Enriching Lives Through Ballroom, New Vogue and Latin American Dancing
‘I shouldn’t do ballroom dancing, I’m too old!’ ‘I won’t fit in!’ No matter what age you are, it’s never too late to start ballroom dancing! Doing Ballroom Dancing can help improve many things physically, emotionally, and mentally. 1. Improves your Mental Health Beyond your physical health, dancing can also improve your mental health. It […]
It can feel like a mystery how to achieve great ballroom posture, but there are just two key things that you really need to do to have the posture of a professional dancer. Work your muscles involved in posture both up and down. Firstly to achieve great posture you need to work the muscles involved in […]
Ballet classes for children in Lilydale Children from Lilydale and surrounding suburbs have been delighted in Term 2, 2022 to join The Ballet Studio, Lilydale’s newest classical ballet studio for children. Every Saturday in the Dance Kingdom Ballroom, young ballerinas have been learning how to plie, arabesque, chases and tendu under the expert […]
Dance Kingdom welcomes new Dancesport Coach Olga Shniakina Dance Kingdom is proud to welcome a new member of the DK teaching team, Olga Shniakina. Olga started Ballroom and Latin American dancing at five in Russia and fell in love with it because it was ‘cool’. The early years started with her mastering the […]
The Ballet Studio comes to Dance Kingdom! Starting term 2 2022 children’s ballet classes will be running in the Dance Kingdom Ballroom. They offer the following classes: Preschool Ballet Perfect for kindergarten aged children. Classes provide a fun and engaging introduction to classical ballet for younger dancers. Students are introduced to classical ballet class environment, […]
Melbourne’s Forgotten Ballroom Unknown to most, Flinders Street Station is so much more than a busy transport hub where one simply goes to catch a train. In fact, in its long history, the building has had many uses such as acting as an education space to host lectures and night courses, housed a lending library, […]
5 tips to make sure singles get sore feet at a social dance Why would I I want to get sore feet?.. you ask… Because you NEVER want to be sitting down at a social Ballroom dance. You want to get asked to dance as much as possible. You want to be asked to dance by […]
Why is Tango described as a ‘flat’ dance. On the face of it, Ballroom Tango should be an easy dance. There is no rise and fall, so, apart from having a small and consistent flex in your legs, it’s the most similar to walking of all the Ballroom dances. But Tango is difficult for exactly […]
Ladies Head Turn in Twilight Waltz Ladies in New Vogue and Ballroom dancing often stylise their dancing by turning their heads to the right. Sometimes this head turn is done independently of body turn, but at other times, such as steps 7-9 (back, side, close) just before the oversway in the New Vogue dance the […]
Dancing with the Stars vs Dancesport So Dancing with the Stars series has been as popular here as anywhere, in particular as the show is jam packed with glamour, emotion and a fair dose of titillation that make up all the ingredients for a high rating TV show. But how much of what you see […]
What’s the point of Ballroom dancing medals? After you’ve been dancing for a few weeks and learnt a few introductory dances, the opportunity to complete medals (or Awards) will be presented to you in your Ballroom dance school. Awards are levels of dancing where you progressively learn dance figures and technique to improve your dance […]
Ladies: Keep your right side closed to your man! Ballroom dancing is tricky compared to other partner physical recreational activities …primarily because we are moving whilst in actual physical contact with another person. And to make things more difficult, it is our fronts that are attached. It would be far easier if we could face the […]
Ballroom Dancing at different Life Stages People from all walks of life choose to commence Dancesport, but there does seem to be certain times in our lives when starting Ballroom, Latin American and New Vogue dancing seems most right. Below are the six life stages that most attract people to Dancesport. Engaged couples. Dancing a […]
Although it can often appear otherwise, great Ballroom and Latin American dancers don’t just happen, and it’s not all talent we’re born with. It takes years of dedication to hone our bodies to develop muscles and movements that then appear to look effortless and graceful to spectators. A key part of a dancers’ week is […]
DK Dancer Guidelines – From 9th Dec 2020: The following guidelines are for all Dancers who attend the Dance Kingdom Studio for classes or practice sessions. These have been developed in line with current Victorian Government guidelines and will be reviewed as circumstances change. Important: If you have ANY cold or flu symptoms in the […]
Back to the Ballroom – Managing Mirror Shock Looking at the post-Covid you in the wall to wall of mirrors might trigger some returning dancers as restrictions on dancing lift and Ballrooms open up. Self loathing at your lack of control during lockdown -where you consoled yourself with food or alcohol, or busied yourself with […]
Mayfair Quickstep – The New Vogue Dance with the most Variance! Mayfair Quickstep is one of the most well-known New Vogue dances as well as one of the most popular dances at DK’s Friday night social. It is a beginner level dance, so it’s not too hard to learn, it’s fun, it’s energetic, and usually […]
Spacial Awareness This is an interesting topic as it affects all dancers differently. Spacial Awareness is knowing where your body is in space in relation to objects and other people. Good spacial awareness is an ability to understand and respond to changes in position from objects in the environment. Do you find yourself unable […]
The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve Let’s be honest. How many times have you attended a lesson with your dance teacher, learnt lots of great stuff, told yourself you will remember it all and practice hard, only to come back to your lesson the following week remembering NOTHING of what you were taught?! Don’t be embarrassed, we […]
Backleading in Ballroom dancing…what is it? “Stop Backleading!” Can there be a phrase more irritating to a Lady Dancer’s ears? Backleading is a term that gets thrown around a lot in a dance studio, by teachers and partners alike. But what does the term actually mean? Actually, it is exactly as it sounds. Backwards […]
Slow Foxtrot – Running over each other in Luxury Cars There is nothing quite as mesmerising as a beautiful Slow Foxtrot. That smooth, buttery, movement across the floor; an exercise in flow and grace. When danced with proficiency, Slow Foxtrot becomes almost ethereal in its demeanour. Foxtrot is often referred to as the dance […]
Latin – the Party Dances! My favourite Latin analogy is one you may have already heard; the duck swimming on the water. From above, we see only stillness and smoothness. Below the water surface, those little legs are paddling like crazy, working very hard to keep the duck moving! In the Latin dances, we […]
Latin Dances – if all steps are ball-flat, why do we talk about the toe so much? This is a FANTASTIC question that one of my students asked me a couple of weeks ago (thanks Peter!). It is true that most steps taken in Latin dances are ball-flat, not toe-flat as we may think. Paso […]
Sing your Steps – a great way to remember routines A couple of years ago I went to a social dance on the Gold Coast whilst on holiday. The venue wasn’t so much a studio as a hired hall which I believe was procured for fortnightly or monthly social dances. There was a wide range of ages […]
Why being skinny might make you lose! by Monica Fincham Dancesport competition is as much aesthetic as athletic, and it’s not uncommon to hear a coach suggest to a competitor to lose weight. But do you really need to be skinny to compete in Dancesport, and will you be more successful if you are thinner? […]
The Glamour Machine Many people are captivated by the glamour that is Ballroom dancing, in particular Dancesport competition, so much so that Julie McMain wrote a whole book about it called Glamour Addiction. In the book she calls Dancesport, the ‘Glamour Machine’. Glamour, defined as “an attractive or exciting quality that makes certain people or […]
Viennese Waltz – The Dance of Fairy Tales Viennese Waltz, also known as Wiener Walzer or the German Waltz is the oldest of the ballroom dances and is in my opinion, also the most beautiful. Viennese is the type of dance you visualise when you think of Cinderella or Anastasia, a royal ballroom or even […]
Chris and his wife Monika at a Dancesport competition.
Chris and his wife Monika at a Dancesport competition.