Room for Balls

Emily and I started ballroom dancing lessons in November of last year so we've been at it for about five months now.  I have to say that it's some of the most enjoyable time we have spent together and that's saying quite a bit.

We have been taking lessons at Fred Astaire Dance Studio from a married couple of instructors fresh from the Ukraine about a year ago, Dimitri and Elena.  I'm sure experiences with this kind of thing vary heavily and I'm quite certain that the instructor can play a heavy role in the enjoyment or misery of it.  Ours have been fantastic.  They are very encouraging, make it fun, and keep us on the track of always improving.  Fortunately, Emily and I seem to be on fairly common ground as far as starting level and progression rate thus far.

We've been to a few dances.  Our first was a New Year's Eve party held by a local Meetup group at a larger ballroom space, Southern Star Ballroom.

In addition to that we have been to another Meetup event at the same facility as well as a couple of practice parties at our teaching studio.  I was pretty nervous at the start of the NYE event but it didn't take long before we joined the dance floor for about half of the songs.  We didn't know some of the dance styles so we sat those out.  We have been learning rumba, foxtrot, waltz, cha cha, tango, East coast swing, salsa and a little bit of Venetian waltz.  I think rumba, foxtrot, and tango are my favorites thus far.

I originally wanted to take swing dance lessons but have really enjoyed most of them.  I'm surprised at how addicting it is.  I look forward to our next event opportunity.  We had been doing two lessons per week but have cut it down to one lesson per week and another day spent practicing what we've already learned.  I think that's going to work out quite well.

I look forward to updating as we progress and maybe share a couple of videos once we're solid enough to show off.  :)