About Our Classes

Occasionally questions arise about our classes. The following information should explain how our classes are designed.

Overview

Come On Down!

There are many levels of dancing, and we at WaltzPlay think dancing at any level is better than not dancing at all. We especially encourage people with no dance background to begin learning this week.

Partners

We invite you to come with or without a partner. We think it is beneficial for students to dance with a variety of partners, so we suggest often during each class that people change partners. This way beginners get an opportunity to dance with better partners, which helps them to learn more. If you're the better partner, then you have the opportunity to help someone else to learn more.

While some couples prefer not to change partners, our experience shows that their learning is probably hindered by doing so. Couples who dance mostly with each other soon learn to compensate for any weaknesses the other may have. Plus, their overall dance awareness may be less than it could be.

Multiple levels

While some people are content to learn only a few basic steps, others want to increase their existing knowledge and skills. We try to support all levels of dancers in our classes. Classes normally begin with basic skills for beginners, and then build incrementally to skills more appropriate for experienced dancers. We don’t expect beginners to learn everything that is presented in a single class, and we encourage them not to feel overwhelmed with too much material. Maybe next time they attend the class they will be ready for more advanced material.

Arrival Times

Beginners should arrive early and be ready to begin on time, because we usually teach basic skills in the early part of classes. If more experienced dancers prefer to arrive later, to learn more advanced steps, that’s fine. However, if they miss something that is prerequisite, the burden is on them to catch up. It is useful for experienced dancers to participate in classes, because they can help beginners to learn. After all, we were all beginners once, and were helped out by more experienced dancers.

Class Schedule

Waltz is our main dance, so we normally teach some form of it every month.

Other core dances include Swing, Ragtime Tango and One-Step, Foxtrot, Rumba, Cha cha. We cycle through teaching these dances and repeat them several times a year.

Some less regular dances in the WaltzPlay repertoire are Hambo, Zwiefacher, Schottische, etcetera. We teach them only about once a year. We include them in the schedule because they provide an opportunity to focus attention on some specific dance skill, or just for the sake of fun and variety.

We often teach classes in a series of two weekly sessions. This allows students a better opportunity to learn dances.

Occasionally we present classes on a specific general dance skill, rather than on a specific dance. These classes would include: pivot steps, musicality, stationary dances.

Teachers

Our teachers are exemplary dancers and have a strong desire to help other people learn to dance. They are normally selected from among our regular dancers. When teachers are also active dancers in our group it gives students additional exposure to them, to serve as examples on the dance floor or to discuss dance.

Our teachers are also ongoing students of dance. To attain the highest level of expression and individuality in dance, students must become their own teacher. Rather than simply accepting what their teachers have to say, students should learn how to learn for themselves. When teachers continue to be students of dance, they demonstrate for other dancers how to learn on a more advanced level.

Teaching dance is a different skill than dancing. It takes thought, planning and practice. In addition, teaching other people to dance contributes greatly to ones personal understanding of dance, so selecting teachers from among our regular dancers is also an investment in WaltzPlay, itself.

Contact Us

Email us at info at waltzplay.org