we do and we used to go out once a week but now not so much but i am trying to teach my guy how to do the waltz for when we get married anyone got any pointers
I love to dance and hope to get back to competition some day too. Right now I'm focused on balancing my body and learning figure skating. I'd love to do both ballroom and figure skating as they would serve to balance my muscle movement nicely.
Tips for you and your fiance.
The Frame -
For him - One trick to get a good frame is to keep his right elbow up. The trick is to point the fingers of his hand downward on your back. He does a gentle "karate chop" under your arm, closes his palm about your shoulder blade, then angle his fingers to point down your back. In that position is physically harder to drop your elbow.
For you - make sure your left shoulder sticks into his right hand. It's the follow's job to maintain the connection. The lead provides the connection, the follow maintains it.
After that connection is set, his left hand should gently hold your right hand at a comfortable level between his eyes and yours.
For walking -
For him - Tell him to walk straight at you. Don't try to "duck waddle" - that is try to step around you for fear he'll step on your feet. Stepping around you actually increases the chance of stepping on your feet. If he walks straight at you, I'm sure you'll be more than happy to step back out of his way. The step is like regular walking - heel to toe. Nothing fancy at this level.
For you - You may want to practice walking backward - toe to heel, and that includes lifting your toe at the end of the step before pulling your foot back. If you leave your foot flat on the ground, he will step on it. It's literally walking backward - the full motion. When you think about it, when you walk forward, your heel hits first, then your foot rolls flat...so when going backwards you need to reverse this exactly.
Don't back lead -
For you - Basically if you step before he finishes his step - you are back leading. If you think you are doing this - the easiest way to break the habit is to close your eyes. That way you only have what you feel from him through his frame to tell you where to go and what to do.
Strengthen the connection -
Spend some time together just practicing the hold. Just get into the waltz hold with the above tips, and start by just standing and swaying to test the frame connection. You'll know you have a good connection when you sway smoothly whichever way he turns.
Once you have that, then simply walk around the room. Forward, backward, sideways. This gives him practice and confidence leading you without having to think of music, timing or "steps"; and gives you practice at maintaining that connection. The goal is to be connected to the point that wherever he chooses to go, you feel there's only one option for you to go.
Once you have the connection - then see how well the waltz steps work for ya.
Good luck!