Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to plan to get my wife some surprise dance lessons for her birthday, and was hoping I could get some help.

I've found a few local places to dance and get lessons already. Neither of us know how to dance and I was wondering what would be a good dance style to start with, or if it really matters. I've been interested in getting us into social ballroom dancing, unless someone would recommend starting with something else first.

I'm also wondering if this is something where we can take a lesson in the early afternoon and learn enough to go dancing that evening? Nothing serious, but at least try out what we learned.

Any other advice on making a birthday present out of dancing would be great.

TIA

TIA,

One day my wife told me we were going for coffee that night with a couple of friends.

What my wife and her friend hadn't told her husband was that coffe was after dance lessons at our local YW/YMCA.

Ballroom dancing was the last thing I ever wanted to do. Now I'm working towards certification and teach beginners for our local ballroom dance society.

Places to start to look are YW/YMCAs and similar, community centres, and universities (for clubs). Note: It's important to find the right atmosphere. The Y for us was a one-off dead end but some one in the class had heard about a local ballroom society which we joined.

If you have dance supply shops in your community ask there. Employees are usually pretty up on local scenes.

I'd start with group classes first.

Hope this helps.

OB

What a nice surprise! I think your wife will be thrilled!

Many dance studios have introductory packages that combine a couple of private lessons and one or more group lessons. That's a good way to get started, as you'll get more instruction about the dance hold and posture and footwork in the private lessons. This will help your dancing in the future, even if you don't continue with private lessons. (The studio will try to sell you more private lessons, but you don't have to buy them. If they give you a really hard sell, I'd say absolutely don't buy them. There are many other studios that won't overly pressure you.) If you want to continue with dancing, you might even try the intro package at a couple of different studios, so you can pick the one you like best.

As far as style is concerned, it depends on where and what kind of dancing you want to do. At least in my town, there aren't many opportunities to "go out" and do social ballroom, except at parties run by the studios. They're great, but it's not the same as going to a club. If you want to be able to go to clubs and bars that have dancing, I'd recommend salsa or west coast swing.

If you are total beginners at dancing, with one lesson, you could probably do two or three steps of one dance that night.

Have a great time! Dancing is a wonderful hobby. Welcome to the dance community!

i suggest taking ballet first. its the key to every other kind of dance. i have danced for 11 years. its the best thing i have ever done. try ballet and if you don't like it go ahead and do ballroom. good luck!

I started out at the local YMCA, too, and it was an excellent value for beginning your dance training. I'd look into that, or like OB said, some sort of community (maybe your local Rec Department) dance program.

Good luck!