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Roadblocks in Your Dance Balance Training

During your balance training exercises, you will inevitably encounter periods of ‘balance block’, where you could swear you’ve ticked all the boxes, yet you’re still wobbly as a newborn kitten.

Treat these roadblocks as tests, making sure you are really committed to your ballroom balance training. In the end, you’ll always find something that was missing, accelerating your body control and awareness. To speed you along however, these are some common causes of balance block you may encounter. Continue reading "Roadblocks in Your Dance Balance Training"

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Any Party is Better if You Know How to Dance

In the social jungle, making a good impression, or just having a good time can depend a lot on how well you make new connections. And of course, having a few tricks, like a sharp wit, dashing good looks, or ballroom dancing, can help you stand out from the crowd. In fact, knowing how to dance with others is like a superpower in the social arena. Here’s just a few ways it can transform you from a wallflower into a social butterfly. Continue reading "Any Party is Better if You Know How to Dance"

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Goal Setting To Your Dance Dream

It’s great having an objective, a destination that excites you on your journey of dance. The next stage is to choose smaller goals to act as waypoints towards your dance dream. Without them, your dream is likely to stay a dream. And that makes you nothing but a dreamer.

Although using the SMART method we discussed earlier is an excellent way to get started, there are still plenty of pitfalls that can frustrate you and even cause you to give up on your dance dream. Use the checklist below to stay on track. Continue reading "Goal Setting To Your Dance Dream"

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How to Set Some Dance Goals

Our first dancing experiences, much like the honeymoon phase of a relationship, are usually filled with excitement and exhilaration. After a few months however, many people start to drop off. They ask themselves ‘what am I doing this for anyway? Is it really worth all this money just to have some fun once or twice a week?’ In short, they lost sight of their dance goals.

Our dance goals are like sign posts on our dancing journey, giving us direction and reminding us why we dance in the first place. ‘But Ian’, I hear you say ‘I don’t want to be a world champion. I just want to dance and have some fun.’ Really? Is ‘some fun’ why you spend between $20-200+ a week? Is that why you come in after a tiring work day, and sometimes practice between classes? Continue reading "How to Set Some Dance Goals"

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MORE Practical Uses for Ballroom Dance

Previously, we looked at the myth of ballroom dancing as a frivolous activity, something that benefits you on such a fundamental level that we usually dismiss it as being non-essential. The truth is, we’ve been taught to dismiss general knowledge - we want to be specialized in something. And yet, as you improve and develop in ballroom dance, there’s virtually no area of your life that won’t improve. Continue reading "MORE Practical Uses for Ballroom Dance"

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Practical Applications of Ballroom Dance

Most people tend to view ballroom dancing as a luxury, something to be enjoyed once the more pressing concerns of business and family are sorted out. True, there’s no obvious correlation between ballroom dance and making a good impression at an interview, or remembering important dates on the calendar; yet dancing can help you succeed at both of those things, and many others. Let’s look at some of the ways an ‘intangible’ service like ballroom dance can improve your life. Continue reading "Practical Applications of Ballroom Dance"

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Guest Post: You Don’t Need a Dance Partner

So you want to dance, but you don’t have a dance partner?  Fear not, fellow ballroom-lover, there’s hope to fulfill your dreams yet.  I knew that I wanted to ballroom dance after watching Johnny, the ultimate dance partner, and Baby in Dirty Dancing.  I was ten.  15 years later I still hadn’t taken a lesson, but my desire to ballroom dance was just as strong.  The thing is that ten-year-old boys, (and boys in my teens and early twenties) didn’t really seem that interested in ballroom dancing.  I felt I ‘couldn’t dance’ without a partner.  It wasn’t until my (life) partner gifted me with lessons twelve years ago that I was finally able to be Baby Houseman to my own Johnny Castle. Continue reading "Guest Post: You Don’t Need a Dance Partner"