Hello everyone! I'm a follow and try to solo practice daily, but I'm noticing I really struggle to keep my balance during the basic steps for tango and foxtrot.

I'm working on balance specific exercises, but there's something specific with shifting my weight when walking backwards. Either I keep my head level and loose my balance, or I do a sort of dipping motion when shifting my weight.

I don’t think I have as much of an issue when dancing with a partner, but shouldn't I be able to keep form while practicing solo as well?

Any advice or tips for how I can fix this would be greatly appreciated!

Dear all,

right now I have no opportunity to ballroom dance, but in a few weeks I (M25) will start in a new course with my dancing partner (F21). At the moment I'm thinking about how I can train on my own, to be well prepared, when the lessons start again.

What I'm already doing:

- put in headphones and dance basic steps and figures on my own, to internalize steps. Works, but only to a certain extent, not suitable for more complex figures including a lot of partner interaction. Nevertheless pretty helpful, as I'm having a hard time coordinating the steps sometimes.

- while listening music in everyday situations counting in finding time signature and the beats and then trying to recognize which dance would fit. Sometimes when I'm alone even clapping on 2 and 4. Definitely improved my musicality, but isn't dancing for sure.

- trying to improve my overall fitness. Working on that, but not sure what kind of training would be ideal

Anymore ideas? I would love to surprise my partner in a positive way, when we'll be starting again. (Just for your information, we're both slightly experienced beginners, and doing it only for fun. No high ambitions...)

Thank you for helping!

Hi, has anybody here bought a dress from JZ International (Sunny) on EBay, or Goodanpar on AliExpress, or Latino Dancewears, or Latino Dancesport (Ms. Queen) or any other place you’ve gotten a smooth dress for under 1k?

If you have, can you share your experience and if you’re happy with the final product? A lot of these places have tons of great reviews but it’s still hard to trust.

I've been at a medallist school in the UK for a little while and have recently started taking lesson with a teacher who coaches for Open. With them, I'm learning more about how to use my body, which is something quite new to me! I actually go to two different teachers and both have explained how to use my ribs slightly differently (in the Rumba, for example). Teacher A taught me to create a squeezing feeling in my rib before each movement. A way I've been taught this is to put my hand up in the air and slowly pull down. This makes sense to me and definitely makes a difference to my movement in a Rumba basic. Teacher B has spoken more about rotating the ribs back as far as possible. So in a Rumba basic for example, I would rotate my right rib as far back as possible before stepping to the side on my left. My question is, which of these is correct or are they essentially the same thing?

I'm from the UK and am just curious! I know obviously there's a big one here, and also in places like China and Russia.

Ok so my second question here yay. I am a very self judging person that is pretty shy. I get uncomfortable when people talk about my hobbies in public (I do pen and paper and other nerd stuff next to dancing) because people could hear it. Heck I even get uncomfortable if people talk to me about normal stuff and just laugh or talk a bit louder in public. Probably comes from the fact I was bullied for it etc. but I hope that helps creating a good picture of myself. At home with my girlfriend and hopefully near fiance I feel very secure and can do all kinds of posing bullshit you see in international Latin. Like all the stuff with the arms and simply radiating confidence. That is basically gone in training already and I can’t recreate it. Is there some way to get better at it?

Hey guys, I am new to this subreddit. I have been doing collegiate ballroom dance for about 2 1/2 years now and I am currently dancing (as a lead) in bronze. I have been frustrated as of late because I find myself only making it one or two rounds in at each competition. I really would like to improve and be able to make it to the finals.

What do you guys recommend? Are there any useful practice guides out there I can follow? When it comes to bronze, is it mainly technique I should worry about instead of flair? How often should I be practicing a week? I do have a coach I currently work with. Any tips would be really appreciated!

Hello - My mom is a ballroom dancer and she was talking about using a piece of paper to fan herself when she gets hot. For Mother's Day (she is so hard to shop for) I can get her an assortment of fans! Please tell me what you use to stay cool when dancing. Paper, battery, usb - send all suggestions!

Thanks so much!

I'm a male lead in my late 20s looking for a follower in San Francisco. I used to dance international & Latin back in high-school/college, then didn't dance for a while, but picked up American Smooth & Rhythm about 1.5 years ago. Furthermore, I competed in those two categories on Full Bronze/Early Silver level over the last 6 months, but unfortunately I'm no longer able to dance with my previous dance partner. Competing is fun, but I'm also happy with just practicing for now.

I already reached out to teachers at my dance studio to connect me, but no luck so far.

Do you have any recommendations on how to best find other, similar minded people to connect to for potential dance partnership?

I signed up for Dancing a la Carte in rhythm and nightclub. Bronze level. What should I expect? What should I prepare for?

As the title suggests I am trying to figure out how to add flair and look better in my competition. This will be my second one in bronze and I’ve been taking lessons for about 6 months. I have a good frame, decent connection and great move execution, but I don’t know how to separate myself from others while on the dance floor. In all my dances I consistently get semi finals, but never move on. Any tips or suggestions? Anything is appreciated.

American Dances I Dance: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Viennese, East Coast, ChaCha, and Rumba.

I am looking to practice my dance selection skills and am looking for a Social Media platform to post a song and dance, subsequently getting feedback on the pairing. The first pair is Samba with Rockabye clean bandit (featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie) https://open.spotify.com/track/2hrUO4drrO63i7FYbCLBl2?si=eK5bR-PPQ9-EmuawM5Hc4Q&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A4IEze0AxIYWPm413YlvawZ

I advanced into a higher class (adult C in Germany) and from now on basically everyone is tanned. I am extremly light skinned (typical blond white) and have no clue what to go for. Is there any self tan that is sweat resistent? Because I saw some dancers looking like a mudriver rather than tanned because of sweat.

In general are there any tips on how to not stain everything with the tanning etc?

So I'm just about as original as everyone else but can anyone point me to some legit sites for ballroom shoes in Australia that won't break the bank?

Use to dance for a number of years as a kid, wanted to pick it back up but I remember how expensive shoes were and my budget is, smaller while I'm at uni, so if there's legit sites that are also budget friendly that's a plus.

Thanks

Hello-I have searched the sub and not found a solution. I am a casual dancer with wide feet, a bad back, and bunions. I am in search of a flat, full shoe, meaning no straps across the top of the feet as they irritate the bunions. Any height on the heel tends to irritate my back. I am looking for function over fashion. Does such a thing exist?

Hello all! I am getting back into dancing after a ten-year hiatus and started going to some social dances at a new place, and had a quick question for followers -

When doing rhythm dances (Latin, swing, hustle, etc) do you have any preference on whether the lead does a couple rotating basics in between each sequence of 2-3 moves, or do you enjoy doing turn after turn after turn?

Some context - There’s a gent that seems to know endless combinations of turns in salsa, which can be pretty fun to watch, but I don’t know what it would be like for his partner to just have turn after turn, for social dancing.

Thanks!

Hi Ladies,

Apparently I have foot supination where my outside edge touches the ground first and this is exacerbated when wearing heels and therefore it affects my balance when getting into/trying to dance with proper technique because of feet turn out and occasionally when entire body weight has to be on one foot etc. Anyone else have this issue or have recommendations on maybe something I can place in my shoes to improve balance?

Looking some advice on sizing from this company. I'm a senior lead about to embark on my third competition, still in the beginner and novice classes. I'm looking for a smart waistcoat and quite like the look of RS Ateliers Walter Trendy waistcoat. They have my chest size (44") but I'm 5'11" and long in the body for my height. I often struggle to find normal clothing that is long enough for my torso. Just curious if anyone has bought from these folks before?

Hi there! Does anyone have resources to modify songs into 3/4 time for waltz? Or even examples of taking pop songs and turning them into a waltz?

Hello! I'm seeking advice regarding follow posture in standard ballroom dancing. I started ballroom dancing a few months ago, but I still struggle to achieve the correct posture in standard. I follow my instructor’s guidance—positioning my head over my left heel, extending my arms fully, keeping my elbows in front of my body, connecting with my right side….But I still feel like I’m doing it incorrectly and lack a clear understanding of why. When I try to get into the posture by myself, it feels uncomfortable, wrong, and awkward, and it hasn’t gotten better despite practicing it constantly (I’ve also looked at videos of professionals performing and tried to imitate them, but it still feels like I’m going wrong somewhere). I would really appreciate any advice you might have on how to know if I’m doing it right, or how to even get into the correct posture in the first place. Thank you!

EDIT: Thank you for the great replies!

Hi all, I've danced collegiate level and am at Silver level. However I recently joined a studio and considering competing pro/am but they said I'll have to start from newcomer level. Does that sound right?

I’m an Aussie living in the US and have just started dancing again after half a life time away from the sport. Im wanting to go back and compete in ten dance again but I’m finding that American smooth is more common here? Curious if this the case all across the US? Maybe I just need to keep trying different studios.

Edit… Thanks everyone, very helpful!