November « 2009 « OUR WEDDING DANCE BLOG

November 23, 2009

Holiday Dance Gift Certificates Make Clever Gifts!

Sometimes I really dread going into the stores around the holidays. The crowds are crazy, the merchandise feels like the same old thing and I always seem to want to buy everything that is just beyond my budget!

So speaking from experience, when I find something different and cost effective to give my loved ones and friends I jump at the opportunity… like the idea of gift certificates and specifically dance instruction and choreography gift certificates!

Just an email away this gift is one that really does keep on giving. Once a person or persons learn to dance a whole new area of fun and health is opened up to them.

This isn’t your average fashion item gift that someone may use or wear once or twice or, heaven forbid, return for we all know less than original purchase price!

This is a gift of doing. Doing something to music. Doing something different. And doing something that can be a life-long skill and healthful alternative.

So how do you go about getting a holiday gift certificate?

Email me with your information about who gets the certificate, who is it from and what amount of time you’d like it to be for. Include your phone number and I can take a credit card for the gift certificate over the phone or you can simply mail me a check.

I offer half hour, hour, three hour and five hour gift certificates and most of my couples like me to simply email them the certificate for them to print out at home.

(One harried groom even called me last year on Christmas Eve and I raced home to my computer and made his gift certificate and emailed it to him in time for Christmas morning!!)

Once the holidays are over the certificate can be redeemed at any time I’m not already booked for a full year after issue. So try something a little unusual this year and give the gift of a holiday dance gift certificate. I’d love to help you check off a few special someones on your gift list this year!

Happy Thanksgiving from Jillian at OurWeddingDance.com

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November 21, 2009

Dare to Dance

I think we’ve all experienced the feeling at one time or know someone who has the feeling a lot of the time of being afraid to dance. Sure, we laugh it off and say that it was just that particular circumstance or there weren’t enough people on the floor or the music didn’t move us etc. etc.

But the fact is a lot of times dancing doesn’t seem like that great an idea.

I’ve got students who take lessons every week to learn whole foxtrot, swing, Argentine tango, salsa, samba and hustle syllabi and still if there aren’t a few people on the floor or if they’re tired or if the music isn’t just right it is hard for them to get out there and just do it.

I’ve had students tell me that they feel like they’re “performing” for others when they get on a less crowded dance floor and that feels like pressure and heaven knows we’ve all got enough of that in our lives!

I’ve had students tell me that they’ll get out there when they “get better”.

I’ve had students tell me that there’s no place to go dancing anyway so they’ll just dance at their lesson and call it a day.

All perfectly acceptable excuses… but do they work in the long run??

Ultimately I believe that the more you dance, the more you start to understand it and feel comfortable within your body doing it.

In this technological day and age we’re up in our heads a lot of the time. Getting into your body and doing something that uses your body is not exactly second nature for us.

Sure, it is scary getting out there with just a few steps and techniques under your belt and you need to accept that you will have a few scary feelings and work through them or the next time it will be even harder!

Give yourself permission to feel a bit awkward during your dance lesson… on when you go out social dancing… or even practicing on your own.

It’s not going to feel “perfect” right away and that’s ok!

Dare to Dance and see what happens… you never know… you might be the a secret swinger or a fabulous foxtrotter in the making, but you won’t know until you at least give it some time.

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November 12, 2009

Military Brides & Grooms

Filed under: Military Brides & Grooms — Tags: Airforce, Army, Coast Guard, First Dance, first dance for wedding, Marines, military brides, military first dance, military wedding, Navy, Orange County dancing lessons, orange county wedding dance lessons, Our Wedding Dance, servicemen, servicewomen, Veteran's Day, Wedding Dance, Wedding First Dance — admin @ 3:56 pm

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day and I’m sure we can all come up with a relative, friend or loved one that has served our great country in the military. Over the years I’ve taught many, many grooms (and brides!) who were in the services.

Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard – all of them hard working young people with a quiet strength and excellent attitude… and I must add, delightful footwork since they were all used to changing weight from marching!

Several of my Navy Seal grooms even commuted from San Diego to take dance lessons from me in Newport Beach.

Many of them were only available for a few weeks to get married to the love of their life and then they were being transferred out of the states.

I remember these gentlemen and ladies as heros of our country and send special thoughts to them and their families especially at this time of year.

In fact if you’d like to send a card to a serviceman or servicewoman Xerox has a free on line service called “Let’s Say Thanks”. You can access it at http://www.letssaythanks.com

It only takes a minute and they have some adorable postcards to choose from all made by school children from every state in the union. You can use one of their messages or compose your own.

Here’s a wonderful video of one of my military couples. Markus is in full dress uniform with his adoring bride, Nichole, dancing lightly upon his arms!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=35071221

“In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.” – Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935

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November 5, 2009

1st Dance Took Off On Runway Dance Floor!

Regina and Thomas had quite a challenge for their first dance.

Make a beautiful foxtrot and make it doable on a runway of a dance floor; long and skinny and right up against a gorgeous panoramic window view of the beach.

Regina and Thomas - Romantic!

They emailed me just recently to tell me what happened:

Regina and I wanted to thank you for your instruction these past few weeks. The first dance went very well, similar to what you said there was a lot of improvisation… we couldn’t have done it without your guidance. Here are some pics from the reception; our photographer was Raymond Ip from By Design Bridal. Thanks again.

With some gorgeous promenades down that strip of floor and Regina turning on a dime and Thomas leading her with an eye to utilizing every available inch of dance floor they wowed their guests.

So it just goes to show – you can do your dance on just about any size of floor.

With a little knowlege of what we call “floor craft”, some handy stationary and moving figures you can improvise with, and lead and follow signals firmly in your muscle memory – you can float like Cinderella and lead like Prince Charming!

Thomas leads Regina onto the dance floor!

Regina & Thomas Dip!

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