Hey. New to the forum.

[sunnyside_up]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. I'd just like to say hi.

One quick question for the beginner:
I'm currently in the process of deciding on starting latin dancing. I took interest in it after i tried out one class of the cha-cha. it was fun! so i'm thinking more seriously about it. My questions is which dance i should start with. The place i went to offers quickstep, salsa, tango, rumba, cha-cha, and samba for beginners...(bronze?).

And yea, what do bronze, silver and gold mean?

Thanks!

by the way, sorry if this is a repeated thread or something.

 

[reb]

sunnyside up,

Welcome to Dance Forums!

You will find a good group of knowledgeable posters on this forum willing to share their experience with you. The lateness of the hour might slow us down at the moment, but stay tuned over the next couple days and you should be getting some answers.

In the meantime, maybe check out some of the other threads . . .

 

[tangotime]

s.s.up

An interesting list of choices.

I,m guessing from your post (u.k. ,based.?--I,m a teacher here ) my q would be -- what are your immediate dance goals ? .
If social, then I would strongly recommend salsa ( opportunities for use ) far exceeds any other form.
If you decide the b/room genre, then there are 2 separate div. to consider. If it,s latin, then ask yourself , do you want " social " , or , the stricter medal class type ?. The easiest one ( if there really is one ) is difficult to say. My suggestion is go for the one that intrigues you the most.

In the other div., q/step is a good choice for a beginner .
As you take a deeper look into the choices available , it can become a little confusing , to say the least. Ask your teacher what he would recommend for your particular needs and wants .

 

[Indiana_Jay]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. I'd just like to say hi.

Welcome!

My questions is which dance i should start with.

I agree with tangotime in that the answer depends on your goals. However, in the big picture, I think the answer is, "it doesn't really matter." Eventually, you'll probably want to learn at least a little about all the dances, so just pick the one that looks most interesting at the moment and go from there.

And yea, what do bronze, silver and gold mean?

Those terms are used in competitions and in teaching syllabi to indicate levels of expertise. Normally, one learns the bronze (easiest) figures before one starts on the silver ones, etc. And in competition, one has the opportunity to compete against other dancers, all of whom are limited to doing the figures included in that level's syllabus (or in the case of silver and gold, that level and those below). If your interest in primarily social dancing, the bronze, silver and gold thing might not be all that important to you.

-IJ

 

[Spitfire]

Welcome sunnyside up,

If you want to start with just one dance and go with something easy I'd suggest Rumba, but any of the others would do for starters.

 

[tanya_the_dancer]

An interesting list of choices.

I,m guessing from your post (u.k. ,based.?--I,m a teacher here ) my q would be -- what are your immediate dance goals ? .
If social, then I would strongly recommend salsa ( opportunities for use ) far exceeds any other form.
If you decide the b/room genre, then there are 2 separate div. to consider. If it,s latin, then ask yourself , do you want " social " , or , the stricter medal class type ?. The easiest one ( if there really is one ) is difficult to say. My suggestion is go for the one that intrigues you the most.

In the other div., q/step is a good choice for a beginner .
As you take a deeper look into the choices available , it can become a little confusing , to say the least. Ask your teacher what he would recommend for your particular needs and wants .

Just a question to you, why do you think quickstep is a good choice for the beginner? I've always heard that it is too hard for beginners because of its speed and in group classes I used to take 6-7 years ago it was taught in advanced session.

 

[SPratt74]

Just a question to you, why do you think quickstep is a good choice for the beginner? I've always heard that it is too hard for beginners because of its speed and in group classes I used to take 6-7 years ago it was taught in advanced session.

That's what I was told too. But I will tell you I had done QS a couple of times, and I picked it up rather quickly. I was surprised, because I thought it would be harder than what I thought. The most difficult ones for me right now are the Latin dances, because of all of the technique involved. It was easier doing them for social dancing though, because you don't have to worry about technique. So, I would say if they want to learn Latin to decide what their ultimate goal is. Mine was to first social dance, but then I wanted to compete. So, I had to go back to the beginning to learn technique again. I think that if they want to compete, then ask about privates. But if it's to do social dancing, then I think that group lessons will work just fine.

 

[DancePoet]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. I'd just like to say hi.

One quick question for the beginner:
I'm currently in the process of deciding on starting latin dancing. I took interest in it after i tried out one class of the cha-cha. it was fun! so i'm thinking more seriously about it. My questions is which dance i should start with. The place i went to offers quickstep, salsa, tango, rumba, cha-cha, and samba for beginners...(bronze?).

And yea, what do bronze, silver and gold mean?

Thanks!

by the way, sorry if this is a repeated thread or something.

I'd give basic Rumba a try of the choices you mentioned based on the idea you are interested in Latin and basic Rumba seems relatively simple learn.

Bronze, Silver, and Gold refer to the skill level of the patterns that are being taught with Bronze intended to be the easiest.

And Welcome to DF! Hope to see you around.

 

[sunnyside_up]

The only dance i have any familiarity with is the cha-cha. (heh) So I guess i'll start with that. Thanks!

As for my goals, i want to eventually be able to compete so would it be better if i learned it socially first to get some moves down or go for more technique-based. Prior to this, I've taken ballet so imo, technical skill is very important, but i don't know if it would make a difference.

 

[tanya_the_dancer]

That's what I was told too. But I will tell you I had done QS a couple of times, and I picked it up rather quickly. I was surprised, because I thought it would be harder than what I thought. The most difficult ones for me right now are the Latin dances, because of all of the technique involved. It was easier doing them for social dancing though, because you don't have to worry about technique. So, I would say if they want to learn Latin to decide what their ultimate goal is. Mine was to first social dance, but then I wanted to compete. So, I had to go back to the beginning to learn technique again. I think that if they want to compete, then ask about privates. But if it's to do social dancing, then I think that group lessons will work just fine.

I picked it up easily, too, but by then I have been dancing for several years and already competed in American Smooth. I know one couple who dances only socially and all they know is international style, so they know quickstep, but I don't know at what point they started learning it - after they learned some slower dances or right off the bat. Other people I know also started learning with American style, and then went on to international, and picked up quickstep without a lot of problem. OTOH, I know 2 guys who dance only socially as well and like quickstep, and they make me think that maybe one needs a license to dance quickstep (I vented about them before, each of them is a disaster). The way I see it that in quickstep you need control at high speed, and it is something that rarely happens with beginners I think.

 

[DancePoet]

If you want to compete, taking privates could be very good because this is where technique is focused on the most.

The group classes will give a person enough to enjoy dance socially, but even a few privates would be helpful for some basic technique here as well.

 

[mamboqueen]

The only dance i have any familiarity with is the cha-cha. (heh) So I guess i'll start with that. Thanks!

As for my goals, i want to eventually be able to compete so would it be better if i learned it socially first to get some moves down or go for more technique-based. Prior to this, I've taken ballet so imo, technical skill is very important, but i don't know if it would make a difference.

Welcome to df! My personal thought would be that if you are intending to compete, do go and take private lessons and learn technique. I started as a social dancer with teachers who were teaching strictly social dancing (and were kind of three steps ahead of us in their training) and have had to since do a lot of un-learning in order to go the competitive route. It's harder, in my opinion, to re-learn something in a different way than learning it the right way the first time. Good luck with it!

Hmm...I should throw in the caveat that social dancers aren't learning the "wrong" way, but they tend to learn more steps, patterns, floorcraft, than actual technique (based on my experience).

 

[SPratt74]

I picked it up easily, too, but by then I have been dancing for several years and already competed in American Smooth. I know one couple who dances only socially and all they know is international style, so they know quickstep, but I don't know at what point they started learning it - after they learned some slower dances or right off the bat. Other people I know also started learning with American style, and then went on to international, and picked up quickstep without a lot of problem. OTOH, I know 2 guys who dance only socially as well and like quickstep, and they make me think that maybe one needs a license to dance quickstep (I vented about them before, each of them is a disaster). The way I see it that in quickstep you need control at high speed, and it is something that rarely happens with beginners I think.

I think it depends on the person and what they are wanting to learn themselves. My feeling is that those that don't like something probably had a hard time with that dance but won't admit to it, or they just find it dull and will say anything to get out of dancing it. I for one will admit that Latin is my weakest area (I've said it before lol). I have no problem admitting my faults (what little faults I do have I mean lol).

And if you see me in St. Louis, you'll know right away that Latin is my weakest area (which is why I won't compete in it right now). I don't like dancing Latin in front of people unless it's socially. I started off learning CW Social Latin though, and that's completely different than International Latin. So, you can about imagine the difficulties my poor instructor is trying to undo what I have already learned. (But hey if there are those that get Latin better than I do... spill your secrets!!! Inquiring minds want to know lol!!!)

Oh and that's another thing that I wanted to point out to the OP. Make sure you want to know what style of Latin you want to learn before signing up with a studio, but this should also apply to any other type of dance as well.

 

[chachachacat]

When I started learning International Style with a (British) former US 10 Dance Champion, we started off with Foxtrot and Rumba, and I got the impression that's the way it's done in England.

 

[Sagitta]

The only dance i have any familiarity with is the cha-cha. (heh) So I guess i'll start with that. Thanks!

As for my goals, i want to eventually be able to compete so would it be better if i learned it socially first to get some moves down or go for more technique-based. Prior to this, I've taken ballet so imo, technical skill is very important, but i don't know if it would make a difference.

welcome to df. IF your goal is competition than i would emphasis technique from the get go.