r/ballroom Feb 15 '26

Local Ballroom Dance Announcements

12 Upvotes

Post announcements for their local ballroom dance socials and classes here. Please do not repeat posts. For example, if your studio holds a monthly social dance, just post your schedule once, and don't post every month. Please include location (city, state/province, country) in your post.


r/ballroom Mar 14 '19

Wedding Dance Music and Style questions? Read this first.

51 Upvotes

Former Pro here. I've noticed recently that there has been an uptick in wedding related music and dance style posts and there will be more coming soon since wedding season is coming up. Here are some things that need to be known first before your special day.

1) Please take into account your gown/ suit/ shoes situations. The last thing you want is to practice a beautiful flowing waltz then realize the day of that you or your partner are wearing a tight fitted mermaid style of gown and slide on 3 inch stilettos. Not ideal for a flowing waltz.

2) Decide what you can live without. Have you always wanted to dance to particular song that you both loved since you first started dating? Great! Then figure out what you both are going to wear after deciding what kind of dance you want to do.

3) Does wearing the gown and veil of your dreams mean more to you than just about anything? That's great too. You don't have to reveal the details to your partner other than letting your partner know how wide you can freely move your feet from side to side and forward and backward. How long is your length of stride?

4) Practice aids: If you chose a restrictive style of gown practice with a theraband tied around your knees that mimic your stride abilities for the day of. It's silly but it helps. If someone is wearing a long dress then wear any type of long skirt to practice in so your partner can get used to not seeing your feet.

5) Dance shoes: if you decide to change into special dance shoes make sure your pant legs and skirt hems are altered appropriately so you don't trip! I can't tell you how many students I have taught forget about this one. Their ceremony shoes were giant then the dance shoes were ultra low profile in comparison and everyone was tripping on their hems.

Hope this helps.

TLDR Don't forget about what you are going to wear. You don't want to have a shitty time dancing :)


r/ballroom 32m ago

Any Chinese with access to iDance can help?

Upvotes

I just came back from Shenzhen where my son attended a competition, I am trying to register on iDance to get the results but I can’t as I don’t have a Chinese sim ,

Can someone please help me find out the results and maybe screenshot them to me??


r/ballroom 13h ago

Advice needed: searching for a ballroom (practice) dress

5 Upvotes

Hello! ☺️
I‘ve been competing in latin dancing for a while, my partner now wants to compete in standard/ ballroom as well. So:
I am looking for brands that sell standard practice dresses that I could decorate/ embellish myself. I really enjoy working on the decorations myself since I love working with rhinestones + I don’t want to spend thousands on a designer dress since it’s my first Ballroom Dress and I don’t know how much I will actually compete in it.

I‘m specifically looking for colorful dresses, no black, would prefer no red or dark blue. They should be good quality, once i add the rhinestones etc I don’t want the dress to be easily identified as a practice dress in comparison to the other dresses on the floor. The brands I‘ve already looked into and liked are TID (tania international design) and Noblesse, but TID might have issues shipping to countries within the EU (if anybody has experience with that, please let me know) and Noblesse doesnt have a dress I would choose at the moment.
I‘m thankful for every suggestion! 🥰


r/ballroom 5h ago

Online dress shops

1 Upvotes

Has anyone used sites like DDressing.com or Danceandsway.com?

My teen daughter is participating in her first competition and our dress budget isn’t very high. She needs a Latin comp dress and we found a few potentials on these sites but I’m wondering if others have had any luck with them. Or are there other similar sites to consider? We’re in California.


r/ballroom 1d ago

Ballroom 🕺Jack and Jill 💃Competition!

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14 Upvotes

Join us on August 8th this year at DanceSport Studio in Marlton, NJ for the 🌞 Solar Summer Swap 🌞 (SSS), a first-annual, few-of-its-kind, all-ballroom Jack and Jill competition!

🕺Jack and Jill 💃 (J&J) competitions uniquely emphasis the much-desired skill of lead-and-follow. Unlike most comps, entry requires absolutely no partner! Individuals enter as either leads or follows into ungraded placement rounds. Each round, you will dance with a new partner, and based upon each individual dancer’s performance in the initial rounds, all entrants will be divided into appropriate proficiency categories.

The brawl of lead-and-follow will continue in the same manner through consecutive rounds, until a victor lead and a victor follow is crowned for each proficiency level.

The 🌞 SSS 🌞 will feature all 4 Ballroom styles (Standard, Latin, Rhythm, Smooth) in a one-day competition, with various fun-dances to be enjoyed during the comp.

Regular registration end TOMORROW July 22nd! There’s a special discount for current collegiate dancers and USA Dance members.

More information about the comp is available at solarsummerswap.com!

And join the discord!: https://discord.gg/4aYZ546AM

P. S.

All New York Metropolitan Area dancers! We are organizing a charter bus to bring you from the city to Marlton, NJ on the day of the comp. Look for the relevant announcement on the Discord server!


r/ballroom 3d ago

Looking for dance partner

3 Upvotes

I used to dance ballroom as a kid for 2-3 years. Me and my partner were pretty good and we took part in many competitions, came first many times, but I had to stop due to illness.

I’m thinking about starting again, I’m now 24 years old (female), 157cm and looking for a partner who is in a similar position to me.

I’m based in London :)


r/ballroom 3d ago

Good places to start. My cosion is trying to get into the whole dancing seen and is moving to the hartwell ga area does anyone know good places around there where she can go. Specificaly ballroom dance

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0 Upvotes

r/ballroom 4d ago

Any place to learn International Jive in Houston?

4 Upvotes

Hi all,
I’ve been trying to find a place that offers International Ballroom Jive group classes, not swing…
Does anyone know of any dance studios or schools in Houston that teach Jive as part of their International Latin program? I’m mainly looking for group classes (intermediate), not private lessons.
Thank you!!


r/ballroom 4d ago

Dancing near Downtown Dallas

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3 Upvotes

r/ballroom 4d ago

Small Meniscus Tear Advice (Grippy floors?) + Update

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted.

Some of you might remember that I suffered a small L5/S1 disc bulge about two years ago. Thankfully, I managed to work through it, competed all last year, and have continued training around five times a week.

This year I've started dancing with a new partner who's a couple of grades above me. It's been fantastic for my development, and she's very body-aware and technically strong. Together with our new Latin coach, they've corrected a lot of my biomechanics, including my squat technique and some of my Latin positioning.

The one challenge has been the floor.

For the past three years I've mainly trained on a very smooth floor, but my partner lives an hour away and her studio floor is much stickier. We've been doing a lot of pivots and rotational actions recently, and although I've tried using talc/cornstarch (and more recently tape on my shoes) to help the shoes release, there have still been a few occasions where my foot has grabbed during a pivot and I've felt my knee twist or stretch.

Over the last few weeks my knee has become a bit irritated. I don't remember one dramatic injury, pop, or swelling episode but rather just a few moments where the foot caught and the knee didn't feel happy afterwards during a pivot where it stretched/pulled a bit.

I saw my physio (who I normally see for my back), and I had a positive McMurray's test. After reassessing it a week later, he thinks it's likely a small meniscal tear and has referred me to a specialist/MRI for confirmation.

The good news is:

  • No locking
  • No catching
  • No giving way
  • No significant swelling

I can still dance and recently got through a 90-minute Latin session, but the knee feels slightly irritated afterwards. Not sharp or swollen, just a bit clicky.

pivoting on that side is becoming a little more uncomfortable compared to the other side. Not huegely, just a bit.

I'm honestly pretty devastated because dancing has become a huge part of my life, and after finally learning to manage my back, I'm terrified that a knee injury is going to stop my progress.

So I have a couple of questions for those who've been through something similar:

  • Has anyone here returned to competitive dancing after a meniscus tear without surgery?
  • If you did manage it conservatively, what helped the most?
  • If you ended up needing surgery, were you able to get back to the same standard of dancing?
  • Has anyone else dealt with sticky competition/practice floors causing problems with pivots, and how did you manage it?

I'm really worried as I don't want surgery as I know removing the meniscus leads to arthritis, less cushioning etc.

I'm trying not to catastrophise before I've even had an MRI, but I'd really appreciate hearing some real experiences from dancers who've been through this.

Thanks everyone.


r/ballroom 5d ago

If I want to increase my mobility to a high degree, which dance style would be the best?

3 Upvotes

Hi!
I want to increase my hip mobility in my daily life. I do exercises at the gym, but if I were to spend more time dancing a bonus would be if that dance could contribute to increased mobility.
When I say increased hip mobility, I mean to a rather high degree, not just "slight" mobility. For reference, I am trying to learn the front and side splits at the gym.
This may be a hard ask, but I am curious regardless if you guys have any opinion.

Beforehand I will rule out ballet, because I think I would injure myself doing that haha.


r/ballroom 5d ago

Mens ballroom shoes

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11 Upvotes

Heya,

Where is everyone getting their mens shoes from? I have been buying from Ray Rose, but the heel has changed hight and I have always bought the exact same shoes. As you can tell from the pic, the heel is much higher. I really want higher ones like this. I contacted the supplier, but no explanation. I just want higher ones without going to Latin shoes (i do standard and new vogue)


r/ballroom 6d ago

Rotary vs viennese vs cross step footwork

2 Upvotes

I social dance rotary and cross step and taking viennese lessons.(so fast)

Im a beginner on all 3.

From what I can understand, the footwork to go around your partner for rotary is step forward, side, together

Cross step is cross, side, together

And viennese is forward, side cross?

Im still working on keeping track of where my foot goes and what my foot is doing.(what is that called)


r/ballroom 6d ago

Footwear for instructor interview?

2 Upvotes

Hi folks, I have an audition-style interview approaching with a franchise studio to become an instructor. I have an extensive dance background (classical ballet) but no ballroom experience, meaning that I don't own the correct shoes! As I don't want to invest in expensive ballroom shoes before knowing if I have a job, I'm looking for advice on the best alternative to wear (for context, I am a man).

I own normal dress shoes (no suede sole), sneakers, and ballet flats. I'm assuming ballet flats are very much not the right way to go, but I'm concerned the sneakers will have too much grip or that the dress shoes will be hard to dance in/at risk of messing up the studio floors. Are any of these options viable? Is there a better alternative that I could inexpensively find/thrift? I have a few days until the interview still, so there's time to prepare. Any advice would be super appreciated, as I'm totally new to this corner of the dance world!


r/ballroom 7d ago

Heel tips

4 Upvotes

My wife's ballroom heels are showing wear and she's looking for a source of heel tips. Any recommendations?


r/ballroom 7d ago

What do you do when your partner gets mad and frustrated at mistakes

14 Upvotes

Working on a choreo dance for our wedding my fiancee has a problem. She gets mad at mistakes and it always leads to this cycle, 1. She tries to correct the mistake, 2. She starts leading 3. This throws me off 4. Things spiral and we lose it 5. She ends up more upset.

We are adults and we have been talking it out trying to find a solution, she fully admits she's being unfair but has trouble as it "just comes out" we are both under immense stress from the wedding and the looming deadline to get it looking good and our instructor is now trying to coach us on "keeping a happy face and not letting anyone know you've messed up"

I guess my question is, have you ever had frustration issues while dancing? Did you get over it? What did you do? This is new territory for both of us and I'll take any advice I can get


r/ballroom 8d ago

Ouch

22 Upvotes

Gentlemen, when you dance with an older woman, that is much shorter than you and you try to get her into frame don’t pull her up to the level of your shoulder. Bring yourself down to her level. I had a really tall guy pull my arm up so hard It hurt my shoulder. He grabbed under my arm and yanked it up with his arm to get to his height and I swear my rotatir cuff tore a little. pleae be gentle with these older bodies. This isn’t competition for goodness sake we are just here for a little dancing fun.


r/ballroom 8d ago

Ideas for 80s line dance to begin ballroom party

7 Upvotes

Hi all,

We're hosting an 80s ballroom dance party this week, and we always open with a short line dance that we teach to get everyone on the dance floor and dancing. We did a fun dance to ABBA's Dancing Queen to open our 70s party (did some samba moves for that one) and I've been thinking about a good song to line dance to for the 80s. Anyone have suggestions or experiences with this? Major thanks. <3

EDIT: The one I won't do is Thriller since we usually do that to open our Halloween Party. =P


r/ballroom 7d ago

3 inch heels

2 Upvotes

Hello! I recently switched to 3 inch heels, but people have been telling me that it will be difficult to dance in. I have been using 2.5 inches for a while. For context, these are EF dance shoes with a straight heel and T-strap. To me, these heels feel really stable. I am around gold level and have been dancing for around 5 years. Is this an appropriate height for me?


r/ballroom 8d ago

Ballroom/latin success as a beginner

12 Upvotes

Realistically, does anyone have success stories or any experience at all they can speak of after starting dancesport late? When did you start and what was your journey like? Anything really helps 💕 or anyone’s story you know of, or any people online that have similar stories about starting late.

For reference, I’m 18 and where I live ballroom is not common at all so unless you’ve started as a child there aren’t many opportunities. I know for a lot 18 isn’t even too late but please do take into consideration that I live in a country which has very different cultural norms and dance norms to western countries


r/ballroom 7d ago

Costumes Survey/Encuesta de Disfraces

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1 Upvotes

r/ballroom 8d ago

Reverse turn, cross step

3 Upvotes

We just started the v. Waltz reverse turn.

Im having trouble with the swing hips take big step part and the cross step part.

Which I also had issues in tango.

I just feel like I have no stability when I cross my foot. If I cross left over right, should the weight of my right foot be even distributed flat? Or should I be more forward on my toes?


r/ballroom 9d ago

Jump roping as a Jive drill?

6 Upvotes

Im looking for ways to be lighter and quicker on my feet to be able to improve my jive. I feel like I can learn the steps but the speed of it ultimately breaks down my technique. Is jump roping a good option to help with this. I feel like it’s similar. Or are there any other suggestions to improve my agility/ bounce action in the jive?


r/ballroom 8d ago

Ballroom classes

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1 Upvotes