Ian Crewe | SocialBallroom.Dance

March 8, 2016October 30, 2018

The Les Brown Approach To Your Dancing Dreams

When working on our dancing dreams, a time always comes - usually on a day when both body and mind are feeling bruised - when we wonder if we aren’t kidding ourselves. For many people, this is all it takes for them to give up and walk away. For Les Brown, that’s just another opportunity for growth.

Les Brown was born in an abandoned building in a low-income area of Miami, Florida. In school, he was classified as ‘educable mentally retarded’. And yet, he has since gone on to become a motivational speaker, author, radio DJ, television host, and politician. The following 5 principles he shared in countless speeches, as a way to find the strength to achieve your goals - no matter what. Continue reading "The Les Brown Approach To Your Dancing Dreams"

February 24, 2016October 30, 2018

Essential Ballroom Dancewear for Any Event

Whether you’re psyching yourself up for your first lesson, hitting up the local dance hall, or making your checklist for an upcoming competition, bringing the appropriate ballroom dancewear is essential. After all, you don’t want to be the only one in a business suit, do you? Or the only one who forgot to bring a towel? Continue reading "Essential Ballroom Dancewear for Any Event"

February 9, 2016October 31, 2018

How Dance Lessons Build Strong Relationships

There’s a lot of articles about how dancing is a great way to build romance. Some even describe it as ‘couple’s therapy’. And yet, the more I teach, the more I realize that a dance is only as good as what a couple brings to it: Ballroom dancing won’t save a failed marriage, or magically create a spark where there is none. What it can do is take a relationship where there is at least some commitment to each other, and make it stronger. But to build strong relationships through dance, what must we know about our partner, and ourselves? Continue reading "How Dance Lessons Build Strong Relationships"

February 2, 2016October 31, 2018

6 Ways to Increase Your Hip Flexibility

Don’t get me wrong, proper technique is essential for Cuban motion. Once you have the basics down however, you might be asking yourself: How can I do more to capture the look of a Latin dancer? And a big part of that comes from increasing your hip flexibility, which gives you more range of motion on the dance floor. Here’s 6 ways to do that. Continue reading "6 Ways to Increase Your Hip Flexibility"

January 21, 2016October 31, 2018

5 Dance Moves for Sexy Hips

Whether you’re a man or a woman, your hips tell your dance partner a lot about you: how relaxed you are, how playful, how comfortable with your sexuality. So it should come as no surprise to know that, especially in the Latin clubs, one of the big indicators of your popularity as a dancer is how smoothly and sexily you can shake it down.

In previous articles on sexy hip movement, we explored the basic form of Latin hip movement, called Cuban motion, and I highly recommend ballroom beginners start there. For those of you a little more familiar with your body’s mid-section, here’s five more moves to develop some sexy hips! Continue reading "5 Dance Moves for Sexy Hips"

January 6, 2016October 31, 2018

MORE Roadblocks to Better Balance

I teach a lot of students every year, each one presenting me with the different challenges that make teaching them so interesting. And yet, whether they fall out of turns or over-shape on a tango corte, it’s amazing how many of their issues come from a since source: lack of balance. In fact, I would argue that if we all worked to gain better balance, over 90% of our challenges in ballroom dance would become non-issues. Continue reading "MORE Roadblocks to Better Balance"