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Private Dance Lessons…A Great Investment in You!

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adult dance studios near meIn my 21 years of experience as a ballroom dance instructor, there’s one question that we hear often regarding Private Dance Lessons. “What makes one-on-one dance lessons worth so much?”. “Well, that’s an easy one!,” I always reply. I can only speak for our studio, but at Dance FX Studios, you’re going to receive something you cannot find anywhere else, and that is social dancing! Not Dancing With the Stars type of dancing, but moves that you can use in a real-world situation, like on a date, or at a wedding.

Learning to dance with us is a truly one of a kind, unique experience. Most importantly, you’re going to get exactly what you pay for! For example, if you have always wanted to be a kick-butt Country dancer, come visit us and we’ll make it happen! Or maybe you want to learn to lead with confidence in any dance style from swing to salsa. Let’s do it!

Dance FX Studios has only one item on the menu, great dance instruction! Our lessons are like a perfectly cooked steak. Marinated in strong connection, and with a tasty glass of perfectly aged experience on the side! Of course – if the budget doesn’t agree with the appetite, I suppose you could very well just go to a different restaurant and order the same thing, right? Wrong… and let me further explain. Have you ever wanted something nice for dinner, but didn’t really have the penny for it? What do you do? You go to a different restaurant, one that’s maybe a little lighter on the wallet. You order your regular steak or whatever you would’ve ordered in the first place. You take your first bite with anticipation, only to be let down by some other slightly mediocre replacement steak. Now, let us get this straight. We don’t blame the cook. His was an almost impossible task. However, that steak was more than likely derived from some lower source of meats, and the flavor is a dead giveaway. The cook couldn’t have prepared this dish any better, but as the saying goes; “a chef is only as good as his ingredients,” and that’s what you’re paying for! You see, anyone can buy and prepare a steak (or teach dance lessons) but it’s the cook’s experience combined with where he gets his ingredients that is all the more important, and more relevant to the cost than you know! There’s always more than meets the eye when it comes to the cost of our everyday goods and services. Even something as simple as a steak dinner or adult dance lessons can be put into perspective when you think of it this way.

Back to dancing…my favorite subject! Our instructors at Dance FX Studios are trained to be effective, supportive, and knowledgeable in how to create self-assured and skilled social dancers. What’s even more is that, unlike our competitors here in the valley, we do not train you for competition dancing. Meaning, we prepare you for a more real life setting and purpose. In our experience, we know most people don’t want to learn how to dance to become a competitor. We have found that most people want to learn how to dance so that they can better connect with the people around them, and feel more comfortable doing so.

So if your purpose is to connect and gain confidence – like everyone else’s – then isn’t it worth paying whatever it’s worth to learn the right way, even if it does cost a shiny penny? Make the investment in you by learning to dance. It’s a hobby and skill that no one can take away from you that is guaranteed to enhance your life more than you know. Come into Dance FX Studios in Mesa, AZ, and witness for yourself why making an investment in yourself is worth every penny!

Social dance lessons Arizona

Social Dancing Makes You Smarter

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Social dance lessons near Chandler ArizonaWho knew that social dancing, like Country Swing dancing or Salsa dancing, can actually make you smarter? I sure didn’t until I did my research on the numerous benefits of social dancing over the last 20 years in my career as a professional social ballroom dance instructor.

It’s so easy to underestimate what is required to be a great social dancer. As dancers, we apparently just prance around at night, letting go of all of our worries without a care in the world, right? Well, the part about letting go of your cares is true when you are dancing, mostly because of the need to concentrate on what you are doing.  And the fun-factor? Well, that’s there too because social dancing is a blast, but getting back to how dancing makes you smarter, there’s a whole lot of split-second decision making in social dancing which contributes to a higher level of intelligence. It’s pretty cool to think that you can actually give your brain a work-out, making it sharper and more responsive, all by social ballroom dancing.

To quickly veer off track for a moment, it is important to clarify one thing. Many people ask, “What exactly is social ballroom dancing?”. That’s a great question! Ballroom dancing in general includes any dance that you do with a partner, from Latin dancing like Salsa and Bachata, to Swing dancing and Country Western dancing. If you’re physically connected to your dance partner, you’re “partner dancing” or “ballroom dancing”. The “social” aspect of it comes in to play when compared to competitive ballroom dancing, which is judged by professionals who have specific standards within each dance that a couple must abide by in order to be successful. Social ballroom dancing, on the other hand, is not meant to be judged. It is for the purpose of having fun with someone else at a Country bar or a Latin night club, as examples. Now that you know the difference, here’s more on social ballroom dancing, and how it makes you smarter…

As Jean Piaget, psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children as well as his theory of cognitive development once said, “Intelligence is what we use when we don’t already know what to do.” Unlike a tree that grows without thinking or an animal that makes its decisions based on instinct for the purpose of survival, we humans fortunately have the ability to think and reason. On the social dance floor, as I mentioned, quick decisions as a leader are required to keep you and your partner safe and having fun. Thinking about what move to do next means an you have to be in an in-the-moment frame of mind. That means that each time you go Country Two Step dancing, you are sharpening that noggin! How awesome is that?!

One would think that competitive ballroom dancing would do just the same, but with pre-planned choreography, the element of surprise and quick thinking is off the table. So, my conclusion is that if you want to “get smart”, learn to social dance! Done! 😉

There are many other added mental benefits to social dancing, from dramatically reducing stress to warding off dementia. In the New England Journal of Medicine report on aging and mental acuity, it was determined that dancing frequently offered the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical, including reading, doing crossword puzzles and bicycle riding. It was 76% more effective than all of these activities in keeping dementia at bay.  So if you love social ballroom dancing for the pure fun of it, you will also be gaining some pretty cool side effects of it as you age, making social dancing the best hobby ever!

Do you want to be a confident social dancer? Our talented team at Dance FX Studios in the Phoenix East valley can help you to shine on any dance floor.  Social dance lessons are great fun in addition to being healthy. Join us today and begin your exciting journey into social dancing.