I am sharing with you what I learned through all the years that I have taught ballroom dancing. I hope that it helps you learn something about what goes into becoming a better dancer. If you just started reading these blogs, I urge you to perhaps go to the beginning of them and read all that I have written. I offer unbiased education and advice. Hopefully it helps make the learning process smoother, more effective, and less painful. So, the next thing that I will discuss with you is choosing ballroom dances to learn.
First of all, when we start with a new student, one of the first things that we need to do is find out your interests. Choosing ballroom dances to learn is definitely a process. We have learned that oftentimes students don’t know that different dances are danced to different tempos of music. Some students also don’t know that dances have names.
Secondly, what type of dance you focus on depends on where you might use your dancing. It also depends on what types of dance situations you are going to find yourself at. There are many schools of thought on this topic. If you have an immediate, pressing engagement, then it’s important to focus on the dances that prepare you for that. But in general, in any situation where there is music, most often there is dancing.
Importantly, one dance scenario is where there is loud, top-forties music. There everyone is dancing “at” each other. Granted, this is in some cases age sensitive, but this type of music is also played at many weddings and office parties. Of course, you always have the option of choosing to sit out at a dance. But since you now have decided to invest the time and money to learn to ballroom dance, you will only go through the process once in your lifetime (much like formal education). Therefore, it’s best to do it well. When you become a well-rounded dancer, it is yours to keep. You will be a better dancer for the rest of your life.