Last night my wife, Sue, and I went to our first West Coast Swing class in Bisley. We were both there as complete beginners. We did the beginners class and sat out the intermediate.
I've been doing partner dances for many years but haven't been a beginner at anything for a while. I've been known to dance 'til dawn 3 nights in succession, but the first thing I noticed last night was how tiring being a beginner is. Practicing my 3 moves over and over and concentrating on them had me worn out with an hour to go. If I hadn't had people with me I think I'd have just gone home and slept. It just felt like I'd got as much as I could out of the night and would have just been prolonging the agony to stay 'til the end. But I stayed 'til the end, watched some good people, saw a move I thought I could do and increased my number of moves by 33%.
But I've been a beginner before and know it's just a phase you go through. The best advice I can give you is not to rush it, don't be in a hurry. You will get it because everyone does. We've all got the same equipment as those great dancers, we've just got to learn how to use it the same way as them. And the way we do that is exactly the same way we learn anything else, go to classes and practice. The more classes you go to and the more practice you get the faster you will progress. But what's the hurry, enjoy the newness of it all and try to have fun
On the subject of dancing with husbands, wives, girlfriends, this can be difficult. If a stranger says you can do something better by holding your hand lower you're grateful for the advice - if your husband says that you might see it as criticism and then it's the start of an argument. My advice is to practice the routine together at home a bit to help remember the moves but at the classes try to dance with the good people rather than each other, apart from possibly a few tracks. After all, if you were just going to dance together you could buy an instructional video and stay home. But do buy a beginners video because, once you've got the basics of lead and follow it will give you some new moves.
Remember, it's just for fun and absolutely everyone can learn to do it, no exceptions, so don't be put off
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