Practice Makes Perfect

Although you probably have not set your sights on Carnegie Hall, practice is still the key to success. Use these tips to make your practice time pay-off.

• Focus on your part and avoid correcting your partner—that is what dance lessons are for. Staying open-minded and working as a team are the best way to make fast progress.

• As you approach your wedding day, practice in shoes and clothes that approximate your wedding attire. Ladies can cover the fronts of their wedding shoes with nylons to prevent getting them dirty. Guy should wear dress shoes and a jacket to become accustomed to the slight constraint through the shoulders.

• Check the length of your wedding dress to be sure it is not too long and that you can dance comfortably in it. Trains need to be bustled.

• Avoid making your first dance at your wedding the first time you are dancing in public. There should be plenty of opportunities to practice your dancing skills--at a friend's wedding, a fancy function, or even a nightclub.

• Dance in a space comparable to the dance floor at your reception site.

• Make the joint goal that your enjoyment and comfort with each other are more important than technical precision. There is nothing more stilted looking than having the couple counting their music and focusing more on the mechanics than on their partner.

• Be kind, understanding, and patient with each other and yourself when learning to dance. Learning to move together harmoniously is challenging. Dancing together provides an opportunity to practice your cooperative skills as a couple. After all you will be doing things like this together for the rest of your lives.

• If you are tight on space, see us about reserving practice space at the studio.