In social partner dancing, great posture is everything! Learn few ways that your perfect posture will aid you in becoming a confident social dancer.

Country Two Step lessons

Doing What Makes You Happy…Dance!

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Country Two Step lessons for beginnersI’m in Starbucks again today.  There are two men sitting across from me.  I like to watch people.  These gentlemen are speaking rather loudly, so I cannot help but over hear their conversation.  The men are talking about life and their beliefs.  It sounds like one is counseling the other on his ideal life.  I don’t quite see the happiness in the vision he portrays, but it makes me reflect on what each individual considers to be happiness.  We all are so very different.  One of my favorite versions of happiness is social dancing.

When I began social dancing as a profession (think Country dancing, Latin and Swing dancing), I received a lot of grief for it.  People did not see it as a real job.  They’ve been this way about many things in my life.  But, as those who know me know, I’m a free bird and must try things out for myself.  Over the past few years, I have tried to train my brain not to dwell on others opinions.  Dancing makes me happy.  I think it is important.  I wonder how many people out there haven’t begun dancing because they are afraid of what people will think of them.  They are postponing their own chance at happiness due to fear.

Here’s my advice to you, my dear.  Jump in.  Go for it.  I read an article once explaining how you know you are on to something good when you begin to receive resistance.  I think that is correct.  I think the best things in the world come with some kind of push back.  If you are interested in partner dancing, and you’re receiving some kind of negative or discouraging feedback, I encourage you to fight the negativity!  Take a leap of faith.  I can only begin to tell you of all the wonderful benefits of dance that you will experience when you cross over to the other side.

Give it a chance.  Take some time to relax, de-stress from your busy schedule, or do something fun for yourself. Country dancing, or Latin dancing can give you just that.  Maybe what you really have needed all along is a new hobby and the opportunity to meet new people. Perhaps you and your spouse are in need of a night out and some quality time together away from the kids or work.  Social dancing is perfect for adding a bit of romance to your relationship.  Whatever your reasoning is, don’t let fear prevent you from finding a little piece of heaven in dancing.

Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona (where I teach) offers so many options for individuals or couples seeking to learn to social dance.  We have everything from Latin styles such as Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata to Country styles like the Arizona Two Step and Country Swing.  We also offer less genre specific styles such as West Coast Swing and Nite Club Two Step, so you’ll never be left without a song to dance to.  Whatever your style or preference, we can help you get on the dance floor.  You’ll have our support and encouragement the entire way.  Take part in our New Student Offer, and schedule your introductory dance lesson today.  We are open six days a week:  Monday through Friday from noon to 8pm, and Saturday 11am to 4pm.  I hope today is the day you do something good for yourself.  Take a chance and have some fun. 🙂

Country Swing Dancing AZ

Become A Confident Country Dancer!

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Country Swing Dancing in ArizonaNights out are often a lot of fun and generally spent with good friends! Not only do you get some good laughs and great memories, but you get to spend time with people you treasure. Have you ever been out with these same friends and felt left out? Sure, you enjoy Country music and love to go to the Country bars with your friends here in Arizona, but they know how to dance and often leave you sitting, watching, wishing that you could join in on the dance floor. They offered to teach you, but you believe that you have two left feet. Let us at Dance FX Studios in the Phoenix East Valley show you that you’re wrong! Over the last 15 years, we have taught all kinds of people to social dance, including couples and singles.

Now, to get started, you may have built up the courage to try one of those free classes that they offer in the Country bars. If that took you two steps back (no pun intended) confidence-wise, you’re not alone! It’s nearly impossible to learn to Country dance as a beginner in a group setting, with all of the others around you at different skill levels.  Sometimes those classes go by too quickly and all you really learn is the basic and then go out on the floor and the girl starts leading herself through moves. That’s frustrating! Let’s change your experience of dancing from this moment forward. Here at Dance FX Studios, we have a fun curriculum that can make a confident Country dancer out of you!

At Dance FX Studios, we teach LOTS of Country dancing, from the Two Step to Country Swing! We focus on taking a logical (but fun) approach to dance as we help you discover how to be a great leader or follower, and so much more! Our main priority is to help you to develop an awesome connection with anyone on the dance floor. We also want you to understand the rhythms of different Country dances and how to move on time with the music. Of course, you know you’ll learn all of the turns and spins that will help you to really shine out there too!

If you have visited several Country dance bars out here in Arizona, you know how crowded and wild things can be! We want to help you to see that Country dancing can be safe and fun, not just for yourself, but for your dance partner. We have created  some fun exercises that simulate a crowded dance floor so that you can be prepared for what’s to come when you get out there. Once you have a good hold on your Country Two Step and Country Swing, we teach you how to seamlessly mix them together to become a dynamic Country dancer! YEEEHAAAAWWW!

Get started on your Country dance journey with us at Dance FX Studios. Come on in for your beginner’s Country dance lesson with our New Student Offer. We cannot wait to have you in our dance family!

Country Two Step dance lessons

Reconnect With Private Dance Lessons In Arizona

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Country Two Step dance lessons ArizonaGreetings to all the leaders and followers on social dance floors everywhere out there in blog land! Another day here in John’s Little Corner and another day loving life! Speaking of love and life, how is your love life going these days? Is it on track and going the direction it needs to go? Are you sharing things together on a deep enough level? How strong is that bond between you? Whether you are just dating, married, partnered or even the “friends with benefits” type of relationship, going social dancing , from Country Two Stepping to Salsa dancing around Phoenix, truly does help in your love life. So today I want jump into this topic and elaborate on how dancing improves romance at home and beyond!

No matter where you are in your journey to becoming a confident social dancer, one thing is for sure, knowing how to Country, Swing or Latin dance means fun date nights! Even better for those of you who are bargain shoppers like myself, a possible inexpensive date night! If you’re just starting out taking private lessons together, each lesson is a mini date in itself. How cool is that!? Can it be challenging, yes, but the rewards for the challenge are unlimited and everlasting. Think endless romantic opportunities wherever music is playing. Holding your sweetie tight and swaying to your favorite dance music.

If you are half way into your dance lessons and able to complete combinations on a dance floor, there is a sense of accomplishment that you both will share. And when you have reached that level of dance where instruction is no longer needed and you are creating your own dancing moves, then you have made one heck of a memorable date night. How many couples can really do that well? Anywhere you are in your journey of dance (unless you count the gas money for the trip to the Country bar or Latin Club, or if there is a cover charge at the door), a date night of dance costs you $0.00! How awesome is that to know that the investment you made in your dance lessons begins to pay itself back immediately. The more dates you go on, the more payback you get. And the best part is that you will grow more confident dancing each time you give it a try.

More dates! How does that sound to you? A date is time away from work, life and children, and gives you the opportunity to connect or reconnect with your partner. How often do you look around you when you are out, lets say at work or at the store or at a restaurant? I do all the time. You see couples walking next to each other but not holding hands, or even worse they walk behind one another! Or how about the couple at the table across from yours. They sit in silence and look around while they eat, never saying anything more than, “This tastes good”. Depending on your line of work, you may even see similar situations with couples, that no matter what their proximity to one another, there is distance between them. Life does this to us and yet life also gives us the solutions… if we know where to look. Time away from it all, even if for a short amount of time, is key to a successful rewarding relationship. It’s right up there with communication being important to the relationship, and dance solves both of those! Get away and take a social ballroom dance lesson, share in something, create a conversation from that lesson you shared and do that as often as you can. Make time before it is lost, or in many cases too late to try! You will see that even after the lessons are over with you will be closer than you were and have something to talk about and something to share, not just with yourselves, but with others around you.

Let’s not forget romance as it does fade away if you allow it to. And it’s easy to let romance slip from your relationship. You spend all that time in the beginning getting to know one another and learning how the other person lives and has lived. You make compromises and creative solutions to blend your life styles together and once that has been established, then what? We drift apart unintentionally with all life throws at us and since we already know all there is to know about the other we begin to grow silent and lose the connection we worked so hard to build. Dance is all about connection, and as you learn it together, it fills that void of silence between you and opens you back up to one another, just like in the beginning. Now that’s romance! Its not the flowers, chocolates or gifts…romance is quality time together where no matter what is happening around you. Your entire world is right there moving along the track of life with you.

Now hopefully you answered my earlier question with a positive answer, but if not, or if you truly could not answer my question, it’s not too late! The fact that you can see the need for more connection in your relationship is a true blessing that your partner needs to share in with you. So grab your partner’s hand, pull them close, and show them with your body language how much they mean to you. Show your partner how much time you want with them, away from everything else, and let them feel how romantic the two of you are together!
From Johns Little Corner, I’m John, thanks for reading, and I will see you hopefully on the dance floor and not at a silent table across from mine!

Sweep Her Off Of Her Feet With A Broom!

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Have you ever found yourself without a dance partner and desperately wanting to practice your playful Country Two Step or sexy Argentine Tango dance moves? Have no fear!!! There is always room for you as a student to come and practice your dance steps at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona! We welcome our students on the floor and encourage them to use the studio space to get some extra dance time in daily. If you are unable to make it out to see us on a particular day, however, you actually do have the perfect dance partner waiting for you at home! What do we mean by this? You have an ‘everyday item’ that is actually wonderful to dance with… your BROOM!!! Yes, I said your broom….Specifically the handle.

You may be scoffing, but read on a there are many reasons why a broom can be an excellent dance partner. First, it won’t talk back! 🙂 True, you won’t receive feedback (which is why it is important to make sure you also take private dance lessons to receive more information), but if you step on or drop it on accident, it won’t protest and, it will allow you to focus on something very important, your dance frame. As a dancer, it is imperative that you maintain a good frame. Why? Your frame is the point of contact that you have with your partner, which is what we call your lines of communication. Think about it, what do you expect when you pick up the phone and get frustrated with if it is faulty…the clarity of the line. If the sound goes from loud to soft, you tell the other person. If it begins breaking up on you, you move to another place or hang up and try again. In partner dancing, from Salsa dancing to Swing dancing, the communication is a little easier to control, because both parties are in the same place, and you can communicate verbally if needed. However, you don’t necessarily have the time to think about what is happening and get your point across, this is why we use non-verbal communication through the frame. At Dance FX Studios we teach different types of dance frames and connections between partners that are used for each dance so be sure to come in and learn about all of this before beginning your at-home dance journey.

Here is where the real reason for using the broom comes out…. It helps you to understand how to better maintain a frame that is communicative to your partner. Since the handle of a broom is stiff, it can better show you the flaws in your frame and it makes you work to maintain a connection. The best way to practice with the broom stick is to place it evenly in the crook of your elbows. I know you may want to hold it tightly so that you can “sweep it off of it’s feet” :), but this placement actually helps to bring your elbows in front of your body and create a movement that is easier for another person to follow.

Whether you have a partner or not, come learn how to be a confident social dancer here at Dance FX Studios. Come take advantage of our $25 New Student Offer and learn to Country dance, Swing dance, Latin dance, and even dance the Argentine Tango. In an hour-long private dance lesson, you’ll begin to get healthy dance habits from us right from the start!

You can even put on a fun tune that will enhance your experience of dancing with your new-found buddy: Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself. His lyrics say everything: “Dancing with myself, well there’s nothing to lose and there’s nothing to prove; I’ll be dancing with myself.” So grab that broom next time you get the urge to bust a move and create a fun way to practice, improve yourself as a dancer, and pave the way for a great experience in dance!

Fun video of someone dancing with a broom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEoaN9qIxFs

Tango dancing in AZ

What Are Your Dancing Goals???

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Tango dancing in ArizonaAnother day here in John’s Little Corner at Dance FX Studios and normally it is a beautiful day but today, despite life’s beauty, there is a dark cloud growing over head and its called frustration! I met with a couple the other day for an Introductory dance lesson that went great, but they shared some information with me that really grinds my ochos!!! It’s not the first time I have heard of this type of thing happening, but my couple was so specific as to what they were wanting, it blows my mind that it took them several tries with different Arizona dance studios for them to finally find us to help them to accomplish their dancing goals. My frustration is with other studio’s agendas taking precedence over their student’s goals. As a student it is primary that you learn something that you will use, that is why you become students! But not everyone learns the same way. Some people are visual learners, and some are more hands on, and some people need a good balance of both to fully understand what it is they are studying. As adults, we kind of have a pretty good idea on how our brains process and absorb information. So here is my frustration…

The gentleman and his wife, my new students, have been to four or more different ballroom dance studios in Phoenix wanting to share time together and learn how to dance. They were shown a number of dances at each studio, from the Salsa to Swing dancing, which is typical because… how do you know what you will like until you try a few different dance styles, right? Plus…it is good to know a few different styles because, unless you control the music wherever you go, you have to be prepared for whatever comes on at weddings, in the Country bars, at Latin dance clubs, etc… Here’s the thing though, if you have been shown a number of different dances and know what you like and what you want to learn, is there any reason to keep pushing other dances onto you? NO! Yet even worse is the fact that this gentleman knows that he can only learn one thing at a time and did his best to try and learn a couple dances at the same time, but with no success, only further frustration. They were even told that they would only do one style but ultimately they were lied to. WHY???????? What is the purpose of this at dance studios? To keep students confused and keep them longer making them invest more and more money into nothing but frustration and confusion? I don’t understand. Really I do, but it saddens me to know that something as joyous and healthy as dancing is is being exploited into something dark and irritating because of greed. Dancing is a beautiful thing that deserves to be shared by everyone! Yes, to stay in business you have to take care of business, but do you do that at the expense of your students piece of mind? No. I tell you, NO!
We ballroom dance instructors need to make the dance lesson customized to our students needs. Listen to their goals, pay attention to how they learn, and adapt. Just because you are the instructor, doesn’t mean you don’t learn from your students. As a student you have the right to direct how your lessons will go, within reason. You can not just change everything how you see fit because then you would no longer be the student. Believe me, us good instructors of dance do have a method to their madness, but some apparently are just full-on mad… so be cautious in your choice of instructor and studio, and make sure your dance lessons fit your needs and styles of learning. And, beginner dancers, please communicate your ways of learning to your instructor before enrolling into their dance program because the last thing you want to have happen is that you make a bad investment.
Now I could continue on about this but I am going to move past it. I could go on and on how we here at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona listen to your needs, customize your lessons around your learning style, help you reach your goals, help keep frustration from being an issue in learning, and most importantly help you enjoy the beauty in dance! But I don’t really need to if all these other studios continue on in their ways of doing things. So remember newbies, learning to Latin, Swing and Country dance is a thrilling journey, and an investment well worth your time and effort, but make sure it’s your own unique journey and not one from someone else’s manufactured journey-making machine!

Until next time, this is John in his Little Corner at Dance FX Studios saying, I hope “Dance FX You” in the way it should so you can gain a hobby and skill that will bring you joy for years to come!

Arizona social dancing

Broaden Your Horizons and Dance!

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Arizona social dancingI’m sitting at an empty table outside of Jamba Juice and Starbucks. It’s blazing hot out here in Mesa, Arizona, and I’m second-guessing my choice of location to write. I just finished talking with two guys inside Jamba. I commented on the band playing over the stereo system. Neither one was familiar with the band I’ve mentioned. However, being the music junkie I am, I had to convince these random strangers they were missing out on something magical. I’m fairly confident my mission failed, but it got me thinking… It’s really difficult to engage with people these days! Meeting people who capture your attention is hardly a common occurrence. As a single, some days you wonder to yourself, where am I ever going to meet someone? It seems like there are few good outlets for singles to meet. It becomes discouraging at times. Then I got to thinking, one of the best ways I have gotten to meet new people is through social dancing.

Country dancing is where my social dancing experience all started. I remember going out to a bar shortly after arriving home from a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. I walked up to the dance floor, and stared in amazement at the people spinning round and round each other. It was that awkward prom scene. You know, that one where all the dorky girls stand around begging the heavens that someone would ask them to dance. Only I was standing around mentally laughing at the thought of myself dancing with another human being. The irony is the heavens must have been listening, because literally as the thought crossed my mind, a man asked me to dance. Nervous as could be, I accepted the offer, but politely warned the gentlemen I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully he accepted the challenge, and I had a great time. He was an incredible teacher and leader, and I made a new friend too.

When I continue down this thought process of why all singles should social dance, a couple things come to mind. The first is taking chances— risks. They cause us to grow. They sometimes make us uncomfortable too, but in the end it’s all for the greater good. You go new places, try new steps and combinations with people you’ve never met before, and you become better! It takes practice and work to reach any goal. You build up your confidence doing this too. With every night out you become more comfortable in your own dancing shoes. You stand a little taller because you now have skills! Skills that few people have, but so many want and desire. Haven’t you ever wanted to learn to Country Two Step or Swing dance? It’s so cool when you actually get to hit the dance floor and kick up your heels! You end up making new friends with people who share a common interest with you. And who knows, maybe one of those friends will become something more one day? Since my first night out Country dancing, I have met so many cool people. They come from all different backgrounds and are a blast to be around.

Country dancing has opened a new door for me; one with so many benefits and perks. Social dancing in Arizona is not limited to Country dancing either. If Country isn’t your style, try Swing dancing or Salsa dancing! If you aren’t sure where to start, Dance FX Studios knows how to teach social dancing better than anyone in the Phoenix Valley. We love individuals with goals. We love having fun, and we also love developing confident dancers to go out and make their dreams a reality. Let us help! We have a steal of an Introductory Offer for beginners’ dance lessons. It’s just $25, and it will get you started down the road to becoming a confident social dancer before long.

Country dance lessons

What Are You Putting Off In Your Life?

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Country dance lessons for beginnersHow do you know when you’re ready to start something new? Maybe a new project, job, or a hobby. Well, the answer is generally pretty simple. You really don’t know when you’re ready to start. You may think you need to complete a list of to-dos, you need more training, qualification, or a mentor, or perhaps you just want everything in your life to be aligning perfectly. But if think about it, when are you TRULY ready to begin something new? If you are questioning whether or not to start something, GO for it! Otherwise, before you know it, another week, month, and year has passed and you are still stuck in the same routine. What are YOU putting off because you think you’re not ready? What are the absolute essentials you need to get started now? These are the things that are at the very core of what you want to do. Now that you’re thinking about it, go do it! Honestly, you’ll find it to be less scary than you thought.

At Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona, where I teach social ballroom dance lessons (think Country Two Step, Salsa and Swing dancing), I hear this all of the time. My students often will say, “Man, I’ve been putting off learning to Country dance for 10+ years!” Or, “I’ve wanted to learn to Swing dance my whole life, and I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner!”

You know that every time you start a new hobby, it requires hard work and dedication for you to see the results. Social dancing is no different. There is always a big learning curve at the beginning, but it is well worth it. There is quite a bit to partner dancing. You have to know the rhythm of the specific dance, from the Country Swing to Salsa dancing, learn foundation moves that are the base of bigger, more elaborate moves, discover how to lead/follow well, and then, on top of it all, find out the social norms surrounding the dances and the atmosphere, including how to pick what dance to do to what music, how to dance on time, and certain techniques that make your dancing more smooth and natural overall. Whew! This may seem to be overwhelming, but remember, you start at the beginning and, step, by step, all of the pieces come together. It’s like a puzzle, you begin with the outside pieces because they’re easy to pick out. You put them together to form the shape of the puzzle itself, and then you begin to work on the middle. Social dancing is similar. There is a foundation that is necessary. Each style has a variation on the foundation, but the premise of it stays the same. The nice thing about learning to dance, especially when it’s from people who have experience teaching and dancing, is that there is often a clearer path to the end result that you are looking for than when you are putting together a puzzle. 

At Dance FX Studios, we help to make this task less arduous with Country, Swing and Latin dance lessons for beginners. We have the clear path for you. We have designed a fun and easy system of social dance instruction that is customized for each of our students. We make sure that each student has the rhythm of the dance down and the foundation moves before we add in the more complicated aspects. In the long run, you become a GOOD dancer much more quickly than you would trying to piece everything together at once.

Come, begin your journey! We have a New Student Offer for beginner dancers that you should definitely check out! Let us help you achieve your goals by allowing you to work smart, not hard! Social ballroom dancing is a skill that you will use throughout your life, from weddings to reunions to holiday parties. Take your first step today towards becoming a confident social dancer. You won’t regret that you did!

Country Swing lessons AZ

Top Three Reasons Why Every Guy Should Take Country Dance Lessons

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Country Swing lessons in ArizonaHello gentlemen, this is a special blog just for you.  As you are aware, we are living in the Southwest, and in the Southwest Country music is a big deal.  It plays a major role in the culture here, as we host one of the largest country music festivals in the U.S. (Country Thunder) every year. Phoenix, Arizona is also the home of many amazing Country bars and hot spots.  As my little brother calls it, Country music is “American” music.  Seeing as this genre of music plays such a key role in our southwestern culture, I think it’s quite important that every man learn to Country 2-step and Country Swing dance, wouldn’t you agree?

 

Notice the next time you go out to a Country bar how many women are standing around the dance floor and how many men are doing the same.  Now note how many of those women are actually there to dance. I guarantee it is most of them.  It seems we, women, are all secretly fighting for the attention of the men in the room who can actually Country dance.  If there are men standing around the floor, they are there for one of two reasons; to watch jealously, or to attempt to take a sweet breath of air before the next sweetheart asks for his precious time.  Take note, gents.  Who is getting the attention of the ladies in the room?  It’s the guys who can dance.  Why?  Because women love to dance, and women are looking for a man to sweep them off their feet. (wink.wink.)

 

Now, I feel as if there is a stigma declaring dancing as a female hobby.  While I believe this couldn’t be further from the truth, I can’t ignore the number of couples I have coming into Dance FX Studios here in Mesa, Arizona where I teach expressing the need for the gentlemen in the pair to learn how to dance.  The woman, more times than not, has some kind of dance background, and is at the studio with her partner seeking our help to get him ready go out.  Again, women love to dance, and we are looking for a partner to sweep us off our feet!  However, what I don’t think men always realize is, partner dancing requires two equal roles.  In this partnership there is a very strong need for a leader.  The leader is you.  You run the show, men.  I know many of you enjoy taking charge of situations, and this is the perfect opportunity for you to do so.  As the leader it is your duty to determine how the dance looks.  You choose when and where the moves occur.  Your lady is along for the ride.  Hopefully, if you are a good, strong lead (which we can help you develop with Private Country Dance Lessons), you will provide her with a comfortable, fun time, and she’ll want to continue dancing with you.

 

It’s important to know the music you’re dancing to.  To be able to hear how fast or slow a song is.  You don’t want to be doing a bunch of fast moves to a slow song.  It looks awkward.  You should be able to feel the beat and act accordingly.  If Sam Hunt’s “House Party” comes on the sound system, how do you want to look?  What moves should you do?  It’s so important to feel the ebb and flow of a song, the high points—the low points.  This makes a dancer look that much better on the floor.  Every person at Dance FX Studios is taught how to dance on time with the music when they enter their General Studies Program.  We want you to look that good.  We want you to not only get the girl, but treat her right on the dance floor, and look amazing doing it.

It’s incredibly easy to get started with Country Dance Lessons at Dance FX Studios as we specialize in social Country dancing. We have offered Country Two Step and Swing dance lessons for almost 15 years! We have an awesome $25 New Student Introductory Offer for beginner Country dancers.  It’s the perfect opportunity to get you started on the road to reaching your Country dancing goals.

Ballroom dancing AZ

Treat her like a lady: Three Types of Leaders on the Dance Floor

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Ballroom dancing ArizonaDo you love to go out social dancing at your favorite Country bar or Latin dance club here in Phoenix? So do I! What makes dancing that much more exciting is finding a leader that makes us feel beautiful, elegant and sexy, right girls?? It’s so true! Alright guys, it’s time to have a serious chat about how you are treating your lady on the dance floor.  Without fail, I deal with one of these three types of leaders, and I can speak for every woman when I say, we only want to experience one.  It’s really disheartening when a woman goes out to have a fun night out Country, Swing or Latin dancing and gets hit with one of these leaders instead.  It ruins our excitement and makes dancing not only uncomfortable, but sometimes even painful.  Let me explain further…

 

The Unaware Leader: The first type of leader is unaware of their partner.  What do I mean by this?  I mean this leader knows their steps but is absolutely clueless to the woman in their grasp.  I want to applaud this leader, for know his steps!  However, I want to scold him for not being more aware of how is actions are affecting his partner.  It is his job to make the dance smooth and keep his partner safe. What happens when a leader is unaware?  Let me tell you from personal experience what has happened, and I’ll warn you it is not pretty.  I have been dipped by an unaware leader, and as a result was kicked with a boot (in my jaw might I add) by the couple next me.  I have also been dropped by a leader, and then hit my head on a railing on the way down.  Both were extremely painful experiences, and made me very skeptical about going out dancing again.  It made me a nervous follower, unsure of my ability to trust the people who asked me to dance.  No leader should cause this to happen to a follower, so I beg all leaders out there, please be aware of your partner and know how your actions affect her.  Don’t be the one to blame for injures caused while a woman is under your care.

 

The Assertive Leader: The second type of leader is the assertive leader.  This person is often too focused on showing off his moves that he becomes forceful. You can often find this type of guy out Country dancing here in AZ. What starts off as a fun ride quickly begins to make the follower feel like a ragdoll being tossed about.  This also results in your follower tensing up and resisting your lead because you scare them!  They have zero control and can’t get their bearings long enough to prep for the next move, as they are being whipped about so fast.  This is terrifying, and again has the ability to lead to disaster.  You are leading a follower, but she is volunteering that access to you.  Be gentle and respectful with it, or you won’t get the luxury again.

 

The Graceful Leader: Ah, the third type.  He is the graceful leader.  He takes care of his partner and leads her with finesse.  He has style and confidence, and he leads his follower around the floor protecting her from harm.  Realizing she is being vulnerable by accepting his lead, and being mindful about how his movements affect her.  This type of lead is not weak.  He is strong and steady, and this type of lead is the lead every follower longs for.

Gentlemen, treat her like a lady, and if you don’t know how, let us teach you. At Dance FX Studios in the Phoenix East Valley, we are here six days out of the week; willing and ready to show you how to sweep her off her feet and keep her out of harm’s way.

Whether you are with a partner or not, begin with Dance FX Studios’ New Student Offer, one hour-long private dance lesson, to get healthy habits from us right from the start. With private dance lessons for beginners, you will learn to be that graceful leader that every woman adores.

AZ Swing dancing lessons

Popular Swing Dance Styles

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AZ Swing dancing lessonsHave you always wanted to learn to Swing dance? Why not!? It’s exciting, versatile and so much fun! Did you know that there are formally 24 Swing dance styles? And that doesn’t even include the most popular of them all… Country Swing dancing! Here at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona, we teach Jitterbug Swing, Country Swing, and West Coast Swing, as these are the most useful for social dance situations, from weddings to nights around town here in Phoenix. Crazy enough, each Swing dance style has its own characteristics and history, but they all come from the same root dance, the Lindy Hop. Swing dancing originated almost a century ago in the 1920’s. Here’s a bit more information on the three Swing dance styles that we can offer you:

Jitterbug Swing: Jitterbug is a dance that moves in a circular fashion, which makes it a “spot” (non-traveling) dance. You can dance the Jitterbug Swing to all of your favorite oldies, including Rock and Roll, and Big Band music. It is a modified version of East Coast Swing (or Triple Swing) that evolved from Lindy Hop in the 1940s. Jitterbug is the single-rhythm version of East Coast Swing. It uses mostly six count patterns, although there are some variations that use eight counts. The most important piece, and the constant piece, in this dance is the rock step, which is what creates momentum!

Country Swing: Country Swing is avery trendy dance in Arizona today. It is fast-paced and furious, not to mention lots of FUN! Country Swing dancing is very similar to Jitterbug Swing in terms of the moves you can dance, but the styling of the Country Swing is what sets it apart from other Swing dance variations. Put a little Cowboy or Cowgirl twist on your Jitterbug dance steps and you’re on your way to becoming a great Country Swing dancer. This is a must-have dance if you live with us in Arizona, so get started on your Country Swing dance lessons today!

West Coast Swing: The West Coast Swing is a smooth style of Swing dancing that started in California in the 1950’s. It is also known as the Hollywood Swing. This style is danced in a slot style – the follower has one track that is used to go back and forth on, like a balance beam. There are quite a few speculated ideas as to where and why this style originated, but it is not pinpointed to one time or place. West Coast Swing dancing is very flirty and can even be considered sensual, so when you learn this medium-tempo dance, get ready for a really cool experience.

Besides the shape of the dance-circular, a slot dance, etc…music is a big definer that determines which  Swing style to dance. The nice thing about Swing dancing overall is that there are many different genres of music that you can dance to. The most common Jitterbug music includes early swing era jazz tunes, 40’s music, Doo Wop 50’s, 60’s Surf & Beach songs, Rockabilly, R&B, Blues, Motown music, Disco and Neo-swing 90’s and 2000’s music. Country Swing is preferably danced to Country music. It also mixes nicely with the Country 2-Step. Country Swing can be used to to some of the styles of music mentioned in Jitterbug as well. West Coast Swing can also be danced to a wide variety of music styles (R&B, blues, soul, rock, pop, ballads, C&W, and other contemporary music), but it is generally a little slower than typical Swing music.

All three are extremely fun, versatile dances! Come learn how to get down with beginners Swing dance lessons at Dance FX Studios today!