Ballroom dancing

[charlottep]

What's the easiest dance to learn for an adult beginner with 2left feet and no man! And where can you learn!

[Africanqueen]

City Limits on Penistone road hillsborough are starting new beginners classes and they are brilliant at teaching all ballroom and latin- give it a go- I know several men and women who have gone there(on their own)

[charlottep]

Thank you for post!

[Mouserat]

It's not ballroom dancing, but have you thought about modern jive? It's easier to learn - less focus on footwork. It's very social. We tried ballroom dancing for a while, but didn't really get on with it but we've really enjoyed modern jive, and there's lots of opportunities to practise. And you learn some really useful skills if you want to learn to ballroom dance in the future - how to lead / follow, how to listen to the music, posture and styling. Lots of the moves are even adapted from ballroom / latin. We go to Blitz in Crookes (http://www.blitzjive.com/index.php), although I think there are other classes in other areas of the city. We go to Blitz because they're local for us, but we've also found it a friendly atmosphere. They have a beginner's class and then a chance to dance, and then they have an advanced class or if you're a beginner, you repeat the beginner's class. During the class, they encourage you to swap partners and you really learn much quicker when you've the opportunity to dance with more experienced dancers. You don't have to go every week, you don't have to start any particular time, you don't need a partner - lots of women come on their own or with friends. And for £7, you get an hour's lesson and another couple of hours' dancing. Learning jive has been one of the best things we've done together and we've found all sorts of people doing it in all sorts of places. Always take my dance trainers on holiday now just in case!

[charlottep]

Thanks for post sounds interesting! I'm trying to experience a few new things but am not fit or danced before!

[chelle 35]

Oh My goodness,

 

The words ballroom dancing bring back happy memories of the Sutton Hall and Mrs. Myers class, there was only one boy there and he was so scared when we made a bee line for him lol, I very much doubt she is there now tho, but I would like to thank her for giving me a silver medal x

[jane2008]

Ball room dancing takes place at the city hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've been told it's very informal and fun.

[WallBuilder]

The waltz is probably the easiest dance to learn although when they start on about rise and fall it sounds a bit more complicated. i think all guys should at least be able to do the forward side together as it comes in useful at weddings if you at least show a semblance of how to lead granny around the floor. Roll on the next series of Strictly come dancing

[charlottep]

I totally agree......I'd love a modern man who could waltz and not just at weddings! Thanks for post.....I'm quite interested in the modern jive which someone mentioned earlier!

[RichK]

We went to City Limits for a while and it wasn't great to be honest. The first week there were something like 15 couples, but week by week they started dropping out till there were only 2 couples left. When one week the other couple didn't turn up, we were told it wasn't worth doing it for us, so come back next week.

 

We didn't much like the idea of gambling whether it was on or not, so that was the end of the lessons. A year of forking out, and nowhere to take it. They did suggest rejoining a beginner's group, but that meant starting from scratch - and we'd got quite good by then!

 

If you're single they will have you, but I sensed that it's awkward for them (not much chance of getting a partner of the opposite gender).

 

Also, a big problem with learning latin and ballroom is - where can you actually put any of it into practice? Not many opportunities for doing a QuickStep (although the ballroom Jive is very useful at discos and clubs). City Limits do have social evenings, but we went once and the atmosphere is a bit tense because you get a kind of competitive edge to the night (there are some VERY good dancers there, and they want to show it!)

 

As others, I would suggest that modern Jive is a good option - you don't need a partner (you get rotated round all night), and you get to actually do a social dance after the lesson.

 

A similar option is you can do Salsa at Cubana's on Trippet Lane - you can just turn up on a Saturday lunchtime and join in the lesson for a fiver. Similar thing - rotating partners and social dancing afterwards.

 

Edit to add - you haven't got two left feet! Everyone says that, it's rarely true. You can walk, so you can dance. It's much easier than it looks, you could pick up the basics of waltz in half an hour.