hen you schedule your first dance lesson with a highly skilled teacher, it’s natural to feel a little scared or intimidated — especially if you don’t have any dance experience. It’s hard to even know what to expect!
Warm Welcome
When you first walk into the doors of a dance studio you should expect a warm welcome. Most of the students get very anxious, because they lack dance experience and don’t want to look stupid, but the instructors job is to help every student relax and feel comfortable.
Teacher's engagement
You should also expect your teacher to engage with you from the start. We always want to know if you have had any dance experience, the reasons why you have decided to take dance lessons, and how good you want to become. Sometimes students come in because they have an event they are getting ready for (date night, wedding, Christmas party, social outings, vacations, etc). Other times - it’s because they want to try something new and fun, or get some exercise.
First Lesson
During that (especially if you have never danced before), you are going to be introduced to the basic steps of the dances you and your teacher have chosen. Typically you will be learning to ances. This will give you a better idea of what dances you enjoy the most and what dances are “just ok”.Depending on your ability, it could be easy or more difficult. Typically dancing on the intro lesson feels a little awkward for students – that’s normal – so keep an open mind! Once you practice enough times each dance will feel easier and you will start to really enjoy yourself.“This is what we do for a living – you’re in good hands.”
A lot of questions from your teacher
A more experienced teacher will ask you lots of questions. One thing your teacher can do for you is help you formulate your goals. Most the time we see more potential in a student than students see in themselves. Even if you can’t imagine becoming a really good dancer, we can help you learn and get better with time. This is what we do for a living — you’re in good hands. Secondly, this is one of the best social skills you could ever develop — the ability to dance and to have a conversation at the same time. Imagine dancing with someone and not being able to say a single word to the person? Just think how uncomfortable and weird that would be! So as your teacher fires away questions during your lesson, remember that it’s good practice multi-tasking too.
Dance to the music
At some point you will try to dance your new patterns to music. This can be the most fun part! You will be moving a lot, your heart rate will go up, you will be smiling, laughing and sweating. Your teacher will introduce different rhythms and tempos. Remember, dancing and music go hand in hand. Learning to recognize the beat will be one of the most important things you need to learn to do.
Repetition
And lastly, you are going to repeat and practice the steps you are working on a lot! Remember it’s your first lesson, so don’t expect it to be perfect. You might be stumbling, stepping on each other’s feet, looking down a lot and making all kinds of mistakes. That’s okay and perfectly normal! As you continue dancing over time, everything will become smoother and more polished. Make a fun date night out of it and simply enjoy the ride.
Evaluation
At the end of your session your instructor will give you a quick evaluation of your first lesson. You will know what you did well and also what needs to be improved. Together you will most likely set up mini targets for your dancing as well (improving posture, learning to recognize the music, working on leading/following, etc).
Recommendation
Your teacher should make a recommendation of what will be the very best next step for you; after that, it’s all in your hands. Hopefully you will have enough information to make an intelligent decision on whether dance is something you want more of or if you are happy with just your basic intro lesson.Come and try dancing with us. Don't forget to check out our new student offer.
