Your Very First Lessons

[Spitfire]

So were your very first dance lessons in partner dance privates or group classes from a dance studio or classes from outside the studio setting such as at a C&W or salsa nightclub or maybe a rec center, church or school?

Did anyone by chance first learn from say a friend, spouse or relative who showed you some basic steps and moves?

I actually went to these group classes at C&W nightclub for my first intro, but decided I wasn't comfortable with the class setting so I began taking privates. While expensive I felt more relaxed with the one on one from a private instructor at the time.

[fascination]

our first lessons were private lessons as a couple...we didn't go often...maybe twice a month b/c of dh's schedule...then for a while he would take a half an hour private and I would take one at the same time then we would get together for the last half hour....he still occasionally takes a small package of lessons..slowly...but hasn't been able to get back to it lately...we bough a small package around february and he still hasn't managed a single lesson...shrug...which is why I had to start taking lessons on my own

[Nybz]

You could say my first lesson was from someone I lived with, at the time, in college. He was on my schools team and showed me a few steps, then I tried out and have been hooked since. Then mostly groups, and now nearly all privates :D

[DWise1]

It was a group class. For that matter, in the subsequent 9 years I have only taken group classes, except for about a half dozen privates a year ago in silver/gold waltz and foxtrot, but only because that was a requirement for the two group classes (each a 6-month series).

The first class was intermediate salsa, though I didn't realize the level until I thought back on it much later. It was held once a week after work in the company cafeteria. Our company would subsidize activities that the employees were interested in so long as enough participated -- most such activities tended to be sports or fitness related. I was looking for something for my wife and me to do together and I overheard her tell someone that she'd always wanted to learn salsa, so I suggested this class to her. She was a teacher, so she had to wait a couple months for summer break to start; since I knew I needed all the help I could get, I started immediately.

Privates never occurred to me for two reasons:
1. I was a complete beginner totally out of touch with any dance community. It wasn't until the class ended 6 or 8 months later that I even learned about privates.

2. This reason carried on for the next few years -- I knew for a fact that it was impossible for me to ever learn how to dance, so privates would just be a waste of time and effort.

3. Going through the divorce and afterwards, dance class became my social life. Obviously, privates would not serve that purpose.

[Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition!!! Don't know why I loved that Monty Python line so much the moment I first heard it. Couldn't have been because my ex is Mexican.]

The story behind the second reason has been presented before. Back in college (early-mid 70's), she had "tried to teach" me how to dance, but was so clueless about teaching that she failed. And since she couldn't accept that she had failed, it turned out that I was the problem and just was completely incapable of ever learning to dance. And for the next 25 years she continued to reinforce my failure, even more so towards the end. It took me about 3, 4, or 5 years to realize that I could indeed learn to dance, even though I had continually received compliments from my partners during that time -- since there were fewer men than women, I had just assumed that they did that to all the guys in order to keep them coming to class.


How that very first class went? We did the standard steps warm-up in which I learned the basic and started to learn the turns. During that first warm-up, I drew upon the most similar experience I had had, Aikido workouts 25 years prior. That was especially fortunate for me, because it helped me immensely in the routine and gave me the right start for learning to lead. The routine started with a basic, a cross-body lead into "suzy-q's", to an inside turn, to another cross-body and I forget the rest. The thing is that I knew exactly how to do the inside turn, because we would do similar things in Aikido: blend my motion with hers, use my motion instead of my muscles, move her hand in the neutral direction between us so that her arm and the rest of her body will move and turn with it. Thus I was complimented by all my partners for my smooth and strong lead (which I interpreted as their buttering me up to keep a guy coming to class) and I had completely bypassed that awkward initial phase of trying to learn how to lead without muscling her.

[etp777]

technically my first "lesson" was getting tricked into one song worth of rumba with friend who was a pro.

First real lesson though was private at my current studio with FP. of course over the years have had privates, groups, learning from friends, family, etc.

[gracie]

Semi-retired former AM pro- what a romantic!

[dbk]

My FIRST first lesson was in my school cafeteria after hours, with a group of muuuch older people. I went with my mom, so I had to lead, and all the old ladies kept giving me this "aw, isn't that special" look :/ This in no way contributed to my desire to actually learn ballroom!

My 'real' first lesson, the one that got me into dancing, was at my school's ballroom club -- our team runs a club for people who only want to go 1-2 hrs a week. We're talking 100-200 people in a loooong narrow room, with one instructor. O.O I stayed for the third/team hour, thank god, and immediately started going to team practices... where I met and repeatedly kicked my now-boyfriend :D

[flashdance]

Group class at a local dance school.

I went there for around 2 years but it eventually died out - fewer and fewer people showed up and in the end they cancelled the adult classes :(
So, spent a year in hibernation and started looking again. Found another school closer to home and been there for 2 - 3 years now.

You never forget your first lesson...

[Lioness]

My first lesson really was at primary school, where they introduced something called 'footsteps'. We had a couple of classes all in together scared of catching boy and girl germs, and we got a few basics, all of which I promptly forgot.
Then mum took me along to her dance classes, which were monday nights and filled with people. QPO was probably there, though I didn't know it at the time. I had to dance with this random 16 year old guy (I was maybe 12 at the time) and he smelt bad. I didn't go back. Fast forward a few years and the same people who ran that class put together a kids-only class. Mum forced us into doing that for at least a term, just so he could get it up and running. I came to love it and kept taking lessons there. They were groups, but there were only a few couples, so it was almost like privates.
Now I've come to realise he lacks a lot in dance knowledge, and we're taking private lessons and using this group time as practise time.

[Br0nze]

My first lesson was a group class at the dance studio a friend of mine worked for and danced at. Reason I went to it, or even began dancing is as follows: I worked security for the studio during their annual showcase, and happened to be wandering the aisles since there was no real threat of any of the parents or friends of the family making any trouble, and caught a glimpse of the couple on stage, dancing their Samba. I was infatuated with the movements and decided that I wanted to learn how to move like that. After the show, I went over to the guy and asked him how to get into dancing, and he told me to come over to the studio when they were open (show was on a Saturday, studio opened Monday) and so I did.

My life has not been the same for the better ever since.

[dlgodud]

My real first lesson was a free lesson offered by studio. And I hooked up since then.

[RickRS]

Group class. Wife hooked me with the "cheap" dance lessons trick, as she had wanted to do dance lessons for many years, but I could always counter with "those ballroom lessons are so expensive!", as the reported price for privates was staggering for our limited (at that time) funds.

[JEM]

Our first lesson was a gift - a small dance package with 4 private and 4 group lessons. We were instantly hooked (well I was - DH loves me so tolerated it until he started to enjoy it for himself) and have been dancing ever since.

[Cheery]

I mustered up the courage to just walk into a dance studio and see what it was all about. I bought a package of introductory privates, series of four. I had no idea which dances I would prefer to do. At the end I realized it was Intl Ballroom Latin, but I was not satisfied with that first teacher/studio so I found another one.

Now am in Privates for above dance in another studio.

Previous to walking into that studio (I am a total dance outsider with no friends in dance and have never been to a social yet) my only other experience in dance was in my home country where I danced with so-called "dance instructors," men who are paid to dance with women -- these are not formal lessons but more like a paid service, and the men are very good dancers, the women eventually learn to dance.

But it's not structured, more social, and it's not international ballroom that they do, more like social style dances with no real rules.

[Gorme]

My very first lesson came from a wedding package, even though I wasn't getting married or had a partner. It was a twice a week group class for a month where I was the only student. The only other students was a soon-to-be married couple who never returned after the first day. I was very fortunate the teacher didn't cancel the class from the lack of students.