Orange County Wedding Dance Classes Success Story with Kristen and Micheal
Kristin and Michael – Orange County Wedding Dance Classes Success Story!
Wedding Venue: Private Residence in Orange County, CA
Kristen and Michael first stepped into our wedding dance studio on February 13th. Being Valentines Day weekend, it felt like the perfect time for the newlyweds-to-be to start planning their first dance. Love was in the air and Kristen and Michael were going to be getting married in just over two months on April 22nd, 2016. They had found our wedding dance classes by reading reviews about our dance studio on both Yelp and the Knot. They described themselves as having two left feet even though Kristen used to do ballet and Michael had body awareness from having served in the military. They had two songs in mind, “What a Wonderful World” and “Fly Me to the Moon”, but really wanted to do “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. They shared that their wedding would have a moon theme, so that was one of the big reasons this was their dream song for their first dance. They felt discouraged that “Fly Me to the Moon” might be too difficult of a song choice and too fast. I told them not to worry. It was a very danceable song and I’d teach them what they needed to feel great on the dance floor to their first choice wedding dance song.
On the wedding couple’s introductory lesson, I taught them a foundational dance step that would work with either of their song choices so they could ultimately decide for themselves which song they would feel most comfortable dancing to. They wanted a classic feeling and wanted to both look and feel natural. I also taught Kristen and Michael a beautiful underarm turn to compliment their first dance pattern. After thoroughly consulting with Kristen and Michael and showing them what they needed to be able to dance to either song choice, they ultimately realized that dancing to their dream song would not be an impossible feat and they were delighted to move forward with their top first dance song choice!
On this couple’s first full wedding dance class, we worked on the timing of their basic step and also how to rotate their foundational pattern so that they wouldn’t be facing the same way throughout their entire first dance. They would have guests watching their wedding dance from opposite sides of their dance floor so we would have to keep that in mind as we stared choreographing their first dance. I was also able to teach Kristen and Michael a super fun sweetheart cuddle, spin out, and side dip on their first lesson. They had enough to practice before their next dance lesson!
As Kristen and Michael’s first dance lessons continued I taught them upbeat wedding dance moves that would be a perfect match for their Frank Sinatra song. Before long, Michael was leading Kristen through turns, spins, dips, lifts, and picture-perfect dance moves. I taught the wedding couple dance patterns that appeared to give them a lot of movement, but didn’t require them to travel too much because their first dance would be performed on a small square dance space about 14 feet by 15 feet.
About halfway though their wedding dance classes, Kristen and Michael had enough dance moves for us to start putting them together and to begin making the best game plan for their first dance. Kristen started the dance by walking gracefully into frame as the first quiet beats of the song played. The couple would start dancing together right as Frank Sinatra started signing “Fly me to the moon…”. They started their first dance out with a beautiful turn that would show off Kristen’s dress and some quicker turns that gave an exciting element to their dance right off the bat. Their dance continued and as Frank Sinatra sang “…baby kiss me…” Michael would send Kristen into a dip and then kiss her. Michael led their dance moves so that guests on both side of their dance floor would get to see some of the wedding dance action.
At the end of Kristen and Michael’s first dance song, there were a lot of big, fun, trumpet accents. We created a big finale for their first dance. Kristen spun out to Michael’s side and then spun all the way across and in front of him to his other side before spinning back in for two lifts! After all of their show stopping wedding dance moves, Kristen would walk back into frame just as the dance had started and Michael would lead her one last time into their biggest dip of the dance followed by a big kiss!
It was so rewarding to see how far Michael and Kristen had come. When they first arrived to our dance studio they had doubts about being able to dance to their first dance song choice, and by the time they were done with their wedding dance classes they were more than ready to wow their guests with dips, tricks, turns, and lifts!
Congratulations to Kristen and Michael on their wedding and their wedding dance success!
Article by Ziva
