My friends are all getting married and I need to learn rhythmic footwork.

7/3/2012 8:31:47 PM

I went to Arthur Murray on Capital and couldn't believe how much they wanted for lessons. You're probably better going to free salsa night at Havana Grill or something.

7/3/2012 9:09:42 PM

Thanks!

7/3/2012 9:28:29 PM

dancing with the wolves the ncstate ballroom team has like open dance lesson nights like once a week I think

http://www.dancingwithwolves.org/events/lessons.php

they're free

7/3/2012 9:55:16 PM

I don't remember who (somebody else may), but someone was recently on here talking about dating a dance instructor at the place they were taking lessons. That is all I've got besides google.

7/3/2012 10:45:26 PM

They teach shag & swing at Loafers Beach Club in Raleigh. Wife and I took shag

7/4/2012 10:08:53 AM

traditional dance lessons (partner dancing) aren't going to help much at typical dancing venues. I would say practice with a metronome, just moving on beat. then try to identify bpm on popular tracks. the only "dances" you need to for sure learn are line dances

and I still don't know the electric slide!

7/4/2012 1:16:02 PM

As a (former) ballroom dancer, it'd be helpful if you narrowed down what you're looking for

Many dance places will have free-ish social nights where you and a bunch of strangers show up and they give a group lesson. There are also the serious dance halls who train you for competitions.

Dances With Wolves is great and I'd highly recommend trying them out on a free social night, especially at the beginning of the semester when a lot of people show up to try it out. I'm not sure if it is still going during the summer, but check their calendar.

7/4/2012 2:12:02 PM

You guys rock.

7/5/2012 12:03:14 AM

Yea, Arthur Murray loves money and you don't necessarily get your moneys worth, notably because you don't get to pick the instructor. In addition, they have several fundraisers and their employees go into salesperson-mode which is awkward when you don't have much money and just need to learn the basics.

Take advantage of the free nights at bars/restaurants places.

7/5/2012 7:14:32 AM

Quote :

"traditional dance lessons (partner dancing) aren't going to help much at typical dancing venues."

i don't know that this is true, but i don't know what you mean by "typical" dancing venues

i say this because the instructor who taught the lessons my wife and i took before our wedding helped us (well, me...my wife could dance already ) identify which style matched the song so that it wasn't just canned routines

that was a big deal for me because i have no rhythm and feel like i'm generally pretty bad...but it gave ME confidence and i had a great time

Quote :

"the only "dances" you need to for sure learn are line dances"

this is very true and something i had to learn

if nothing else, i took this out of my lessons: "when in doubt...meringue!"

Quote :

"and I still don't know the electric slide!"

me either

7/5/2012 8:46:34 AM

7/5/2012 9:11:14 AM

Long before we were married, my wife and I decided that we didn't want to just "stand there and sway" during our first dance at our wedding reception. I had had many years of dance lessons back in middle school and high school, but my wife wasn't as confident. We had a series of lessons over several weeks at a ballroom called A Step To Gold on Glenwood Ave. Although our instructor has since moved on to the competitive circuit, I would highly recommend this place.

It's really helpful if you give an instructor an idea upfront of what you hope to accomplish. (Which may not be easy to do if you're not involved in the song selection...) Best way to do this is to have a song (or songs) picked out so they can choose a dance style to best accompany it. We did a choreographed rhumba for our first dance, and then did shag for our second.

7/5/2012 9:33:38 PM

People actually do real dancing at weddings? We are always too busy drinking to worry about this kind of stuff.

7/5/2012 11:44:12 PM

Who needs dance lessons when there's an open bar. Dance lessons in a bottle.

7/6/2012 9:14:09 AM