Ballroom Dances To Learn

Have you thought about where you’ll use your ballroom dancing?  Some ballroom dance occasions include (but aren’t limited to) weddings, private parties, New Year’s Eve dances, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, and dancing on a cruise.  At these settings, the music that gets played would be a variety of music which you would need to dance different ballroom dances.  This is where it’s important to know which ballroom dances to learn.  Typically, you would hear lots of Fox Trot, Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha, and Swing music.

First of all, when a new student comes to our studios (in Silver Spring, MD, Rockville, MD, and Fairfax, VA), we start by offering this explanation.  We consider it very important to offer a dance education as to which ballroom dances to learn.  We feel that this way a student can make an educated decision as to what their needs are, and what to focus on. 

In any dance situation, there will be some combination of the dances I listed that will be played.  These six or seven dances are considered Primary Dances.  That means they’re the most important ones to learn, and to lay a foundation with.  They’re a “must” to learn and know for anyone who is learning to dance.  Knowing the Primary Dances will make you a well-rounded dancer.  You’ll be able to go and dance at most social dance occasions regardless of what music is played.

Importantly, as I already indicated, sometimes students think that there is only one form of dance to learn and use with all types of music.  They don’t fully realize the need for knowing all of the Primary Dances.  Another concern that many new students have is how to recognize what is being played.

Finally, as part of our curriculum, after approximately eight to twelve private dance lessons, we devote an entire private lesson to learning how to recognize what dance to dance to a particular song being played.  This is something that can be learned by learning what to listen for in any song, and how to identify what dance the song you are listening to is.  Knowing the Primary Dances offers you the opportunity to dance in any dance situation.