Log In

Username:

Password:

   Stay logged in?

Forgot Password?

User Status

 

Attention

 

Recover Password

Username or Email:

Loading...
Change Image
Enter the code in the photo at left:

Before We Continue...

Are you absolutely sure you want
to delete this message?

Premium Membership

Upgrade to
Premium Membership!

Renew Your
Premium Membership!

$99
PER YEAR
$79
PER YEAR
$79
PER YEAR

Premium Membership includes the following benefits:

Don't let your Premium Membership expire, or you'll miss out on:

  • Exclusive access to over 1,620 video demonstrations of patterns in the full bronze, silver and gold levels.
  • Access to all previous variations of the week, including full video instruction of man's and lady's parts.
  • Over twice as many videos as basic membership.
  • A completely ad-free experience!

 

Sponsored Ad

+ View Older Messages

Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by terence2
10/22/2014  3:57:00 AM

Caution.. being a "musician " is very often a hindrance when making assumptions that will not translate, necessarily, to what you are taught.
You will find anomalies in some of the construction in certain dance figures. Don't let it bother you, it will ( I hope ) make sense eventually .


PS.. I have taught many musicians over the years, even from world class Orq. who could not always reconcile some of the areas that you may question.
Looking fwd to your comments on WCS
Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by nloftofan1
9/19/2014  8:44:00 AM
Videos are very helpful. You can watch good dancers dance a particular figure correctly a hundred times in a row if you want to. But they don't replace an instructor (a video can't watch you dance and say "No, you should be doing ... rather than ...").

My wife and I are also social dancers, not competitors. Sometimes people look at us and say "Oh, you look so good." But we also remember our favorite instructor saying "Yes, those are the steps, but it's not how I would do them." I hope that somehow this will help you with your confidence. Remember, one of the reasons your instructor looks so good is that he (or she) has done that figure 10,000 times. As ladydance points out, it takes practice. (To some extent dancing is intuitive. If what you are doing is hard to do, you're probably doing it wrong.)

Another instructor we know starts beginner lessons by having the students simply listen to the music. Doing that without worrying about "Which foot do I move next and where do I put it?" helps students get the "feel" of the rhythm.
Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by O.K..
10/17/2014  6:00:00 PM
Nioftofan. Never was a truer word spoken when you mentioned listen to the music. Its amazing how many people who have had lessons have not been told that the Samba has a timing of 3/4. 1/4. 1. We must show the 1. Or that the Chasse in the Cha Cha is 1/2. 1/2. 1. Again we must show a clear 1. Or the Jive is 3/4 . 1/4. 1. Maybe some of the teachers are are still with the original I.S.T.D. Technique Book which failed to draw attention to the beat values. Which is a pity that they instead of getting Walter Laird's book, which does in no uncertain manner instruct us to the correct step values. They didn't. Hers is a test. Put a Disk on. It doesn't matter if its a Cha Cha or a Waltz. Have a pencil and paper ready. After the Four Bar introduction put a tick for every bar of music counted right to the end of the disk. Record it. Then count again. If you come up with the same number you've done very well.
Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by davecarty
10/13/2014  7:58:00 PM
I've been a dancer for many years, first with West Coast Swing, which I continue to love to this day, and now with international ballroom. But I remember well how it felt to be a newcomer in a room full of social dancers that I thought were "experts." I was terrified to get on the floor with them.

It helped me a lot when I realized that people were only watching the good dancers, not the bad dancers like me. And second, after I became a good dancer myself (not great, perhaps, but good), I began to realize that most of the people I had considered "experts" were really only a figure or two and a couple lessons ahead of me.

My final realization, however, was the most important, and that was this: dancing is supposed to be fun, but it's NOT supposed to be easy. And it simply is not. It is hard to learn because it IS hard to learn -- or at least it is if you want to progress beyond a very basic level. You learn incrementally, and over time, you improve. That's the way it works for everyone, no exceptions -- even those guys on the youtube videos that we all watch.

Competition dancing is a whole different animal. But If you have a good instructor and you can find the time to practice once or twice a week, you'll be much better than 90% of the people on a social dance floor in just a year or two.

And you can take that to the bank.
Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by TundraDancingGal
1/12/2015  7:24:00 AM
My husband and I have been taking ballroom dance lessons for about 18 months and I just joined this group a few minutes ago. This is the first post I read and it really hit home! A few months ago without thinking I said those same words out loud during our lesson. My very sweet teacher just looked at me puzzled and said, "why?". I said again, "because I CAN'T". She was very concerned that I had a physical reason such as an injury or health condition that prevented it. When I denied that, she quickly realized I was just scared and lacked confidence. She smiled and said, "sure you can!" and then broke down the steps again so I could see that it wasn't nearly as complicated as my frozen, terrified brain made it. Yes, after two tries, I had it.

I never knew something you could love so much could be so hard and scary at the same time! Thanks for offering this website and these forums.
Re: Another Newbie With Questions
Posted by newdancer
1/15/2015  1:55:00 PM
Hi Michael, WCS is one of my favorite dances because the sylabus allows for improv. The very basic rhythm for newbies should start with practicing double rhythm and triple rhythm (step,step) ( step, step, step) to some music (4/4)with an accentuated down beat so she hears the Boom-Tic. Once your comfortable with steping in place, start your basic left side passes so she gets the walk, walk step three times, step three times into memory and that will help with her fear.
There is an awesome instructor in Knoxville, his name is P.J Turner if you are ever in the area.
Best of luck.
Copyright  ©  1997-2024 BallroomDancers.com