I was in a disucssion with someone recently about the difference between drilling and practicing.

There are a couple different schools of thought on this one... and so.. I will pose my line of thinking at you all and hope for some good conversation.

The way I see it:

Drills are specific sections of something that you do to improve a specific area... ie.. In baseball playing catch would be a drill. Because you are working to improve the hand eye coordination and the catch.
Same with batting practice.. (which is really a drill) as you are working on perfecting the swing and the connection

Working on these two things does indeed improve the performance during a game, but neither of them make the game themselves, unless of course you are either Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth.

Practicing is working all aspects of the area by combining all the drills into a smooth running machine. A scrimage game would be practice.

In dance... it's similar. At lease from my point of view.
If I were to stand in place and focus on a single movement say a shimmy.. Then I am drilling it to improve that one segment. However in order to travel with it, it requires practice.

The reasoning of my line of thinking is quite simply.. No single performance allows a performer to stand in a single spot and work on only one movement (or more) without traveling.

Now because I realize that not everyone shares my views or thinks the same way I do. Please, share with me your line of thinking on this.