Dance Factory: A Review

I got a request to do a post after we did our next private lesson - but since I've been a bit flaky about posting lately, I'll tell you about our other Dance Factory experience first! If we do go back for another lesson, I'll update. :)

[image from dancefactory.com]

Mr. Fairfax and I enjoy going out "dancing." And that just means grooving any which way on a dance floor, nothing actually organized or coordinated. I've always wanted to learn to dance for real, so I was excited at the prospect of taking official lessons - in particular I was hoping someone would teach me how to not try to lead all the time!

Well I'm happy to report that it's not that hard to not try to lead - as long as your partner pays attention to what he's doing, which I think Mr. Fairfax did a very good job of doing. Our instructor was Nadia, which is not helpful to you since she announced at our last lesson that she would not be teaching there anymore.. But she was great!

A couple things to know about these dance lessons:

• each section of the beginner level of classes covers the basics of 3 different dances - we did tango/foxtrot/waltz, another section covers foxtrot/triple-swing/rumba, and the third section covers waltz/single-swing/rumba. Now don't ask me what single- vs. triple-swing even means! We didn't take that section.. They do recommend that you take all three sections of Ballroom I, and I have to say I agree because I sure would have loved to learn all those other dances. You can enroll in one class at a time (so, one night a week for 4 weeks), or all three classes at once - see the prices and schedule online.


• you don't need to go with a date, but if you do, be prepared to dance with many other people! It can be awkward but I have to admit, it does help you work on being able to dance with anyone, not just your partner. and you do generally get the chance to go back to your date several times in a lesson.

We also did one private lesson - they offered one free 30-min private lesson for new students, I think they offer it all the time, but it may have been a special going on last month, not sure! If you go and they offer a free lesson, go for it! It was great getting some one-on-one (well, one-on-two) attention and instruction. The only thing I would do differently would be to know the dance you want to do at your wedding before going to a private lesson. We went early on in the month just to get some basic dancing help but I wish we had gone in with our song in hand so they could tell us which dance to do! As it is, we'll probably need to go back for another private session.

All in all, I definitely recommend Dance Factory! Let me know if you go, or have gone. Mr. Fairfax hated waltz, which I thought was funny, because it came most naturally to me of all the dances. He prefers foxtrot, which comes the Least naturally to me! But in the end I do think we'll go with foxtrot, it's the most versatile. I was talking to a friend of mine who went with her then-fiance, and turns out He hated waltz too! Maybe it's a guy thing, I don't know!