Ballroom Dance Lessons

[tropicalsunset]

Our last class before the cruise... our dance instructor, Sahra was pretty tough on Dave.... I knew he was very frustrated by the end of class working on Foxtrot... and keeping posture...line of dance and focusing on our quarter turns and all....last night was a better class for us...... I probably mentioned our previous dance instructor left last dec and we had been working with her for over a year... we had a good rapport with her and its been tough the last few months trying to get in sync with a new instructor.... this is our second since the change and we had group classes that helped us decide against another instructor... I feel with the private classes.... it is best to get someone who can work with you the way you want.... some people are very competitive and others are learning for social reasons...

 

Kaye: I can relate.... tho' sometimes practicing downstairs is very inspiration in the romance department... hubby may enjoy that!!! ;) :D Our studio now has started offering dance parties one sat night a month... I'm hoping we can attend some of them. I definitely need to do some extra practicing on my own too... I "think" too much and have to get to the point where it is more "natural" -- Is that possible???!!! :confused: :)

 

Lorraine

[RanDe]

Okay, I'm really getting nervous now.:eek: DH isn't near as enthused about this class as I am and it sounds like it's going to be a lot harder than I thought. I think now, that he's only going because it's what I want. <sigh> Oh well, we'll give it a try and if it's not up our alley, we can always quit. I'll give you a full report after our first lesson tomorrow evening.

 

Question.....the only shoes that Randy has that are not rubber soled, are his cowboy boots. Would he be comfortable wearing those and trying to learn the steps?

 

De

[GCurry]

I took C&W lessons when I lived North of Amarillo (a state law), but the Mrs made me wear boaters as I stepped on her feet too much in boots. I think I was the only person in Borger TX to own a pair. That being said Rande, I wouldn't invest until I saw it was going to work out for the two of you.

Ole Lance hated the judges on Dancing with the Stars, which is on again tonight BTW?

He hated the way I was trying to learn the Cuban Combo in Rhumba ever more!

[terri23]

Yes, I plan to tune in to Dancing With The "Stars" tonight - it'll be quickstep and rhumba, I think. Should be good entertainment!!

 

De - just try to find a pair of harder rubber-soled shoes so that he can turn reasonably well. I think boots would be more difficult to learn in. My DH usually wore leather-soled loafers to class.

[tropicalsunset]

De; I hope your lesson goes well... once we got started it was my husband that got hooked...we were only going to do the introductory series.-- then he decided that he wanted to get better and get more confidence in his dancing... so here we are almost 2 years later... still plugging away... :D

it is fun and something we enjoy together..

 

Missed the TV show as I was on a cruise last week...looking forward to checking out this weeks episode and seeing what it is all about!!

 

Summer has arrived in New England... roses are budding..

 

Lorraine

[dreamscometrue2]

Hi All,

 

Our next to last class was on Monday and we did a review of any dance we wanted. Finally, we got to do the Merenge. I love it! DH and I are getting better and are signing up for the next session starting on the 27th. Unfortunately, because the school we were meeting in doesn't want us back we have to go to one of the recreation centers and will meet only once a week when we were meeting twice a week (bummer:( ). So tomorrow is the last night and our party. It should be fun.:D It sounds like more and more people are dancing, and with the interest in the tv show "Dancing with the Stars" even more interest should follow. I just hope our classes don't get too big, we already have ten couples. They'll have to find another instructor and add another class

[texancruzer]

Lorraine, welcome back and so good to hear you had a wonderful cruise. Sounds like we have one thing in common: I also tend to lead !! But dh is learning how so I must stop! My husband also has really gotten gung-ho and he is the one who finally plunged in and said lets take private lessons. Who would have thought? It took me 7 years to get him to the first class and now look! I think he really wants to do well because he said I look like I am having the time of my life when I dance with the instructors. I must admit I still have to think about what I am doing a little as it has been a long time since I taught or even danced seriously. Thinking about signing up for a tap class at a local studio as I used to love to tap dance. Good excercise too.

Dreamscometrue, I LOVE the merengue !!! You can have so much fun with that dance....

De, you may be surprised... he may be gung-ho before you know it. Or it may not be his cup of tea.... try to make practicing at home fun (turn the lights down etc. etc. for the slow ones and so on) it worked for me !!!:o

[RanDe]

First of all, thanks for all of your encouragement and tips on the shoes. Secondly......today has been a total flop.....except for the much needed rain.

 

We had a bad storm come through here this afternoon and DH ended up having to work late because of some floodiing. He works for a water and sewer company and they had to make a repair on a storm sewer. Soooooo, we ended up missing our first night of lessons. :( Our little dachshund is scared of storms, so she had piddled on the floor while we were at work....no biggie....I guess. Then our Cardinals (baseball to you non-sport people ;) ) have been rained delayed and the last straw is that our abc station is off of the air, I'm sure due to the storm, and I'm missing Dancing with the Stars!

 

Oh well, when the dog pees, when the rain stings, when I'm feeling sad.....I simply remember my favorite cruise and then I don't feel soooooooooo bad! Someone should write a song about that. :D

 

De

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

BUMMER - RanDe! I'm sure we've all had days like those. Too bad missing your first class which you so looking forward to. You will catch up next week - keep the faith!

 

Loved watching "Dancing with the Stars" tonight, especially since we were just learning the Rhumba Mon. night. Gee - I wonder why Tony didn't teach us those steps (right!) - but I could pick out the Slow - Quick - Quick - steps in the dances except for the "sexy" couple (sorry don't remember names). Loved the fast step with the older man and girl in blue who got the most points. They looked absolutely beautiful floating together.

 

Kaye

[terri23]

Poor Evander! Poor Evander's partner! I knew quickstep would be impossible for them.

 

I did enjoy the show. I guess the judges don't watch General Hospital! They were brutal with that woman. I think that even though contestants might not dance so well, I would offer at least SOME words of encouragement before I scored them badly! Then again, that doesn't get ratings, does it??? But for me, I think they all did a great job, considering only six weeks of preparation. I had a feeling Trista would fare poorly scoring-wise on her rhumba; it wasn't interesting at all. She had more passion for the camera than she did for her partner.

 

I'm looking forward to next week! Now if I could only get DH to practice....he's been avoiding it...but he did make me promise last night, "no quickstep...ever!". OK by me...:)

[terri23]

Oops, De, I forgot to say, "chin up"! You must have watched a certain musical recently, eh??? I loved your version :D

[GCurry]

It's a good thing they tell you up front what the dance will be, as I would have never guessed a rhumba. They certainly didn't look like anything we do, thats for sure. You don't see quickstep at any of our dances, it goes against the advice of your cardiologist.

Those judges were pretty brutal alright, they remind me of our dance instructor.

[tropicalsunset]

I agree about the rhumba... and about the quickstep..

The quickstep is a beautiful dance but I've never seen anyone do it at our studio...it must be a difficult dance to learn in such a short period of time..

I wish one of them had just danced a beautiful rhumba as we know it... geuss its more important to wow the studio audience..

 

again, maybe its important to get the basics down and not just be showy... I think that's what t he judges were saying but yes, they were tough.

 

Trista is not an actress and I think the others had an edge in putting on the passion for their partners.. but in the end wouldn't it be funny if Trista and Ryan got into ballroom dance and ended up sticking with it in their personal lives?? I think they have the kind of relationship that could grow with dancing!! :) so Trista definitely would get my vote!! :D

 

DE: I love your song!!!

 

Lorraine

[GMONT01]

Hello everyone, It is funny that I found this thread. My husband and I just started dance lessons. We are taking private lessons. So far we have had 10 lessons and we are having a great time. Unfortunately we live in a rather smallish city , Lafayette, LA., so we do not have a lot of places to practice. We did go to the local Hilton last night to get some practice in. We have learned a little Waltz, Rhumba, Cha Cha and Meringue. We have also learned a few Tango steps. We are cruising to South America next March and thought it would be fun to learn the Tango as we will be in Buenos Aires for 4 nights. Anyway, last night we met a couple that belong to the local chapter of USA Dance. They invited us to join and to attend their monthly dances. Apparently it is a deal where you have a lesson from 7:00 to 8:00 and then dance until 11:00 or so. That should be fun. We will have our first on Saturday,June 18.

GCurry, we have good friends who we visit often in League City, TX. They love to dance. When we go I will have to email you to find out the best places to dance in that area.

We are going to a lesson tonight. We really have to work on the Cha Cha. My hubby is having trouble with that for some reason.

We were out dancing last night so we missed Dancing with the Stars. I meant to tape it but forgot.

Thank you all for this interesting thread, Gretchen

[dreamscometrue2]

Loved "Dancing with the Stars" last night. My two favorite teams were great. John and Charlotte were elegant and beautiful. And New Kid on the Block guy and his partner were great too. But poor Evander. I stop feeling sorry for him and started really feeling sorry for is poor partner. It was painful to watch. I was sure they would leave before Krista, but I was wrong. The soap actress was very hurt by all the comments, but I felt they were justified. The dance was sexy but that was all. It seemed that all the partners that danced the rhumba had very few basic rhumba steps in their routines and I was gratified to hear a few of the judges said the same thing. It seemed they were trying to sway opinion by doing as many tricks as they could fit in instead of doing basic moves. I Love the show and look forward to next week. I wonder who will have to leave next week? My vote is Evander or the soap actress.

Our class party is tonight and I get to Merangue againand ChaCha....YEAH!

[abbydancer2003]

We dance Quickstep. It's very, very difficult. My husband refers to it as the PhD of ballroom. We started it because we figured if we could do that well, we would learn skills that would make our other dances easier. It is working out that way. (It will be the first dance we test out of Bronze and into Silver.) I'm also assisting our teacher with a group Quickstep class, and he said last night that it was the most difficult dance (though International foxtrot is close).

 

When they first said they were doing quickstep my husband and I sort of looked at each other in disbelief - although to be fair, everywhere but the US it's considered a basic dance. We thought the boy-band guy was OK, although I saw no basic quickstep and they seemend to have choreograhed mostly hopping and running steps. We noticed his posture was terrible, and high-fived each other when the judge said the same thing. John and Charlotta were quite good, and the dance was pretty credible - would have done pretty well at a studio event I think. Evander - yuck. He's just sort of clumping around.

 

The competition doesn't seem fair in one regard. Evander's partner appears to be a strictly a latin dancer, while Charlotta is a smooth dancer and Ashley has some 10-dance on her resume. For the women celebs, only Jonathan isn't a strictly latin dancer (he's 10 dance). Also, I was told by a friend who's a serious competitor that Jonathan is the only celeb dancer who actually works and competes with amatuers - the rest only teach other top dancers.

 

But, I'm still enjoying the show. We like being able to find things to critique. (Meant in a positive way - pros are too good for our amatuer eyes to see much).

 

abby

[GCurry]

gmont02, I've stayed at the Acadian and danced with the Coonies at Randall's more than once. We have club dances the first and third Saturday's of the month open to visitors. They are both very close to League City and we would be there to welcome you. Email me and Mscurry gcurry1@houston.rr.com for details and more dance information.

This thread is fascinating with people waiting for their first lesson, to competition dancers from all over our country.

abbydancer, as a social dancer, I am unfamiliar with the term 10-dance please explain if you would be so kind?

[abbydancer2003]

abbydancer, as a social dancer, I am unfamiliar with the term 10-dance please explain if you would be so kind?

 

Sure. Sorry about not defining it in the first place!

 

In Ballroom Competition at the elite levels, there are 4 disciplines (in the US). They are the two international divisions: latin (rhumba, cha-cha, paso-doble, jive, samba) and standard (waltz, viennese walz,foxtrot, tango and quickstep). There are also two American divisions: rhythm (rhumba,cha-cha,bolero,swing and mambo) and smooth (waltz, viennese waltz,foxtrot and tango).

 

A 10-dance competitor is one who competes in both International Divisions, and does all 10 of the dances. (There is a 9 dance equivilent in American).

 

In general, 10 dancers are weaker in both divisions than the specialists. By this I mean that a 10 dancer competing in a straight latin event will probably not place in the top three. Same for standard. But, they would certainly do better than a latin specialist competing in standard.

 

probably more info than you needed, but I hope it was interesting.

 

abby

[GCurry]

Thanks Abbydance, I've never even watched competition dancing so there is a lot you can tell me. I'm an old basic 6 or 7 dancer myself, and not all that great with them. But, my DW and I enjoy dancing and the social evenings they bring, and dancing on a cruise is special.

[texancruzer]

Whoa....you guys are way over my head now... DH and I are just trying to learn how to do the salsa and not look like idiots... But enjoy reading about how well everyone else dances. I am so ticked that we cannot get local ABC channel as they will not make available to directv customers EVEN if we pay extra for it as we do for NBC and CBS (like $3.00/month). Sooo, I rely on you guys to find out whats going on....keep your reviews coming...:) Our friends who are going on Nov cruise w/us (to celebrate our 25th) are coming to Corpus next week and they are going to our private lesson with us...instructor said it was ok so should be fun....she knows they are also taking lessons in Fla. altho df said they have missed more classes than they have made. He is a big burly New York Italian with a heart of gold...will be fun to see him do the salsa !!!! Everyone have a wonderful and safe weekend....anyone in Fla take care if you are in the way of TS Arlene. Cheryl

[GMONT01]

GCurry, I live about 3 miles from Randol1s. We have not done any of the cajun dancing but it sure is popular here. Before our next trip to League City I will email you to see if any dancing events are going on that weekend.

We had a lesson last night. We started learning the Foxtrot. So far it seems fairly easy, at least compared to the Cha Cha. But I imagine it will get more complicated as we go along.

In September we will be cruising on the Galaxy, Eastern Med. It is pretty port intensive so I am not sure how much dancing we will get in. We really enjoy the transatlantic cruises because of the 4-5 sea days in a row and losts of time for shipboard activities.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. It will be a hot an muggy one here. We may try the Hilton for their Saturday Night Latin Night. But it doesn't really get started until around 10:30 PM so I am not sure if we will make it that late.

Gretchen

[critterchick]

Abbeydancer, thanks for that explanation about the different categories of dance! We have only learned American style except for when we go to the Friday night practice party at our local dance studio. Those instructors teach International for an hour before opening the floor up for whatever, and DH and I have a terrible time trying to figure out the steps. It's just WTMI for us. We'd rather be competent at few dances than lost at all levels, LOL.

[GCurry]

I don't know about the rest of you, but this one is a must for us. At our club dances as well as big bands in the area, the majority of the music is foxtrot. As you can imagine, we have a lot of very old members that grew up with it. They'll put a swing, waltz, rhumba, chacha, tango etc. between foxtrots. But there are a huge number of steps in that dance, so we never stop learning it, and a whole lot of them you can use in waltz as well. Both clubs will do a "Maggie's stroll" where you keep changing partners through about three foxtrots in a row.

We are also blessed with large dancefloors in our area, which helps when you have 60 to 70 couples.

Ship dance floors are a real problem as you hardly ever have enough room.

gmont02, we'll be on the Galaxy next Jan. down to the canal.

[critterchick]

Gcurry, sad to say, we've never had too big a crowd to navigate on our cruises. We're often all alone out there!

[GCurry]

You are probably like abbydance, critterchick, so good you intimidated em and they were afraid to get out on the floor. I, on the other hand, tend to draw a crowd. They'll say "look at that bozo ma we can dance that good, let's get out there!"