Event Dates

New and experienced dancers alike, learn to lead and follow with skill and confidence! Learn the music, basic patterns, styling, turns, and common moves for Salsa, Merengue, Rumba, Cha Cha, Bolero, and other related partner dances. Beyond just steps and patterns, you will learn the movement and partnering principles needed for making any dance move possible. You will actually remember new dance moves and know how to apply them to many different dances. No dance experience required. No partner needed. Dress comfortably for a movement class.

Event Dates

New and experienced dancers alike, learn to lead and follow with skill and confidence! Learn the music, basic patterns, styling, turns, and common moves for the classic “smooth” partner dances – Tango, Fox Trot, and Waltz – as well as the exciting rhythmic Merengue. Beyond just steps and patterns, class focuses on good form and function. You will learn the movement and partnering principles to unlock your individual style. No dance experience required. No partner needed. Dress comfortably for a movement class.

Event Dates

This event occurred
in the past.

Every summer, Brigham Young University in Provo, UT (50 miles south of Salt Lake City) hosts a Ballroom Dance Camp for Adults and a Ballroom Dance Camp for Youths.

In years past, I have attended the adult camp and had a fantastic time. Not only is the access to quality instruction superb, but the instructors are the very people who often judge at the competitions Sarah and I attend.

The adult camps offer a full week of dance classes, social dances, performance, and full immersion into ballroom dancing. The organizers limit enrollment to ~250 participants. In the years I have attended, there have been about 30-40 participants under age 30, with most of the participants ages 40 and above.

The camp is attended by mostly amateur dancers, most of whom do not compete in dancing, but rather enjoy dancing as a great hobby. Classes are offered in beginner through advanced levels and are taught by skillful nationally (and internationally) prominent dancers and dance teachers.

Private lessons are available with any of the instructors. (Look at the website links, above in the white box, to see who is teaching. The current US Smooth Champions are teaching at the adult camp, if that gives you some idea of the calibre of instruction available.)

I have never attended the youth camps – intended for HS students – so I do not know first-person details about them. I suspect they are quite similar to the adult camps in quality. HS students may attend the adult camps, and each year I was there several HS students were participants.

I have no relationship with the camp or with the organizers. I am posting it here so that you may consider adding a dance camp to your summer plans.

Event Dates

This event occurred
in the past.

New and experienced dancers alike, learn to lead and follow with skill and confidence! Learn the music, basic patterns, styling, turns, and common moves for Salsa, Merengue, Rumba, Cha Cha, Bolero, and other related partner dances. Beyond just steps and patterns, you will learn the movement and partnering principles needed for making any dance move possible. You will actually remember new dance moves and know how to apply them to many different dances. No dance experience required. No partner needed. Dress comfortably for a movement class.

Event Dates

This event occurred
in the past.

New and experienced dancers alike, learn to lead and follow with skill and confidence! Learn the music, basic patterns, styling, turns, and common moves for the classic “smooth” partner dances – Tango, Fox Trot, and Waltz – as well as the exciting rhythmic Merengue. Beyond just steps and patterns, class focuses on good form and function. You will learn the movement and partnering principles to unlock your individual style. No dance experience required. No partner needed. Dress comfortably for a movement class.

If you have completed one of Darrell’s or Sarah’s recent classes, then this class is for you!

This Group Class will meet each Thursday from 6:00 – 7:15 pm, beginning 5 August 2010 and running until 26 August 2010, for a total of four sessions.

In this 75-minute class meeting for a total of four sessions, we build upon skills you know in Salsa and Merengue (and perhaps other dances you already know). This class will use those skills to present Cha Cha and Bolero (two additional Rhythm-style dances).

Students should be familiar with cuddles, hammerlocks, under-arm turns, and the movement-of and reaction-to space – these are skills that both Darrell and Sarah teach in their beginner/new-dancer classes. You will continue to refine these skills in each more advanced class that you take.

In addition to having greater mastery of these basic skills, by the end of class you will be very comfortable in Salsa, Merengue, Cha Cha, and Bolero.

Along with partnering, musical interpretation, in-class performances (for the other class participants – optional, but encouraged), developing greater strength/balance/flexibility, movement technique, and unlocking your individual and combined creativity, course material will introduce topics such as light and shade, acceleration, using changes in elevation, delayed turns, dynamic power, shared weight, dips/tricks, and partner communication/sensitivity.

This class is designed for dancers who have some experience with partner dancing and will move at an appropriate pace.

Please, no Street Shoes on the dance floor. Dance shoes, dance sneakers, or stocking feet are all fine.

Pre-registration is required. Contact the Instructor to reserve space in this class and to ask any other questions.

Event Dates

This event occurred
in the past.

If you have completed one of Darrell’s or Sarah’s recent classes, then this class is for you!

This Group Class will meet each Thursday from 6:00 – 7:15 pm, beginning 10 June 2010 and running until 29 July 2010, for a total of eight sessions.

In this 75-minute class meeting for a total of eight sessions, we build upon skills you know in Salsa and Merengue (and perhaps other dances you already know). This class will use those skills to present Rumba and Swing (two additional Rhythm-style dances).

Students should be familiar with cuddles, hammerlocks, under-arm turns, and the movement-of and reaction-to space – these are skills that both Darrell and Sarah teach in their beginner/new-dancer classes. You will continue to refine these skills in each more advanced class that you take.

In addition to having greater mastery of these basic skills, by the end of class you will be very comfortable in Salsa, Merengue, Rumba, and Swing.

Along with partnering, musical interpretation, in-class performances (for the other class participants – optional, but encouraged), developing greater strength/balance/flexibility, movement technique, and unlocking your individual and combined creativity, course material will introduce topics such as light and shade, acceleration, using changes in elevation, delayed turns, dynamic power, shared weight, dips/tricks, and partner communication/sensitivity.

This class is designed for dancers who have some experience with partner dancing and will move at an appropriate pace.

Please, no Street Shoes on the dance floor. Dance shoes, dance sneakers, or stocking feet are all fine.

Pre-registration is required. Contact the Instructor to reserve space in this class and to ask any other questions.

Good Dancers

Briefly, a Good Dancer is a welcome addition to any social dance scene, even though (s)he may not be the most skilled dancer.  Good Dancers must be aware of the etiquette of partner dancing in a social setting.

Knowing how to manage personal space – where your hands go, how close you dance to someone else – as well as how to behave toward other dancers and dance partners when you attend a social dance, is a very important part of demonstrating that you are a respectful dancer, a Good Dancer. Learn more about social dance etiquette.

Just as importantly, Good Dancers are the ones who do not correct their partners and do not try to teach complicated moves/concepts (or anything at all) at social events.  They are not necessarily the ones with the flashiest moves.  They are the ones who are able to make even brand new dancers comfortable enough to have a great time dancing!

What does it mean to “teach at” someone?

It is the practice of correcting your social dance partner while dancing (instead of while practicing, or even better, letting a teacher do the correcting). It is the assumption that your partner — and not you — must have done something wrong if the move didn’t turn out as you intended.

My only exception for correcting your partner on the dance floor (or even while anywhere at a social dance) is if that person is hurting you. Hurting also includes making you feel uncomfortable or creeping you out in some intangible way.

Being injured (or being creeped out) is not a part of social dancing. If someone is hurting you or making you feel uncomfortable, you are well-justified in telling that person. Clearly. Bluntly. Directly. “You are hurting me” or “Your body is too close to me”.

If that person is unwilling or unable to stop hurting you (or stop creeping you out), then walk away from them. Yes. Right in the middle of the dance floor. Walk away. No apology. There is nothing embarrassing about enforcing your boundaries. Just walk away.

It may seem harsh, buy why should you put up with someone who is unwilling to be a Good Dancer?

Partner Dancing is an exercise in mutual awareness: knowing how movements in your own body affect your partner, how/when/why to change dance partners, knowing what kinds of moves you can do with any particular partner, and performing excellent social dance etiquette.

Remember, Partner Dancing involves an implied agreement to invade the personal space of another person. There are “rules” to how this is done, and Good Dancers are respectful of these rules. The mistakes happen when these implied yet mutually-agreed-upon rules are violated. (By virtue of your attending a social dance and dancing with other people, you are agreeing to engage these rules.)

Man/Woman vs Lead/Follow

In the group classes I teach, I tell several anecdotes about some of the things men do that constitutes mistakes. It’s not that women never exhibit bad behavior – some women do – it’s just that I have seen men being worse about it much more often than I have seen women do the same.

Incidentally, when teaching, I am careful to avoid gender pronouns or discussing the “Man’s” part or the “Woman’s” part. (The roles of Lead and Follow are in and of themselves gender neutral.) However, when I am specific about Men and Women, it usually involves anecdotes about behavior at social dances or on the dance floor.

Male Egos on the Dance Floor

I’m sure every female professional ballroom dancer can tell numerous stories about dancing with some man who proceeded to tell her (a professional dancer and teacher herself) how to dance. I rarely – though sometimes – see the reverse case, where a woman tells a male pro how he should dance.

Men, not only is that rude, presumptuous, and chauvinistic to assume you know more than your partner, it means you will be the topic of an anecdote in class or an entire article at some point.

Just because you have never met a particular woman before doesn’t mean that she is a new dancer, nor does it mean that she wants you to teach her anything even if she is.

My professional partner, Sarah Calhoun, as well as many female pros, definitely use these personal experience when teaching their own classes as examples for the men of what not to do.

Why men might behave this way is the topic of numerous books and even complete fields of study. Suffice it to say that I see it regularly with ballroom-dancing males, and I find it distasteful and disrespectful.

Check Yourself!

Men, it is easy to stand apart from the less respectful (or outright disrespectful) men – all you have to do is avoid being cocky! When you do begin feeling that inflated sense of egotistical pride, go some place (a social dance in another city, a competition, a more difficult class) and get your humility back.

Men, don’t get me wrong. It is still appropriate to take pride in what you know. It is appropriate to feel good about your dancing. Dancing is an enjoyable, expressive activity. Be proud! Definitely!

Remember humility as you dance with — not at — your partner! Be aware of your partner, and how he or she is reacting to you. With that mutual awareness, great dancing can emerge!

Spend your upcoming tax refund dance classes! Sarah’s New Dancer Swing 101 begins this week Thursday, 15 April 2010. Class meets for four weeks on Thursday evenings from 6-7:15pm at Kanopy on State Street.

For all details and enrolment information, click here.

WI State Dancesport Championships

The Wisconsin State Dancesport Championships – the biggest competition in the Midwest (next to the Ohio Star Ball) – begins this week at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.

Be in the audience for the amateur events (dance students dancing with each other) and pro/am events (dance students dancing with their teachers) on Saturday, 17 April 2010. Witness for yourself what a competition is really like and see who actually competes.

For all details, admission, and carpool information, click here.