Congratulations! You’ve decided (or are deciding) on your first dance! Wait! What’s next?

Whoever your first dance instructor is, trust us, we’ll need the following information to make our first meeting and session an extremely productive and enjoyable one!

Part 1 of this wedding dance checklist ensures that you’re adequately prepared before meeting your instructors!

The wedding dance is a meaningful display of the couple’s story. It is a harmonious reflection of their continuous commitment to each other and visual display of the way they express themselves through a song that has been a pertinent part of their journey.

8 Key Items on your Wedding Dance Checklist – Part 1

1. Overall Concept

• The overall concept and idea is very important, especially if you have a theme. This must be made known upfront, if you do not have an overarching theme, then we can work towards and decide it by the first class.
• One song or a medley of two or more
  • So that we can string the music and ensure that there is a flow in the choreography
• Types of Dances envisioned, which is especially important to ensure flow in music and choreography
  • Bride and Groom
  • Father and Daughter
  • Mother and Son
  • Bridesmaid / Bride and Bridesmaid
  • Groomsmen / Groom and Groomsmen
  • Flower Boy and Flower Girl

2. Your Story

• Tell us your story, your personalities, how did you guys meet, who, what, where and when.
• We’re very much vested in you and your story, it goes a long way in helping us create that perfect wedding dance with elements that fully reflects your personalities and story!

3. Music Choice(s)

• Three (3) top options in priority, this helps us to advise if the music has fast beats, slow beats or is lyrical
• We’ll need to match your abilities to the music and recommend the best option
• Send us the exact version(s), amidst the many variations and covers available now, if they’re available on free-to-stream platforms, then it’s perfect! It helps dream up your routine before meeting you.

4. Images and Floorplan of the Dance Floor, Ballroom, AV and Effects

Photos of the ballroom and dancefloor help us to design the choreography with regard to the following few factors:

• Where are the guests? Does it require a 360 all-round routine or 180 one-sided routine?
• Style of Entry. A dance-in from the door? Walk-in from off-stage or on-stage standby.
• Overall AV, photography and videography aesthetics, what’s in the background, where are your photographers and videographers and what they are going to capture. After all,  everything present will be immortalised on film and photos, forever!
• Special Effects and Conditions: Do let us know if there’re pyrotechnics, special effects and or unconventional setups and conditions that we should take note of!

5. Images of the Outfit for both the Groom and Bride

• The exact outfit(s) selected or the shortlisted examples, styles and choices.
  • The dance steps are designed in consideration of your outfit and must make sense and support the dance and vice versa.
  • Trail or no trail: Therefore you might want to consider outfits that have less trail if you want a first dance with lots of spins and lifting.
  • Material and stretch: For both the ladies and gents, the material and stretch allowed will determine your ability to execute the lifts, dips and tricks, if possible, always go for stretchable material for the dance outfit.
• Pro-tip: Work with your dress designer to see if the trail can be attached to the back of the dress or wrist to create a float, akin to the ballroom dresses.Alternatively, have a second or third dress that’s designed for the dance might work in your favour.
• Shoes-wise:
  • Ladies: Be specific about which pair of shoes you would like to match your dress with. Thereafter, every single practice will be with that pair of heels be it a three or six inch.
  • Gents: Likewise, the grip of your shoes will affect your dance, it’s highly recommended to dance in a pair with medium grip to allow movement. New shoes might have too much grip sometimes so there’s a need to break-in. But have a few pairs to rotate so they don’t wear out by the big day.

6. Preferred Style of Dance

Your preferred dance style based on:

• Background: If any of you have any dance background, and which style, so that we can design it to your favour
• Inspirations: You might have been inspired by certain dances seen in the movie, at a play, musical, a friend’s wedding or online. If you have a preferred dance style, let us know and we’ll try to incorporate it within the dance or propose something similar!
• Dance styles: Each dance style has their unique characteristics and may appeal to your personalities, ask your instructor for a dance taster session!
  • General, Party and Social
    • Slow Dance, Bachata, Salsa, Broadway and the Rock and Roll
  • Standard Ballroom
    • Waltz, Tango, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz & Foxtrot
  • Latin Ballroom
    • Rumba, Cha Cha, Jive, Samba, Paso Doble
  • Street and Modern
    • Hip Hop, Street Jazz and Contemporary
  •  Special
    • Cultural and Fusion

7. Your Schedule (Availability and blackout dates)

Your schedule is one of the most important thing ever and consists of the following three parts:

• Your big day: and how much time we have left
• Your blackout dates: when you’re overseas or simply cannot meet-up with each other or your instructors to dance) this helps us effectively calculate remaining class and personal practice time. Remember, one class with your instructor equals three practices on your own
• Your preferred practice dates and time: so that we can block our time for you.

8. Limitations

It’s important for you to tell us what the limitations are in consideration and terms of

• Your preferences: What you do not want to do and what makes you extremely uncomfortable, do not be shy, while we will challenge you, we attempt to do it within safe perimeters
• Past injuries: So that the choreography is designed in a way that does not risk straining or reigniting a past injury
• Your envisioned financial investment in the classes: It helps us effectively design and calculate the entire journey in consideration of your financial commitments, so that we can make sound recommendations and return to your with a bespoke proposal
  • • The wedding dance budget should not be designed in isolation as just a programme cost item, looking at it from a perspective where it’s an activity for the couple to better express and know each other in an art form as well as to remain physically active will help couples the real value it’s adding
• Once these parameters have been established, we’re good to go!

Once you have the above eight key items answered or materials in place, whether in full or partial, you should be assured that your first meet with your dance instructor will be a seamless and productive session!

Happy dancing!

(Checklist coming soon!)