How I practice

I broadly group my practices into three types:
1. General.
2. Performance.
3. Play.

1: I think it's very very important to practice what you know. Especially in dance forms like ATS/ITS, if you don't use it, you lose it. For a while I had a list of every move my troupe did, and I'd run through all of them. I also had them on flashcards so I could randomly select a few and practice transitioning between them.

Also in "General" is practicing the smallest pieces of what we do. Explore the range of movement you have, and drill that range over and over until it expands. A teacher I sometimes work with suggested doing top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top undulations over and over. She also suggested doing them in every direction-- to the front, front-right, straight right, and so on. Lemme tell you, that sort of movement (although I don't really use it on stage) works muscles I didn't know I had.

Varying what you practice is important. Work different muscle groups. Work your brain. Keep yourself sharp.

2: If you have a performance coming up, practice what you'll be performing. Practice it like you're on stage. Don't stop and go back if you eff up. You won't have that option on stage, so don't give it to yourself in practice (or, at least, not always. If you're really confused, stop and fix the issue and then move on). Practice in your costume, including any jewelry or hair pieces you're wearing. You'll learn, in advance, that your bracelet snags your veil or your headpiece falls off when you lean backward (this latter issue was my most recent "Aw, crap"). If you have to wear shoes at the venue, practice in them. If you play zils, practice with them. Don't cut corners. Especially don't cut corners if you're being paid. They are not paying you to half-ass.

3: Even if dancing (or teaching dance) is your job, you started because it was fun, right? Geez, I hope so. It needs to remain fun. Even when there's hard work, endless drills, aching muscles, there needs to be play. Experimentation leads to discovery. I really didn't believe this for a long time. I just drilled and drilled and drilled. It wasn't until I decided to step away from "pure" ATS that I felt the freedom to experiment. I make up my own combos. I choreograph songs. Both come from letting myself play with music that I love. Sometimes I have to "watch myself" when I experiment-- if I'm choreographing a piece, I'll free dance and see what I come up with. If I like what I did, I write it down and try it again. Sometimes I get so caught up in the moment that I forget what I did. So I record myself, usually doing the same song a few times in a row to see what I repeat (and to give myself a chance to forget the camera is there). It's still play.
When you play, don't restrict yourself. Don't worry that your dancing isn't precise enough, or that you're not using "real moves." Just dance, damnit. Turn the pressure cooker off for a while. Stop thinking. Just move around until you forget there's any other option.