowledge (hopefully you choose a good teacher!) that can help you avoid many of the difficulties when you start.
2. It helps to see other dancers learning too, and seeing what they do to improve over time.
3. It's probably the most fun method.
Now any one of these reasons is probably good enough to enrol at the locking class in your town. These reasons together however add up and it's no surprise that pretty much all of the top lockers today have had a locking teacher.
What's important to note is that we are no longer in the 60s, 70s or in the time period when locking was created. It is much harder to learn just by copying the new moves being created or in a social setting like back in the day.
These days you need to go to someone that has experience of locking and can help you learn too.
The reasoning that learning in a class is fun explains itself. You will still need to practise at home, but that practise becomes easier if you have learned effectively in a class.
The thing with a class environment is that it helps you pick up on details. You can watch what you're doing and what the teacher is doing, and if something looks wrong you can try and adjust.
If you're just practising on your own and have no one to compare yourself to it can be hard to do this.
Also other learners are also helpful. It's good to have support from other people trying to learn the same thing, and you get an idea of what the good dancers do differently that makes them better.
Other methods can work well too like learning from videos and DVDs. These are great for starting out and can serve as a good introduction to locking so you have a head start before you begin classes.
But if you want to get better over time, you really need to join a class and learn over time. Take the time to learn new moves, new ideas, new combinations and get a better understanding of locking in general.
What if you don't have a locking class near you? Well that's different - you won't have much of a choice but to learn from videos and DVDs.
In this scenario you could try contacting teachers and see if they are teaching in the town you live anytime soon. You could make the trip to a studio that does teach locking (could be a few hours).
If none of these are feasible, the best thing to do is learn from DVDs/ videos and then to keep your practise varied. So concentrate on different moves, and try out different combinations.
Generally a dance class will not do exactly the same thing every class. You can follow this same idea by keeping your practise varied for maximum progress.
On the next page: Locking In Music Videos