What do you get out of a Private Lesson?

Private lessons improve your dance skills!  A "private" provides  opportunities for a student to get help specific to them and they allow the instructor the ability to fine-tune aspects of a student's dancing.  The primary benefit is the one-on-one time.

Picking an Instructor

Despite the fact that most instructors teach the same Basic Swingout, each has their own methodology and uses different terminology to explain the movement to their students.

It's important to:

1. Pick someone who makes you feel comfortable.  If you're paying money you want someone you get along with.
2. Find someone who is versed in what you want to learn.  Denver is fortunate to have a considerable number of experienced dancers who will help you improve your dance skills.
3. To ensure you get the most "bang-for-your-buck", have a good idea of what you want to "get" from that instructor.  I suggest watching your choice of instructor to see what they are like when dancing with others:
⁃    Is it obvious that your choice of instructor is having a good time dancing with EVERYONE? 
 
⁃    Is their partner enjoying the dance as much?  What does their partner's facial reaction convey?  Confusion or confidance?
 
⁃    Does your choice of instructor do movements you wish you could do or wish you could do better? 

In my opinion, the determining factor shouldn't only be how long they've been dancing, it's more important to know whether people enjoy dancing with them!

My Kinda Groove

My "style" is focused on social dancing, not in performance or competitive dancing.  That's because social dancing is all that I do — although, I'm proud to say that I won Denver's first "Most Social Dancer" award a couple of years ago!

I have no problem owning up to the fact that performance and competitive dancing are not my forte — because they require fast dancing skills.  Yes, I can "do it", but I usually don't enjoy dancing to fast songs.   My thought is that I want to dance every dance I possibly can, and after dancing to a fast song, I'm tired, I want/need to catch my breath and I have to sit out a song.  NO THANKS!

When I've asked Follows to describe my Lead, I've been told that I'm a "strong Lead" and I like that description.  The word "strong" has NOTHING to do with strength, it's more synonymous with confidance.  I believe my partners enjoy our dances more when they don't have to guess about ANYTHING that I'm leading.  And that comes from being a "strong Lead".  It's all about confidance -- confidance gained by developing my frame and connection first and foremost,  not focusing on learning more and more movements.

I try to dance with EVERYONE (or as many people as I can get around to in a night), especially my students.  When dancing with people in my classes it's never to critique.  I look at it as an opportunity for them to practice what was taught and for me to see how effective my teaching has been, and refine as necessary.