Fall is right around the corner and all 5 of our Fred Astaire Dance Studios has something exciting going on in the next few months! With the weather changing and getting cooler, now is the PERFECT time to walk into your local studio and DANCE! It is time to try something new and exciting, so lets make that new thing BALLROOM DANCING!! 

We have a couple competitions coming up in the next few months where we would love to see you all at!

September 27th and 28th, we will be at the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont for Dancesport Challenge!
October 29th thru November 3rd, we will be at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Florida for National Dance Championships!
We are so excited to see all of our students and professionals perform!
If you are not competing we want to see you all there supporting your studio!!

Competitions!!

As September is up on us in a few days we are all gearing up for our September Competition! DanceSport Challenge is on September 27th and 28th at the Crowne Plaza O'Hare. We are very EXCITED for this years theme: "Bollywood" All of our students and teachers are hard at work making their routines perfect! This is a competition that you DO NOT want to miss! Contact your local studio for information on how you can be at the next Fred Astaire Illinois Competition!

http://fredastaireillinois.com/

Broadway Ballroom is tomorrow!!!!

Broadway Ballroom is in 24 hours!!!! We still have a few tickets left so call RIGHT NOW to purchase them-847-310-8300!!! 

Broadway Ballroom is on August 10th at 7:00 pm at the North Shore Center of Performing Arts in Skokie! 

For those of you who might not know, Broadway Ballroom is a performance done by all 5 Fred Astaire Illinois Dance Studios! Our talented students will be dancing to songs from popular Broadway Musicals. We will be featuring songs from these musicals:

"The Phantom of the Opera"

"Million Dollar Quartet"

"Aida"

"Rock of Ages"

"Wicked"

"9 to 5"

"Hairspray"

"Gypsy"

"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"

"Footloose"

"Damn Yankees"

"Chicago"

"Smokey Joe's Cafe"

"Priscilla-Queen of the Desert"

"A Chorus Line"

"Dreamgirls"

There will also be a professional show danced to music from "Jersey Boys"

You DO NOT want to miss this amazing show! 

Tickets are ONLY $25.

Call your local studio today with questions or 847-310-8300 to purchase your tickets! 

We can not wait to see everyone there!  

Broadway Ballroom-August 10th!

Broadway Ballroom tickets are selling FAST! Get yours today!

Broadway Ballroom is on August 10th at 7:00 pm at the North Shore Center of Performing Arts in Skokie! 

For those of you who might not know, Broadway Ballroom is a performance done by all 5 Fred Astaire Illinois Dance Studios! Our talented students will be dancing to songs from popular Broadway Musicals. We will be featuring songs from these musicals:

"The Phantom of the Opera"

"Million Dollar Quartet"

"Aida"

"Rock of Ages"

"Wicked"

"9 to 5"

"Hairspray"

"Gypsy"

"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"

"Footloose"

"Damn Yankees"

"Chicago"

"Smokey Joe's Cafe"

"Priscilla-Queen of the Desert"

"A Chorus Line"

"Dreamgirls"

There will also be a professional show danced to music from "Jersey Boys"

You DO NOT want to miss this amazing show! 

Tickets are ONLY $25.

Call your local studio today with questions or 847-310-8300 to purchase your tickets! 

We can not wait to see everyone there!  

http://fredastaireillinois.com/

You CAN dance!!

This came across my desk from an employee and I thought I would share this with you all. I lost track how many times I have heard people say "I can't dance"  (I will admit that I was guilty of this as well)

Everybody can dance! Call or visit your local Fred Astaire Dance Studio TODAY, and prove to yourself that you CAN dance!! http://fredastaireillinois.com

"Many of us go through life with a subconscious list of things we can't do or won't do.  As the phrase "I can't dance" has an all too common occurrence in the American vernacular, I'd guess that dancing is on most peoples' subconscious can't/won't list.  With that being said, I can personally attest to hearing many people revoke that statement after a little time with our instructors at Fred Astaire.

My response to people that call the studio and say "I have two left feet" is usually "Great!  I have two right feet, so we'll work just fine together".... upon further inspection, this doesn't really make a lick of sense, but it usually gets my point across.  Many people have resigned themselves to the idea that they will be eternal wall flowers and have no hope of ever really dancing.  "Can't dance" and "won't dance" are not physical conditions; they are just unfortunate mind sets.

Not everyone is a natural born dancer, but that is fine!  On your very first lesson at Fred Astaire, you teacher will most likely start by having you take forward steps, backward steps, and side steps. The very simple truth is, if you can do that, you can dance.  The whole process of learning to dance is just retraining your body to do familiar tasks in a more stylized manner.  The forward steps in smooth and standard dances are incredibly similar to normal walking steps... You just may push more off your standing leg and use a bit more of things like rise and fall. 

If you don't pick up the techniques right away, don't be too hard on yourself.  Ballroom dance is one of those hobbies that you will never be perfect at.  I know that may sound like bad news, but it isn't!  There is no need to expect perfection from yourself because there is no such thing as perfect in ballroom dancing.  Since it is an art form, the characterizations and rules are like liquid.  Constantly changing and moving.

So, I would suggest to stop wasting your time saying things like "I can't dance."  You're more than welcome to say "I don't know how to dance....yet"  and then you can call your nearest Fred Astaire Dance Studio and set up your first lesson so you can finally proclaim "I CAN DANCE!""

Newcomer Mini Match!

In a month it will be time for our Newcomer Mini Match competition!! On August 2nd at 7:30pm, come and support your local Fred Astaire Dance Studio.
Mini Match is a competition held at the South Barrington studio and all the Illinois studios participate. This competition is for new students who have never competed before! Every studio has a special color they wear. This year the colors are:

Buffalo Grove-Red

Burr Ridge-Blue

Mokena-Yellow

West Loop-Purple

South Barrington- White

We will have a special guest judge: Mr Jack Davy! 

Come out and support your Fred Astaire Dance Studio and  cheer on all the new students as they go out on the dance floor and show off their moves. 

Contact your local studio for more details! We hope to see everyone there!

"Rules" Of Ballroom Dancing

This blog entree was written by a Fred Astaire Dance Studio employee and we HAD to share with everybody her humor and take on dancing!

"I attended a friend's wedding over the weekend, and there was quite a bit of dancing at the reception.  This friend is a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and therefore doesn't have a whole lot of friends who have received formal ballroom dance training.  So, I was delighted to see that there were a handful of guests who had clearly taken some sort of swing or hustle group classes and could manage their way around a social dance.  Watching them dance the night away got me thinking about the "rules" and "regulations" of social dancing that have crept into our ballroom dance community and threatened to steal the fun away from the dance itself.

 One of the "rules" I have heard so many novice and advanced dancers obsess over is the idea that every song only has one dance that is appropriate to use.  In some cases, sure that is true.  If you're at a party, and a Paso Doble starts playing, then you really have no choice then to throw on your cape and stamp your feet.  However, there are plenty of songs out there that have several different dances that could be used.  Let's take, for example, Michael Buble's new song, "Haven't Met You Yet".   You could dance a Foxtrot, an East Coast Swing, a West Coast Swing, or even a Rumba.  How about "Boom Boom Pow" by Black Eyed Peas?  It would be appropriate to dance a Cha Cha, Hustle, or (if your feeling a little dramatic) a Tango!

When you strip away all the rules, technical restrictions, and the numbers on the men's backs, Ballroom Dance is simply an art form.  For many of us dance is a necessary medium we use to outwardly express an inner feeling.  So, when we are dancing for social reasons, how dare we place so many limitations on ourselves?  If a song comes pumping through the speakers and you feel like dancing a Cha Cha..... Then by all means CHA CHA MY FRIEND!!!

My point is simply this: We all learned how to dance for different reasons, but I’m guessing the majority of people didn’t learn so they could add more stress in their life or find another list of rules to memorize.  So the next time you take to the floor, take a deep breath and relax.  Focus on the joy, the motion, the music, and the art of Ballroom Dancing.  The moments we do that are the moments that make life worth living."