Redmond Mission:
Teaching Couples to Dance

How does a person with no previous experience learn to lead or follow improvised movements with a partner in their arms? Many of us assume that dancing is a natural ability, one which they just weren't blessed with at birth. Our exposure to dancing comes from seeing the extremes. At one extreme, we see people with no training dancing without structure in a club or at party. At the other, we see performances by professionals on television or in the theater. Consequently, there is a common sentiment that when it comes to dance, you either have it or you don't.

At SlowDanceConnection, we believe that dancing is a skill, not a natural ability. Learning to dance might be harder than learning how to ride a bike, but it is easier than learning to master piano. Partner dancing is a little like language- you need to know a few essential "words" and the basic grammar before you can begin to "speak". But once you learn to put together your first few sentences, the rest comes more easily.

There are many schools of dance out there that focus on the goals of performance and competition. Here at SlowDanceConnection, we focus more on the social aspects of partner dance. In our beginning Slow Dancing classes, we teach people how to respond to music they might hear at a party, wedding, or club. Our students usually have two goals: to build confidence in their ability to dance, and to have fun.

We favor a casual, structured approach to dance that focuses on improvisation rather than choreography. We believe that what makes partner dancing work is when both partners feel a connection with one another and with the music. Our teaching methods aim to help students develop that connection and build it into a skill they will have for the rest of their lives.