New- Bee Information

Line dances are choreographed dances that vary in the number of steps and difficulty and are often choreographed to a specific song. Some line dances are more regional and may be performed only in your local area or club, while others can be found nationally at clubs around the country. This is mainly due to the popularity of the dance and out reaches of the choreography.

In 2008 we have focused on teaching national and international dances as well as the classics, this increases your chances of knowing the dance when visiting other areas / clubs.

Consider the value your getting for your dollar, you want popular and current dances in a good learning environment when selecting a classe to attend. You may find inexpensive lessons which are subsidized by the dance clubs they can be good, but often the value is not there.

Video is another media for learning dance however I don't recommend it since it is often dated material which is no longer danced and is being taught to a camera and not a group. Teaching to a group is always better because the instructor will not only adjust the lesson time based on the achievements of the class, but more emphasis will be placed on difficult steps. At my classes your welcome to bring a video camera anytime I will be happy to run thru the dance steps before or after class for your archives. Dance step sheets are provided on this website for the dances we teach, downloads are free and I will be happy to assist you with any questions you have interpreting them.

In our classes the time is split up for dancing and lessons. Each week we review the previous weeks dance and teach another. The experience levels of the dances vary week to week from beginner to intermediate levels. Some evenings we spend the time reviewing instead of teaching a new dance. It not the difficulty level you should be concerned about as a beginner you goal is to learn as many of these step patterns as you can take home and practice. Many step patterns are repeated in many dances it's the order of the patterns which makes the dance unique. It will take you a few weeks but soon the dances will become easier and faster to learn. 

A word about footwear:

Good foot gear is a very important. Shoes with leather soles or dance shoes found at any dance wear store are the best. Rubber soles or sneakers leave at home. The latest fad is Jazz Sneakers and I recommend you check them out, they are very light weight and comfortable making them great for lessons and long hours on the dance floor. Jazz Sneakers are very affordable selling for around $25 per pair, I just bought Sansha sneakers for $21.00. A word of caution when buying any dance shoe, the sizes are crazy and each manufacture tends to be different. For example if I follow the Sansha sizing chart it converts my size 13 street wear to size 16, when actually a size 19 fits. This is a problem when mails ordering since many return policies charge a hefty restocking fee. I highly recommend contacting customer service before mail ordering and only order from a place that stocks merchandise vs. an answer service for mail orders.

The latest Sansha product is called Skazz, found at http://www.sansha.com/sneakers/index.html
For more information I recommend the NYDanceStore.com or DanceX.com