Encouraging Students to Change Partners in Dance Classes

Our next few posts will deal with helping students with the adjustment to learning how to ballroom dance. After being an instructor for so long, it’s hard to remember what it’s like to be a student. It’s helpful to remember those nervous butterflies and uncertainty. Imagine being a student, entering a ballroom dance class for the first time, bringing a close friend or significant other. You and your friend plan to enjoy the evening together, learning how to ballroom dance, spending time in each other’s company. You are surprised to learn the instructor wants you to rotate partners. You object to this, feeling intimidated by the idea of new partners.

There are many reasons why our students do not want to change partners in a ballroom dance class. One reason is that extremely shy individuals find it difficult or threatening to rotate to a new unknown person. This fear usually diminishes as confidence in their dance skills increases during the ballroom dancing class. Another strong reason that couples dislike rotating is that in some religious or cultural groups, dancing with anyone but your spouse is not permitted. You may want to require established couples to check with you before they can insist on always dancing together. Have the couple remain to the sides during class, so as not to be disruptive to the other students. You can also suggest your studio’s private lessons to couples who want to dance exclusively with each other.

We as instructors have all experienced that couples who remain together while learning how to ballroom dance tend to fall behind in group learning situations. By changing partners in a ballroom dance class, we’re speeding up the learning time of our students. Allowing students to dance with an excellent partner is always a nice change of pace for them. Dancing with someone who is struggling forces students to really know their own part and gives them a small opportunity to be dance instructors themselves. Changing dance partners can also prevent students from developing bad habits.

Not only is rotating great for students, it also allows you and the other instructors to watch students reacting to different partners. This helps you to hone in on the range of ability levels in each ballroom dancing class—from students who can barely figure out which foot to move to those who expertly help their partners through the steps. Every time a student works with a new partner, you’ll see different strengths and weaknesses, helping you to know what your students all need to work on.

Here are a few ideas of what you might say to your students when requiring them to switch partners, reminding them of the benefits of switching:

• Changing partners is good for both men and women. Women improve their ability to follow by adapting to the different styles and leads of partners in a ballroom dancing class. Men develop better lead skills by recognizing that some women require more precise timing, clearer signals, or a firmer or gentler lead than others.
• When two dancers learn to dance only with each other, they do not develop the understanding of leading and following that they would when they change partners in a group ballroom dance class.
• After rotating partners, when you go back to your friend or significant other, you will be more accomplished and make an even better couple. Your knowledge of how to ballroom dance will have improved.
• By changing partners in ballroom dance class, you meet new people. Dancing is a wonderfully social activity and that involves rotating partners.

How else have you encouraged students who are reticent to dance with unfamiliar partners? Leave your comments below.