Make the Most of Your Ballroom Dance Class

Learning to dance is itself a learned skill. Aside from simply learning the steps, you need to learn how to lead, follow, move your body and read your partner’s signals. It’s a lot to remember, but there are some things you can do to make your experience go a little smoother:

Practice, practice, practice: We use the P-word a lot at Chicago Dance, but only because it’s so important. Practice makes all of the difference between learning quickly to dance well and becoming a so-so dancer after a long period of time. Taking lessons and practicing at home will help you become a better dancer more quickly. Enrolling in classes twice a week won’t just make you twice as good in the same period of time, it will make you three or four times better in the same period. Dancing is part knowing the movements, and part muscle memory. The more you practice in class and at home the more your body will become accustomed to the movements.

Mix it up: Many people take dance classes to learn to dance with one specific partner for one specific event. While this makes sense, both you and your chosen partner will get more out of your lessons if you dance with other partners. Learning to dance with one person means just that, you’ll only be able to dance with that partner. If you learn to dance with a variety of people, you will learn to develop your own skills and pick up tips from other dancers. And you just might even make a few new friends along the way.

Two for one: Whether this is your first time taking dance classes, or you’re coming back to dance for the first time in years, taking a “core curriculum” approach rather than focusing on mastering just one dance is the best approach. Some steps are found in more than one dance, and many dances share a common pattern. The techniques you will learn in a class for one dance, like good posture, listening to the beat, learning how your body moves and co-ordination, are universal to every dance. Four to 10 dances is a great number to start with because it offers variation to your routines and a chance to understand how the different dances relate to one another cheap inflatable toys.