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Salsa dancing in AZ

Beat The Summer Blues and Dance!

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Salsa dancing in ArizonaPhoenix, AZ guys and gals…How excited are you that 115 degree weather is fast approaching? If you’re anything like me, you’re less than thrilled that you are going to be spending the majority of the next five months indoors. While swimming and heading up north to hike are always options here in Phoenix during the way-too-long summer months, I want to do something locally that keeps me moving and having fun to avoid my summertimes blues (which are usually gained from 100+ days inside wishing that I could simply take a leisurely stroll with my dog from my home to the mailbox without becoming drenched in sweat). My solution in the summertime to avoid that sad state of extreme, unavoidable heat? Why dancing, of course!

With cool Country Two Step dance moves and sassy Salsa steps to bust out on my next Latin dance adventure in Scottsdale, my summer suddenly looks a ton brighter! Aside from finding a creative way to exercise this summer, social dancing offers so much more! Here are my top three favorite benefits to knowing how to social dance any time of the year:

1. Social dancing is a big-time stress reliever! There’s no better way to free your mind of life’s challenges than by putting on your favorite jam and letting loose on a dance floor! In fact, forget the dance floor and get down in your kitchen, living room or even in front of your bathroom mirror. Why not!? Just knowing that dancing is healing on so many levels makes it worth it to bust a move, even if the kids and spouse are watching. 🙂

Better yet, escape to a Swing dance lesson or give the Tango a try at your local dance studio and see how satisfying it is to invest in yourself with a skill that is so useful and fun!

2. Dancing is great exercise! When you can go out and make a night of it, or even after an hour in a private dance lesson, you better believe that you are using muscles that don’t usually get worked out! Social dancing is a wonderful way to get fit while having fun…and so much less monotonous than the gym.

3. Social dancing leads to new friendships. With a hobby that requires you to pair up and meet others, Country, Swing and Latin dancing is an exciting way to expand your social circle. Meeting new friends with the same interests is a really cool thing, making dancing that much more enjoyable.

Beat the heat this summer in Arizona, with social dance lessons for you or for you and a partner. Beginner dance lessons for singles or couples will give you a chance to let go, stay in shape and make those summer months fly by before you know it!

For more information on how to get started with dance lessons in Arizona, view Dance FX Studios’ website. We are located in the Phoenix East Valley, just off the 101 highway for your convenience. We hope to see YOU this summer.

Country Swing dancing

Make 2015 Great With Dance Lessons

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Country Swing dancing in AZIt’s a new year and that means it’s time to “get to work” on those New Year’s Resolutions! Well how fun is that? We daresay, not very. Even though we have yet to hit February, statistics from previous years reveal that many people will have already tried and given up on their resolutions. It’s sad but true.

So how do we keep from quitting our goals so soon in the year? We recommend trying a different approach to making your dreams come true. Are you ready for this? We suggest giving social dance lessons a go in 2015. Believe it or not, social dancing (by that we mean those cool dances and moves that you see in the Country bars and Latin clubs) ticks off many of your goals for the year ahead- you just don’t know it yet.

This year, you can reach your fitness, social, and even emotional goals-all through discovering how to Country Two Step, Tango or Swing dance! Yes, it’s completely true! Partner dancing is wonderful and exciting for couples and singles, so much more fun than working out in a gym or bellying up to your favorite bar stool. With benefits galore, come learn to social ballroom dance this year and swing your way into next year with style.

So how exactly will knowing how to social dance change your life in the next 12 months? Let us explain…

Social Ballroom Dancing Builds Confidence: If you can use a bit more confidence when it comes to knowing a hobby that (almost) every woman loves, give private Country, Swing, Latin or Tango dance lessons a try. With private dance instruction, you will get the tools needed to dance with ease. Knowing a skill such as social dancing helps to build self-esteem, not to mention develop grace and poise.

Dancing also helps to widen your social circle, which is great for new friendships and possibly even more. With more friends comes an opportunity to have others to talk with, and dance with, of course. Friendships help to have support when times are tough, which is important for everyone. Are you beginning to see the impact that dancing can have on your life already??

Dancing Adds Romance: If you’re married, or a part of a long-term relationship, dancing is a must! What you can learn from a Salsa dance lesson (as an example) with your partner includes, but is definitely not limited to, teamwork, the importance of embracing each other often and a fun outlet as a couple.

For singles, dancing allows for a sense of freedom and self-expression that can be very attractive to the opposite sex. Latin dancing in particular is also very sensual, lending itself to captivating onlookers. If you’re on the shy side, dancing can bring out your inner diva and reveal a more courageous side. Who can’t use a bit more of that?

Dancing Can Replace The Gym! Would you love to shed unwanted weight and tone muscles without going to the gym? Then start exploring Argentine Tango or Country Swing dancing. Both of these social dances, plus many other fun styles, are great alternatives to the traditional total body workout. In fact, you will discover muscles that you never knew you had once you really get dancing. Skip the daily grind on the treadmill and Two Step your way back into a healthier you!

Read our upcoming blog on the many other benefits of making learning to dance your number one resolution for 2015. For those of you who reside in Arizona, visit us at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, AZ to get the ball rolling. Our New Student Offer will give you a window into how, through social dancing, confidence, romance and health really can be yours this year.

 

 

 

Dance for the Art of It!

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The artistic benefits of knowing how to dance are endless! What do salsa dancing, swing, Country or even the Argentine tango have in common? They all allow us to explore our creative, right brain on a deeper level. Dancing opens the doors for self-expression, appreciation for the arts, musicality and rhythmic expression, creative freedom, imagination and innovation. When you think about it, dancing has much to offer in the way of enhancing ones’ life. Learning steps on the dance floor is minor in comparison to what one can gain by taking a Latin dance class or a Country two step lesson. Let’s further investigate the ties between dancing and the arts…

Art Appreciation: If you have ever watched television shows like “Dancing With The Stars” or “So You Think You Can Dance”, you may have seen the same waltz or salsa danced in a hundred different ways. As artists, the choreographers of those dances continue to push their creative limits to make the same dance unique in its appearance and therefore limitless in terms of creative possibilities. For spectators, the creativity of the choreographers provides true dance entertainment. This, in and of itself, makes dancing attractive to those who value creative expression.

Appreciation for the arts is the recognition of those timeless qualities that characterize not just dance, but all great art. By its nature, dance seeks to defy confinement and boundaries creatively.  By exploring dance through pure movement, ritual, lifestyle, communication, tradition, self-expression and high art, one can tap into a side of themselves that is new, life-enhancing and exciting.

Musicality and Rhythmic Expression: Musicality in dance has two main components, receptivity and creativity. Musical receptivity is the ability to hear, comprehend, be sensitive to and have a working knowledge of musical concepts like rhythm, tempo, phrasing and even mood. Musical creativity is the ability to connect with accompanying music, interpret it, and add movement dynamics that relate to music even in the absence of accompaniment in a way that is unique or interesting. Musicality in dance then might be considered a degree to which a dancer is receptive and creative in his/her translation of music through movement. It is a key ingredient in a dancer’s display of artistry. When dancing the Argentine tango, for example, the leads of two different couples may hear different nuances in the music and therefore dance a different set of moves according to what part of the music that they are interpreting. While musical interpretation does not often come naturally to leaders on the dance floor, one can be taught what to listen to so as to begin to train their ear for the patterns within each piece of music. Understanding musicality takes dancing to the next level and gives beginner dancers something to strive for and grow into with their dancing.

Creative Expression: Creativity is a matter of translating messages of passion, excitement, and soul into our own musical language through structure, harmony, rhythm, and style. The broader our exposure and the more sensitive our inner listening, the richer our unique interpretation will be. Dancing is about self-discovery, self-expression and spontaneity. When you dance, the body expresses itself by means of the motions which are natural to it. By making the body a free instrument of free expression we are able to express in bodily movement the ideas and emotions that come from within. Again, two people can be swing or salsa dancing to the same music and be inspired to do completely different movements with their bodies.
Imagination: Through listening to music and then responding to it, the body and brain are connected. We sometimes tend to concentrate on training the brain and forget the importance of the body in terms of human development. The language of music and dance provides a lot of nutrition to our human expression. Humans need to develop their creative potential and imagination and dancing is a great way to develop these skills.

Innovation: Creativity is thinking up new things, innovation is doing new things. Through dancing, we can inspire creativity, deep listening, and cross-generational understanding. Our minds and bodies are intrinsically linked; movement acts as a messenger between the two. When we can understand our own and others’ movements, our capacity to collaborate and harness our intuition skyrockets. And growing research in many disciplines–from neuroscience to sports medicine, from psychology to anthropology–supports these ideas.

If you are looking to have more creativity in your life, dancing is for you! Don’t have a dance partner? That’s alright! You can explore your artistic side with one of our dance  instructors at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona. At Dance FX Studios, you will enjoy the art of learning popular social dances like salsa, swing, Country two step and Argentine tango. We offer dance lessons for adults in Phoenix who want to have fun, connect with others and learn a healthy, new hobby. Get into dancing today by checking out our website. Our introductory offer will show you how you can become a confident and creative dancer in no time!