Dance Lessons 101: The Basics and Beyond

We started as a group of 6 Not-So-Good Dancers, and now we are up to 21. Everyone is enjoying the physical exercise in these winter months, gaining skills and confidence as dancers, getting noticed when we go out to dances now. And many more people want to join our practice group.

Shawn Trautman is a GREAT instructor! I attended one of his Dance Lessons 101 Live classes last week and was blown away by his teaching methods and ability to break dances down into pieces that everyone understood. I've taken many dance classes and this was by far the best I've ever taken. As a middle school teacher, I can honestly say I didn't expect to be impressed in the manner I was and I know others in the class were equally impressed. I purchased Dance Lessons 101 and strongly recommend it! I already know some of the dances featured on the DVD, like West Coast Swing and Hustle, but have struggled to get the right techniques and footwork. Other dances I've seen, but not danced, so I was pleased. This DVD is very easy for me to follow, and I can replay and practice the footwork I need help with until it "clicks" for me. I really like how Shawn and his wife, Joanna, explain things thoroughly and demonstrate on the screen exactly as I see it; in other words, it's not the mirror image. Like excellent teachers of any subject do, they anticipate and answer questions you might have such as where your weight should be, or what to do with your hands. Joanna offers tips about things that make the dances easier for her to follow, and I find myself practicing those techniques as well. It's almost like being in your own 2 hour private lesson that you've recorded and can play back to review. I also liked that Shawn shows a little more of what you can learn in each dance from his other DVDs. You won't get to be an expert in any of these dances by this one DVD, but you can certainly learn enough to go out and have fun with each of the 8 dances. If you're new to dancing or just want to learn some new dances like I did, you should give Dance Lessons 101 a try.

We bought this DVD to learn some dance moves before our wedding. While the basics are provided for a number of dances, they are VERY basic. If you are someone who already has a brief understanding of some of these dances, skip this one and choose one that is only for one type of dance. They go through 2-3 moves for each dance and then how to put them together. Thats about it. One thing I really did like about this though is that the instructors show you a few times, from different angles, how exactly the move is done. They begin doing the move once, then you follow along once, and then they do it faster, and then you follow faster. And then they go through it two or three more times until they move on. My husband is doesn't pick up dance or rhythm very quickly so this was great. It allowed us time to really get the hang of each move before they moved on to the next. At the end of each segment, you run through the whole routine two or three times, in the correct timing, so it gives you a little practice time.

Très bien fait c’est tout en anglais mais bon achat de qualité

After starting out with live dance lessons, my wife and I picked up several other instructional dance DVDs from our local library (at no cost) to have a reference to use for practice in between lessons. I ran across Dance Lessons 101 while searching for something better, because the freebies from the library just weren't cutting it. This was my first Shawn/Joanna Trautman instructional DVD and I'll be buying more. Absolutely the best explanation/demonstration of how to lead (if you're the guy) and how to follow (if your the gal). This DVD was easier to understand and follow than the dance lessons we were taking with live instruction. Shawn and Joann'a explanations/demonstrations are just that good! Great overview of all the dances listed, and you would do well by just mastering the basics of each dance shown in the DVD. But after seeing the DVD, my wife and I want to get some of the other Trautman DVDs and get more advanced.