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Great Ballroom Music for Practicing

If you're reading this, odds are you like good ballroom music. Whether it’s for a performance, a social, or for practice, your favourite ballroom music energizes you, makes you want to strength further, push harder, dance fiercer.

All too often, I hear the same tired favourites when I go to dance halls and socials. So today, I’m sharing some of my top favourite ballroom dance songs in each genre, and why I like each one. I hope they inspire and delight you. Continue reading "Great Ballroom Music for Practicing"

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Guest Article: Saying “Sorry” in Partner Dancing

Partner dancing is a joy, but we all make dance mistakes. Followers may miss subtle (or not so subtle) cues. Leaders may send mixed messages, or they may forget what the signal is for a certain move. Even couples that have been partner dancing together for years continue to learn to lead and follow each other. In any case, it can be difficult to know what really happened. In a rear-ender collision, the car that plows into the car in front is technically responsible but the car in front may have stopped really suddenly – both are really ‘at fault’. Continue reading "Guest Article: Saying “Sorry” in Partner Dancing"

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What Women REALLY Want (On the Dance Floor)

In all the years I’ve danced and taught, I don’t think I’ve seen a single dance interaction that couldn’t have been improved by recognizing why they dance in the first place. Yes, there’s the stereotype that men just want sex and girls just wanna have fun. But to understand what women really want (and men too), we need to look beneath these surface wants. Continue reading "What Women REALLY Want (On the Dance Floor)"

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Increasing Your Social Dancing Popularity

Going social dancing can feel like a crap-shoot, when it comes to whether it will be a ‘good dance night’. After all, who hasn’t had to endure a string of ladies who all had ‘headaches’, or men who seemed to ask all your friends but you? The key to increasing your social dance popularity isn’t simply learning more dance steps - or wearing less clothes. Continue reading "Increasing Your Social Dancing Popularity"

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6 Techniques to Avoid Collisions on the Dance Floor

Nothing jars you out of you a wonderfully flowing dance movement faster than an unexpected bump from behind. It’s just one of the things a leader must watch out for on the social dance floor, along with stepped-on toes, elbows to the face, mule-kicks to the shin, and bruised egos. Yet most collisions on the dance floor can be avoided, with a little awareness and the right instincts. The following 6 techniques will teach you the unspoken rules of dance etiquette, so you can take care of yourself and your partner on a crowded dance floor. Continue reading "6 Techniques to Avoid Collisions on the Dance Floor"

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Help! My Partner Can’t Lead (or Follow)

We’ve all been there. You’re out on the social dance floor, trying to move with your partner, and for whatever reason it’s just not clicking. Maybe you’ve got a full compliment of steps you can’t wait to try out, but your follower seems to be completely ignoring you. Or maybe you’ve practiced following every dancer in your group class, but this guy won’t even lead half of them (and you can’t feel the lead for the other half). What’s a dancer to do? Continue reading "Help! My Partner Can’t Lead (or Follow)"

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Cuban Motion (Latin hip action) Explained, Part One

On the dance floor, what you do isn’t nearly as important as how you do it. At the Latin clubs, capturing the sexy Latino rhythm means using Cuban motion. Lets be clear: both men and women use Cuban motion, although women tend to be more noticeable in their movement due to their wider hips and narrower waist. Here’s five exercises to get you started. Continue reading "Cuban Motion (Latin hip action) Explained, Part One"