Dancing, like any other sport, is very subjective. There are many highly trained instructors for each dance. Whether it’s Waltz or West Coast Swing, Country 2 Step or Foxtrot, you’ll find that certain aspects of the dance remain the same no matter where you learn to dance and others will differ.

Each dancer and instructor listens, communicates and interprets information in a different way. As dancers, we should all be continually working to update and improve our own personal skills. In doing so, we should expose ourselves to as many instructors as we feel comfortable with. You will discover that there are differences of opinion about how and when your body should move and how a dance should be performed. My advice to you would be to focus on what the instructor is saying while she is in her class and give what she says a chance. Just because you’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean there isn’t a better, more efficient way to achieve the same results. If after giving what you learned a try, and it still doesn’t work for you, then feel free to continue doing what you were doing before going to class.

I have found that in every class, workshop or private lesson I have taken, there has been at least one very important point from the instructor that has positively impacted my dancing. I haven’t always agreed with what they say, but I’ve always tried to at least give it a try. I have also found that sometimes it is not what the instructor says, but how he says it. You may have heard the same thing over and over and never been able to understand what you heard and apply it to your dance and then someone else says the exact same thing in a different way and all of a sudden it makes sense.

Dancing in a competition is no different than learning to dance as it is also highly subjective. You take two dancers dancing the same routine side by side and some of the judges will prefer one of the couples over the other. They could be doing the exact same thing, with the only difference being the head tilt or the way one of them holds their hand and personal preference will sway all judges. There is no absolute right or twisted way to dance. Everyone interprets music differently, so learn the basics, get proficient, and allow yourself to dance to the music!