Last May, my husband gave me my most favorite present ever. Three private ballroom dance lessons.
You see, I used to dance. A lot. I started taking classes in third grade and basically never stopped. I started with jazz, moved on to modern, tackled tap in high school (after seeing Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk), and hip hop in college. But I never did ballroom. My husband on the other hand, took ballroom classes as a kid (which, by the way, is why my mother-in-law is awesome and raised two great men).
Anyway, fast forward a million years and he gave me a gift certificate on my birthday and I cried from happiness (seriously). Then life intervened and we never got off our butts to schedule the classes. Fast forward another ten months, and we finally did. I dug my old character shoes out of the closet and we had our first class three weeks ago, and the second a week after. I really didn't know what to expect - but it was fantastic!
My husband got the classes from a small studio called All2Dance - located right on MacArthur Blvd (really convenient location, by the way). This studio offers private lessons as well as group lessons and a ton of other options.
It's a husband and wife team (we've been working with the husband only, so I can't speak directly about Ann but she seems great), and Victor is fantastic. As someone who has worked with a variety of teachers, he's really awesome. He teaches very important technique in an easy, light atmosphere. He's fun but also is actually teaching you (something I really appreciated - I'm all for having fun, but at the end of the day, I want to walk away having actually picked up some real skills). I'd highly recommend him to any couples looking to put together a special first dance for their wedding, or just get some basics so they feel comfortable on the dance floor. We started with a fairly easy style, the Sway. And we love it.
Now we just need to know where to go practice in the DC area! Any recommendations?
