Dance Teachers Conference 2021

Yes, in many ways it is. It's only in a ‘real life’ class that a teacher can see you perform the moves, can correct you if necessary, and encourage you personally. But many people never get around to signing up for ‘real life’ classes as they are simply too afraid of the unknown. Dance classes can seem like scary places. If that’s you, then doing one of our classes at home first will teach you all the basics so you'll get a great boost of confidence from knowing a few of the steps and positions.

Well, as we said above, if you want to become a good dancer, if you want to progress, you need a ‘real life’ teacher to teach you in person. No online or DVD course will truly teach you well. How do you know if you’re getting the steps right? So we provide just your first, introductory lesson. And ideally use it as the inspiration that finally sees you sign up for local lessons and join a beginners class where you can learn and grow along with a group of other beginners. But if you don’t want to do that, or can’t due to lack of classes near you, then we’d recommend that you simply start by choosing one of our classes and repeating it as often as possible. And be honest with yourself. Put a full length mirror nearby when you dance the class at home and make sure you’re doing the moves exactly as the teacher shows you. You probably won’t get everything right the first time, and some of the classes are quite strenuous if you haven’t exercised much recently. And even if you have, you’ll find that a dance class reaches other muscles that most regular exercise misses out.

There's no hard and fast rule to this - different people get on better with different dances. If you can, try out more than one. Most dance classes will deliver stamina, strength, co-ordination, good posture and suppleness in varying degrees. However, if it's more of an 'exercise' class that you are familiar with, then doing our Modern Dance Workout or Hip Hop class will probably feel the most natural to you. If you want something a little different though, Ballet is excellent for lower body sculpting and posture, and most of the partner dances including Salsa and Swing are absolutely great for toning the legs. If you want to work on your upper body too, try Pole Dancing!

Ballet used to be taught in a manner which was based on tradition. If you look at old photographs and paintings by artists such as Degas, you will see the figure of the teacher always carried a stick which was often used on the poor dancers' legs, backs and arms. Thankfully, we have moved on from that. A qualified teacher, who has been through a three year training course at one of the accredited colleges or ballet schools, will have been trained to teach properly and, please believe me, none of us uses any weaponry at all.

Now, an awful lot depends on what, exactly, you want to get out of your ballet class. I once found myself teaching a lovely old lady who was in her late 70's if not older. She did 6 classes and then came to me and said “Thank you so much. At last I've done it!”. She'd carried that desire to dance all her life.

The moves on the dvd will allow you to feel comfortable dancing on your own and if you'd like to dance with someone else just take both their hands in yours and combine the sets of steps however you like. That's the beauty of Salsa. Even if you have only mastered the very basic forward, side and backward steps (which take only about the first 10 minutes of my programme to learn) that's enough to be able to dance a bit at a club. Salsa clubs tend to be dark, crowed, noisy places full of movement and dancing couples and individuals, so once you're out the on a packed dance floor, you'll get by just fine by dancing the most simple steps. And of course, a club is a fantastic way to pick up new moves!