Beginner Ballroom: Lesson 2

Dancing is hard. I thought I would be good at this but I’m not. I have some experience in ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop dance but they are nothing at all like ballroom. The biggest difference is dancing with a partner and following the lead of someone else… I really just want to lead all the time.

I'm a terrible partner.

I've started closing my eyes so that I can feel Graham lead me without any anticipation. I like to turn my own corners and back lead a lot, so closing my eyes really helps. I trust Graham to lead me but I just trust me more…

Besides my inner turmoil of allowing someone else to lead me; this week we learned how to do a quarter turn and a mini-dip… (I can’t remember the proper dance name for the “mini-dip,” so let’s just call it a mini-dip for now.)

Class started with a warm-up song, allowing us to practice what we learned the previous week. 1,2,3…1,2,3 in a counter clockwise circle. Graham and I had been able to practice a few times in our living room last week, so I think we have this down. Then we learned the quarter turn which went pretty smoothly for us… but then the mini-dip. This was tricky and I’m still not sure how to do this but Graham and I will practice this week and I’ll tell you how it goes. It involves throwing me out of the way as if a bus is coming..?..

I have to remember to take pictures next time and maybe even a video so you can check out our progress. Hmmm perhaps a before and after video? We shall see…