5 and half tips on how to Charleston Partner Dance

When I first started to learn how to partner dance I thought it wasn’t for me. I found it very hard to adjust to being led, where traditionally the male dancer leads his female partner around the floor and he dictates the steps that the pair will do. Having danced my whole life by myself, it felt quite alien to have to hold onto to someone, let know being told what to do! However, over time I have fallen in love with this style and now regularly teach private partner Charleston lessons.

Over the past few months, I have been working with a few different couples. Some have focused on traditional 1920s Charleston where we cover each week different steps and techniques. With another couple, I have been working on their first dance for their wedding. A romantic ballad with simple partner steps.

Having worked with many couples, you begin to spot common things that people find tricky. If you are wanting to start to partner dance or you have just started, here are my 5 (and a half) tips which you can add to your personal practice.

1. Have a strong frame - Frame is vital, not only in partner Charleston dancing but, in any genre. It’s how the dancers are connected and move as one. If you have a weak frame it becomes impossible for the two dancers to know what is coming next as partner dancing is all about responding to each other’s signals.

2. Keep eye contact - Eye contact is everything in partner dancing, if you can’t look your partner in the face how are you going to be able to read what is going to be next. Sometimes it does feel a bit weird staring at someone you have just met in a social situation but don’t let it put you off and enjoy being in the moment. 

3. Take decisive steps - If you are the lead and commit to a turn, a walk or change of direction, you must be clear in your move so the follow understands your decision. If you are too timid the follow cannot guess what move you are trying to do. Equally, the follow must respond with a decisive move too. 

4. Practicing switching roles - If you have a regular dance partner, try switching roles to see what it is like for other dancer. This technique will also help you work on your frame and the signals you give to each other for each move.

5. Listen to the music - Find your groove with the song and try your best to dance to the beat of the track. When you lock in with the music, the dance becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable for the both of you.

Oh and my final piece of advice, is to remember to laugh and embrace mistakes! Learning to partner dance is all about the enjoyment of learning to dance with someone special, so if things go wrong it doesn’t matter as practice makes perfect.

If you would like to find out more about booking private lessons or need help with your first dance just fill in the enquiry form below.

Elena :)

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How to Have the Perfect First Dance

When I was a little girl, I had images of myself and my husband doing a beautiful waltz as our first dance for our wedding.  Unfortunately, as the date of our wedding started to get closer I was reminded that my husband-to-be had two left feet and had never danced in his life. My aspirations of a vienze waltz worthy of the strictly final flew out the window.

However, Michael knew how important dance was to me and suggested that we did a surprise Charleston dance as our first dance as our guests would never suspect it. I was already taking on  huge craft project by making all the decorations and stationary for the wedding, I was not sure that I also had time to teach him to dance. 

To help Mike get the basic moves mastered, I put him in the trusty hands of Elena and Fiona and he attended the beginners Charleston course with MyCharleston. He quickly realised why I love the Charleston so much and I was impressed with how quickly he picked up the moves.

I caught him practising his Charleston everywhere, while doing the washing up, in the garden, brushing his teeth, you name it he was charlestoning. Not only did he perfect the basic Charleston, he was also doing the 1930s Charleston too! 

We practised in our living room, which at the time was filled with craft projects for the wedding, so we didn’t have much space. When it was sunny, we pracised in the garden, and our neighbours must have thought we were crazy.  Rehearsing together was so much fun, and was easily one of my favourite parts of wedding planning. We laughed so much and it was a great way to de-stress from all the difficult parts of wedding planning.

As the wedding drew closer, Mike started to get a bit nervous but I knew he was going to be great. The only people that knew about the first dance were the girls from Savoy Kicks, MyCharleston's dance troupe and I was so pleased that we had managed to keep it secret. 

Our first dance was one of our favourite parts of the wedding. The Charleston is the a perfect dance for us as it is silly and fun, and we just had such a great time performing it. Our guests were so surprised and they were all cheering and clapping the whole way through. As soon as we started Charlestoning, I could hear my sister scream, it was lovely to see our guests so happy.  When we did the lift in the middle of the routine, our friends and family all went wild.

We did our Charleston dance to ‘Yes sir that’s my baby’ by Firehouse Five plus two as this was the music that Mike first saw me perform with Savoy Kicks. Before the Charleston, we danced to a cover of The Book of Love by Airborne Toxic Event. Mike introduced me to the band when we first got together, and this song means so much to us.

After our first dance, my friends who run the company MyCharleston got all our guests on the dance floor and taught them how to Charleston. It was incredible to see all the people we love all doing the Charleston together. It was a great way to kick off our evening celebrations. No one could use the excuse that they could not dance to avoid joining in, as if Mike could do it. Anyone could do it.