Two of my favorite things:  ballroom dancing and SHOES!

Here are some of my tips to choose a ballroom dance shoe:

Safety & Security

• Make sure there is a strap around the ankle
• Make sure the shoe, including the toe area, holds your foot firmly
• Choose suede soles.  Traditional leather soles are too slick, and rubber soles such as on tennis shoes don’t let you move your feet as easily.

Safety & Comfort

• Check heel height and choose a height with which you’re comfortable

Comfort

• Make sure the insole has good, thick padding.  Finding a shoe that lets you dance all night in comfort can be a real feat!  (Punny?)

Style

• And don’t forget SYTLE!  You can find ballroom dance shoes in a variety of colors, prints, and designs.  After your safety and comfort is assured, be free to express yourself with style.

The contestants were brave enough to post before and after photos online.  You can see them over here:  sarahpsellshouses.wordpress.com

Now Robert just has to be “brave” enough to finish the private dance lesson that he won for him and his wife.  Stay tuned for details!

Also stay tuned for details on classes beginning soon, I’m talking to a church and getting classes scheduled after I return from my trip this month.

That inspires ME!  What about you?

One thing I know for sure is that to stay active we need to find something we ENJOY doing so that it’s fun and not a chore.  Maybe ballroom dancing can be that activity for you.

This past weekend, we went to a professional ballroom dancing showcase, with exhibitions from pros all over the world.  During intermissions, they opened the floor to let the audience dance.  The audience consisted mostly of dance students who were not beginners, but ranged from intermediate to advanced ballroom students, with less than a handful of “beginner” dancers.  Tye is a beginner dancer, but we still went out on the floor and had a GREAT time!  None of the other couples were staring or anything negative even though it might have been obvious that we were only doing a couple of basic steps of each dance type.

They might, however, have been staring and laughing when he decided to mock the professional dancers’ facial expressions from their rumba exhibitions.  I was giggling hysterically the entire dance.  (He looked more like he was constipated than “passionate”.)  But even with a beginner dancer surrounded by probably a hundred more experienced dancers, we didn’t feel out of place at all.  Dancers are some of the most kind people when with other students – they’ve been there and have gone through the same learning process … and had enough fun to continue learning.

I also noticed that for proper hip movement, I needed to increase my flexibility, especially in my lower back. So I began doing research to find some of the best stretching exercises possible. What I came across was an entire website devoted to stretching, that had information specifically for ballroom dancers. According to the site:

“For proper execution of the dance moves, both partners need to have good coordination, as well as an all-over good physical tone. Muscular strength and muscular endurance are essential in the upper body, especially the back and arms as well as the lower body, primarily in the core section as well as the legs and calves.

The major muscle groups that will get a workout with ballroom dancing include:

• The hip abductors, hip adductors, quadriceps, calves, the hamstring and gluteals.
• The upper back muscles, especially the area around the shoulders and upper arms including the triceps and the girdle and deltoid muscles.
• The abdominal and obliques, collectively known as the “core,” which includes the abdominal wall muscles and the spinal erectors.”

You can read the entire article which includes sample stretching exercises to work on the chest, stomach and quads, which will help anyone with their ballroom or social dancing at The Stretching Institute’s website. It is full of excellent information for anyone interested in becoming more flexible no matter what sport they are interested in, and includes a wealth of information.

http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=1447614&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestretchinghandbook.com%2Farchives%2Fstretches-ballroom-dancing.php

Or click here to download your free ebook of Stretching_Tips

One of the important places to pay attention to is your right shoulder and tricep. You wouldn’t think one small spot could potentially cause so much chaos when dancing, but it can.

I don’t want you to worry as much about the muscle as you do about holding the frame in this one key spot.

When your partner presses on your right hand to lead you into a step, if your right arm collapses where the elbow falls back to or behind your right shoulder, you can’t be led into a step. You end up standing in the same spot with a collapsed frame.

Keeping the frame throughout your right arm firm (even when your forearm is being moved) allows your arm to move rest of your body. Your right tricep and shoulder area remains rigid. Your shoulder doesn’t collapse, and your elbow doesn’t bend backwards towards your shoulder or back.

This is just one little tip to make it easier to follow the lead of your partner, and it makes his job hundreds of times easier and helps give him confidence in his leading skills, which increases his likelihood of wanting to dance again (especially important for any reluctant men!)

1 – Keep your partner SAFE

This means keeping aware of the other couples who are on the dance floor, and being aware of your location on the dance floor (as it relates to walls, posts, tables, stages, or etc.) at all times. You use your leading skills to deftly steer and re-direct the course of your dancing to keep from running your partner into anything.

2 – Make her look PRETTY

Your lead should be assertive enough (notice I didn’t say aggressive) that she should never have a question about which way she should be going. This is developed through good coaching and practice to increase your confidence level. You don’t need to know a great quantity of steps as long as you are leading your partner well into the ones that you are doing. It also means that you gain an awareness of your body position, and how changes to that impact your partner’s body position. Again, this is accomplished through good coaching and practice to increase your confidence level. The great thing about partner dancing is that after you’ve learned some basic steps and how to move, as long as you’re moving in a way that makes sense when you think of anatomy and physics, you’re leading your partner assertively, and she has learned how to follow well, no observers will ever be able to tell when you’re doing “variations”!

Okay, so it’s really a bit more than just two things. But if you keep these two in mind – SAFE and PRETTY – you are already a LONG way towards being an excellent partner for dancing.

Men respond with the ONE or TWO of these words that outline your duties, and I will send you a coupon for $5 off a lesson! (Ladies, you will get your chance later

What happens when you look at someone who is looking down? Your eyes tend to follow. This means if you are looking at a dancer who is looking at their feet, you will end up looking there as well. Which is great if their feet aren't doing "variations"!

I remember when my cat would be sitting in the room, and would look up at the ceiling. Natural curiosity, I couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling. Nothing was there! By the time I looked back down, she was looking at me like I was silly.

I never danced with my cat, but this proves a point that as humans we can’t help but look where other people are looking. It happens with my cat. It happens (unfortunately) with accidents on the highway. People look somewhere, and we turn to look and see what they’re looking at.

How does this apply to dancing?

If you look down at your feet, the people who might be watching you will also look down at your feet. Most likely you’re looking at your feet because you think they’re doing something they aren’t supposed to – which could be the case. But when everyone else looks down at your feet as well, they will see any “step variations” that you may be making down there; or at the very least they will think you’re not as confident as you could be.

The point is, keep your eyes up … looking at your partner, looking at other dancers, looking at pictures on the wall. Anything shoulder level or above. Keep the eyes up, and anyone watching will also keep their eyes up, meaning they will see your smiling face (and not that accidental step you just took on your partner’s toes!)

Leading the men through a step in country/western two-step class

Classes will be held Monday evenings at Musician’s Lessons and Performance, 420 W. Main St. in downtown Denison (near the Rialto).

I suggest pre-registering using the link on the schedule page, as class size is limited to the first 7 couples!

Fall schedule will be posted this week, check back soon!