While cleaning out one of the now spare bedrooms, I pushed the furniture to one end of the room and exposed the hard wood of the open floor. "This looks like one of those studios that celebrities use while preparing to dance with the stars." I mused out loud.
My wife took serious note. The time for me to answer her call to go "dancing" would no longer be ignored. We live off the beaten path. Dance instructors are fifty miles or more away. The price for professional help is appealing but the number of evenings so far absent from the house is too much.
This I had hoped would dim my spouse's interest. In fact it did not. The book store and the internet became our official resource for learning to dance as a couple. Here is the way I became a polished dancer. I still can't believe it.
The first decision was to choose which dance to learn. My other half was trained during adolescence in ball room dancing. I was untrained in all forms. So I agreed to become adequate in the Tango, Cha Cha, and Waltz. This was my limit and my wife was thrilled.
There are many books published with clear illustrations of feet placements for the basic dance steps as well as photos of professional couples making each step. Inexpensive CD's for ball room dancing are everywhere. I spent as little as six (6) bucks on a used Tango CD.
My spouse and I would slowly walk through a single step with out music. We repeated this while holding a book and looking at the pictures. It wasn't pretty at first but it's not rocket science. When I became frustrated my wife reminded..." It's just for fun!"
Once we became comfortable then we would make the one step repetitively to music.
One step at a time...this was our method. When we could do just the basic steps for one dance then we started to put several steps together. We could promenade counter clock wise about our little (8x10) dance hall. She was thrilled. I must admit I looked forward to our practice sessions. The music is gorgeous and some of it makes us quite amorous.
Most of the professional instruction came via DVD. These are easily found on Ebay. We watched the video, we stepped with the video, and we tried some of the easy fancy stuff on the video. We did this for each dance. We became accomplished enough to go public as dancers.
Lastly, we sought out classes from a professional. We wished not to turn competitive by any means but we desired to show a bit of a polished look in a social environment. Plus I was anxious to show her sister (who competes in Blackpool, England every year) I wasn't an oaf.
Now when we travel we Google "Ball Room Dancing" for our destination. We practice (4-6) hours each week. Thanks to my darling, both of us have trimmed inches.
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