31 Milestones Every Ballroom Dancer Should Have
In the epic dance journey that you are on, sometimes you just need permission to celebrate along the way.
Some of these accomplishments you may have already done. There are others that are in process right now, and then there may be a few that just don't fit your goals.
The most important thing is to take a few minutes to acknowledge your progress. Feel free to keep score, take notes, or share your results with our dance community on Facebook.
It's time to take a minute to look at how far you've come, and where things are going next.
1. Talking and Dancing
One of the first major breakthroughs in your social dance hobby is when you're able to talk while dancing. Listening may come a bit later, but this is a major accomplishment for dancers of all levels.
2. Weight Loss
This is one of the greatest unexpected side effect of your dance lessons, and it's probably one of the easiest to track. Whether it's the number on the scale, a belt that you keep punching new holes in, or a particular size of clothing, this is a breakthrough that has a long life of great milestones.
3. Your First Group Class
Check this one off the list, and not just for your first-ever group class. You should celebrate each time you take a group class at a new level, or in a new dance too.
4. Your First Practice Party
Taking the material you've learned to a Practice Party is as important to your dance development as behind the wheel driving instruction is to getting your license. The Practice Party may be on your to-do list, or a regular part of your learning, either way - it's an accomplishment.
5. First Student Compliment
It's easy to dismiss the encouragement from your teacher, and this is not meant to invalidate that at all, but there's something about a dance compliment from another dance student that feels so rewarding.
6. Successful Transition from Tango to Foxtrot
Ever finished a Tango, gone into a Foxtrot, and yet you were still doing the Tango? Since some dances are very similar in their mechanics (like Waltz and Rumba), it's easy for your body to confuse one for the other. When you can successfully make a transition from Tango to Foxtrot, or from Swing to Cha-Cha, that's something to celebrate.
7. First Demonstration
This won't be what you signed up for, but that doesn't mean it won't be great for you. Your first dance demonstration won't require the splits, a costume, or a contract to be on Dancing with the Stars, but it absolutely is a great breakthrough in your confidence to celebrate.
8. Your First Coaching Lesson
If you've had a coaching lesson or two, congratulations - you understand how fun and valuable they are to the learning process. If you haven't, think of this milestone as the one that can trigger many of the others listed here.
Read More about Coaching Lessons
9. (Narrowly) Avoiding a Dance Collision
Floorcraft is how you navigate the dance floor. Like driving, there are some humble and limited beginnings, but if the moment you use a dance move like the Magic Left Turn, the Arthur Murray Turn, or any variety of Promenade to avoid a collision... you're well on your way, and this deserves a moment of celebration.
10. Maneuverability
Early on in your Ballroom Dance development, you're really equipped with one direction: Straight Forward. This tank-like stage is followed by adding an additional direction to make you increasingly more maneuverable. At this point, you can get from Point A to Point B on a dance floor going forward, backward, or at an angle with ease.
Examples: Using the Junior Walk in place of the Magic Step
11. Lesson 10
For some reason students seem to settle in to their program by Lesson 10, and there's some type of dance breakthrough. Maybe this has something to do with Muscle Memory, or perhaps it has to do with the fact that this, once foreign, place is starting to feel like your new hangout.
12. Supervisor Progress Check
Your teacher will become an extension of your comfort zone. This is why it's normal to feel a little nervous when the Supervisor comes to check in on your progress. Consider this a regular milestone designed to trigger many more along the way.
13. Your First Dance Notebook
This is optional, but if you notice a gleam in your teacher's eye when you begin to take notes on your progress - don't be surprised.
Read More about Dance Notebook Tips
14. Your First Dance Event Outside the Studio
This is a full admission of dance hobby guilt. Be proud of it. Maybe this is part of your upcoming graduation, a freestyle event, or you decided to join in on a big group formation - stepping outside of the studio is how you fast track your dance confidence. Definite milestone.
15. Recognizing Dance Music
This may be a foregone conclusion to some, and a life altering moment for others, but any dance student should take a deep, celebratory breath when they can hear music playing and know which dance it corresponds with.
16. Being Recognized as a Dancer
We all have titles. Maybe you're Tim, the network engineer, or Donna, the interior designer and Mom - but if there was ever a moment to circle on your calendar, it should be the day that someone gives you the title of "Dancer". It may take you off guard, you may not be prepared to wield that title yourself, but it is a true testament to your dance journey.
17. Finding Your Footwork
Sure, there were some gentle reminders that may, or may not, have turned into threats... but eventually footwork began to make sense. You invited your heels to the ballroom party, left them absent in the latin party, and at some point your teacher will shed a quiet tear and nag a little less. Mission accomplished.
18 A.) Discovering That You Can Lead
It's hard to feel like a leader when you never feel worthy, but somehow it just happens. There's a step you have in mind, a crackpot plan, a decision to just go for it, and, for some weird reason.... it works. After that, like a kid who just learned to ride a bike, you are hooked on the idea and want to take it everywhere.
18 B.) Realizing You Can Follow
Leading may be "dance multi-tasking", but following is a skill on a totally different level. It's a ballroom dancing trust fall, it's a spiritual journey, and it takes something far more valuable than effort to get right - it takes trust. Yes, the moment you let go, read, and respond to someone else's dance signals is a day worthy of celebration.
19. Your First Pair of Dance Shoes
Maybe this happened minutes after your first dance lesson, or you put it off until it was really necessary, but adding a pair of dance shoes to your social dance hobby is a definite moment.
20. The Step of Faith
"Take a step like they aren't even there" says your professional instructor who seems to have zero fear on the dance floor.
The ballroom dances are the closest thing to walking, and yet walking with someone inches away from you seems so counter-intuitive and risky. Even weirder? That idea of "try to step on your partner to send a better signal" can be downright frightening.
But then you realize, once again, that it actually works, your teacher is right, and your ballroom dancing just got a lot better.
21. New Additions
It's funny how we can all have hard opinions on certain things that we have never tried. Maybe it was some headline we read somewhere, or the fact that it doesn't look like something you thought you'd like, but for whatever reason, it's normal to dismiss dances we aren't familiar with.
Then you learn to dance.
You try some of these dances in a group class, notice other people using them at a party, and before long - your dance program gets its first remodel, and you're adding Minor Dances like Bachata, Hustle, Merengue, or Salsa to your dance repertoire.
22. Your First Dance Competition
Whether you are calling it a dance vacation, a Dance-O-Rama, or "a total immersion confidence building activity surrounded by sparkly people"... we'll just call it a competition, for short. Going to your first one says a lot about how you feel about your progress, your belief in the process of learning, and the fun you are having.
23. Twinkling
A twinkle is a mythical dance term. It's a buzzword in ballroom dance communities around the globe, and eventually you'll learn to do one. It also represents a new style of movement in both the Waltz and Foxtrot where your patterns expand beyond the confines of Boxes and Magic Steps.
If you've achieved this, congratulations.
24. Hip Motion
Yes, the elusive motion that can mesmerize innocent onlookers, sculpt your physique, and add instant "street-cred" to any of your latin dances. While one would never check this accomplishment permanently off a dance to-do list, if you have spend time icing your hip flexors, or can appreciate the intricacies of Cuban Motion while moving backwards, then consider this a moment to celebrate.
25. Rise and Fall
The Ballroom technique equivalent to hip motion, rise and fall is what gives dances like Waltz and Foxtrot an effortless, floating on a cloud, look. Despite what it may look like, it takes a whole lot of effort to make something look easy.
26. The Natural Use Stage
You should have the Arthur Murray Curve of Learning committed to memory. Outside of a few other dance details, your social security number, and your top secret spy security clearance pass code - this is something to remember.
It is your learning road map. It captures the fundamental challenges to learning, and shows that there is something outside of the Awkwardness that most new dancers feel early on. The Natural Use stage is the light at the end of an awkward tunnel for any skill or step you're learning, and anything you've taken into that promise land gives hope to the rest of your skill set.
27. A Completed Routine
A solo routine is 90 seconds. Just enough time to have three 30 second chapters that just might feel like 30 hours when you first perform it. Your heart will race, your hands might shake, but this is where muscle memory, faith in your instruction, and a big bold step outside of your comfort zone will combine to create a surge of confidence.
If you've completed a routine, you know the feeling.
28. A New Level
Graduating to a new level is a pretty straightforward achievement, but sometimes the most obvious things are the most overlooked. Instead of focusing on the certificate, pin, congratulatory handshakes and hugs, or new level you will be entering, try focusing on all the moments that nearly derailed you in your quest for those things.
Your past will put that certificate into a whole new perspective, and that's something worth handshaking and hugging about.
29. Greeting Someone New
Progress can be a sneaky thing. For all the moments of frustration, joy, and perfectionism we experience, nothing will be quite so rewarding as when you have an opportunity to connect with someone brand new to the studio.
You'll think, "was I really that nervous?" and because you already know the answer (it's yes), you'll pay it forward by smiling, encouraging them, and reminding yourself that you're a bigger fish in the dance pond than you might give yourself credit for.
30. Defending the Hobby
Along the way, one frequently overlooked milestone comes in the form of standing up for your hobby. Those moments when anyone from friends, co-workers, or family will question your decision to learn ballroom. These are the moments that reinforce your decision, the moments where you can speak to the wonderful side effects you've experienced, and just might be the moment when your casual activity truly becomes your hobby.
31. Calling Yourself a Dancer
I'm a ballroom dancer. Just try saying it. You may giggle, think it is ridiculous, or not feel it is befitting, but you certainly fit the description. That may be something that you've wanted for a long time, or something that you're saying for the first time - regardless, it's one of the most important milestones on your dance journey.
Final Thought
Exactly zero of these accomplishments would be possible without one.
The one that started it all.
The choice you made to walk in and take your first dance lesson. That same decision that could have ended up on the cutting room floor of your busy schedule. That decision that could have easily been replaced with another new show on TV, or one late night at the office.
That decision may have come under some scrutiny, but you didn't let that stop you.
Here's a tip of the cap to the one that started it all, and to many more milestones moving forward.
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