FAQ

Is it really possible to learn dancing online?

Yes, certainly. The first dances and flash mobs of some of our customers are excellent examples of this. Of course this depends on whether you simply buy and view the videos/ online private lessons, or actively participate and dance along. It is very hard to gain confidence in your dancing capabilities just from looking alone. However, when you and your partner actively practice the steps, together or alone, you will learn how to dance in no time. We are always prepared to provide you with direct feedback in a online private lesson, giving you a sense of your personal progress .

We have never danced before, will this work for us?

Absolutely! All services, private lessons and even customised choreographies are designed to teach dancing to anyone, even to those who are novice dancers. Everything is explained step-by-step. Furthermore, all videos are available for you to review as many times as you need, practice segments are always included, as well as spoken counts. If you do have any further questions, or when you are not sure you are doing it right please feel free to give us a call. Our customers, even those that had never set a single step on the dance floor, have danced wedding dances that they could never have dreamt of before..

Who should learn how to dance?

Basically everyone should know how to move on the dance floor, as it always good to be able to step up when challenged ;).
Dancing is like the global language that everyone understands, and knowing even a little of this language can go a long way…. At AO dance we specifically focus on future bridal couples, and people in general, who want to prepare for a certain dance-related event.
We do not draw a line there, however. We are there for everyone who wants to dance but does not want the hassle of physically going to a dance school, or deal with finding parking spots and babysitters. We are there for the people that want to learn how to dance in the privacy and comfort of their own home (and without any time pressure).
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How much practice time should I schedule, so I can impress on the dance floor?

Everyone learns differently and at a different pace. However, from our experience one lesson is already enough to at least survive a waltz on the dance floor.
With three lessons, or some videos and if necessary an additional online private class for the final touch, you are well prepared.
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So what sets apart the dancing lessons at AO dance?

Our customers like that they can learn how to dance at their own pace, allowing them to feel good about how they are progressing. “No judging eyes, nobody to ridicule you, and all the time in the world” was one of the answers to our feedback requests. Because videos can be watched as many times as you want, you can repeat and practice your steps until you feel comfortable with them and online private lessons can be booked flexibly, you are no longer dependent on place and time but still receive a personal treatment.
Couples that learned how to dance with our online private lessons, practiced additionally by themselves without the aid of a teacher and were also very satisfied.
All variations and combinations of online learning that we offer are proofed and have positive reviews from our customers. Every one of them has indicated they would recommend learning and practicing for their first dance or a flash mob through our online videos and private lessons.

How much space is required for practicing?

Provided your dance is relatively straightforward and does not have a lot of lifts, we think 4 square meters should be sufficient. However the more place you have, the more free you will be to move naturally.

What do you mean by “out of the box”?

We are there to advise and assist you, and gladly answer questions such as: when is the best time to dance the first dance during our wedding? What do we do when there is only a concrete dance floor or when we want to dance on grass? Which shoes are the best fit for our big day, and how do we dance on them? How does one dance holding the bouquet, when the dress has a long train, what to do on a slippery surface, but also: can you recommend a DJ or photographer? (is does not only have to be about the dance moves

What will we learn?

Perhaps a more important question is what you will not learn. We are not teaching dancing for tournaments or focusing on minute details of a dance technique. AO Dance offers hobby dancers, from absolute beginners to those that frequently attended dance lessons before, the possibility to learn a special dance or to get comfortable with dancing. First and foremost, we want you to feel confident in the spotlights. We customise our lessons to fit your wishes, needs and skill level. We know that even absolute beginners can learn to dance like what you see in tv-shows, but that requires motivation and the will to practice. Everything is possible, but nothing is a must.
Depending on which service you have booked, you will learn the basic steps and figures in a specific dance, as well as finishing poses or lifts, that can be integrated into a dance. Also, we can teach you how to open the dance. If you opted for a customised dance, you will receive a choreography that fits the special song you selected, including the movements that sync up to the highlights of that song.
For a flash mob you usually do not learn the typical ballroom or latin dances, but a line dance that fits your desired flash mob. If you want to, we offer jazz- and modern dance-related or couples dance (if your flash mob involves couples dancing) choreographies.

Whatever dance it is you would like to perform, you can learn it with videos or live lessons, online or on-site. Our teaching is step-by-step, and all our videos include practice segments.

When should we start learning our wedding dance?

This all depends on the amount of time you have to practice, how much time you are willing to invest in this and whether you want a customised first dance or just survive on the dance floor and look good.
With the emergency dance lesson you can almost start immediately, when you opt for a personalised dance it will take some more time, as the dance teacher has to be available, and you would need to select a fitting song.

  •  If you opt for the customised course, you will receive access to a first selection of videos that will teach you the basic steps while we create a special choreography for you. When you actually practise and how much time you take to do it is of course up to you. You receive unlimited access to our videos, and you can view them as many times as you like. We recommend requesting this service a couple weeks before your wedding, the earlier the better and the less stress.
  •  When you should start also depends on you, how fast you learn, how confident you want to be, and how much time you want to invest in learning your first dance. It is doable to learn it in a week, however it is our experience that dancers are more confident and stress free when they take a couple weeks to learn and practice.

How do the video lessons work?

Regardless of where you are, as long as you have access to the internet, you can stream our videos and learn dancing. Whether this is on your mobile phone, laptop or tv, you can log in and call on all of the videos made available to you.
In the best seller flash mobs, all videos are available from the beginning, for the customised choreographies you will receive all the videos that you need little by little as not to overwhelm you.
The videos contain explanations with and without music, (in case of first dance: with and without partner) and all contain practice segments, that come with counts so that you can participate while watching.

Why should I pay for dance lessons when Youtube is right there?

Dancing is amazing, and there are many sources out there to learn dancing for free. With a lot of patience, and when you are already have a little dance experience, it can work perfectly to just learn dancing like that. What is more, it probably won’t hurt to look at these videos in preparation for a dance. At AO Dance we also offer a couple of lessons on basic steps for free, just so you can see how we teach, what is expected of you and that you can progress quickly with our help.
Importantly however, we think that there are a lot of free products out there that fail to explain the steps exactly at the moment the difficulty level increases. Also, none of them offer customised dances. With us you always have the possibility to call and ask us when something is unclear. You can always get individual support and we will not teach you anything that is ‘wrong’

A lot of people find it harder to stick to a routine with free products. Who hasn’t tried to learn a language on a free app, but eventually ended up forgetting about it. Paid courses often have that added benefit of feeling obligated to spend time on it simply because one paid for it. One of the reasons dance courses function so well is why they have that built-in discipline. Practicing together and getting the best value for money are excellent drivers. With free alternatives there is always a reason not to do it, especially in the busy time leading up to a wedding.
In conclusion, at AO Dance we guarantee a level of care, individuality and professionality that is rarely found in free alternatives.
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How do the online classes work?

You are booking an online course or private lesson, and agree on a specific time. This way you are still free to pick whatever place you want, and are just required to be online at a certain time. Normally you will then receive an email with a link and access data, which you can use to log in at Zoom (or Skype, Hangouts, etc. ). A friendly face will then great you from the other side of the camera.

Which payment types do you accept?

We offer three payment options at the moment: Paypal, all major credit cards and through direct debit. Customised choreographies are generally paid up-front. Should you want to pay with an alternative method please let us know.

IMPORTANT: all your personal details are always protected with a 256-bit SSL certificate.

 

We watched all video lessons, but we are still not quite confident on the dance floor. What should we do?

First of all: don’t give up! Everyone learns at their own pace, and it takes some patience and practice before two people can dance together harmoniously. Learning to do a proper flash mob also takes a little patience. This is completely normal. A few things that might worth thinking of in case of couple dancing:

  • Do you let the other person lead? It is quite challenging for the leader to give the right cues, and for the follower to give away control. Especially because in 8 out of 10 cases, the person who follows in the dance is actually the person leading in the relationship. To then give away control when dancing is sometimes hard. Most couples I taught have had to work on this, but where there is a will there’s a way.
    • A great way to practice this is for the follower to close his or her eyes, and try to concentrate 100 % on the partners guidance and body language. Please ensure that your arms are not too tense, and that your hand is not pushing. Just lightly hold the arms, and the basic tension needed for dancing will come by itself, don’t cramp up.
    • The leading part can practice the steps by him or herself, without a partner, to be able to concentrate fully on the steps themselves. This way it will be easier to focus on leading the next time. Humans have a limited capacity for concentrating on things, and it is important to create a routine in the steps so your body will automatically do the right thing.
  • What are your expectations of yourself? Perfectionists always have a harder time when learning new things, because they don’t immediately live up to their own expectations. Again, the answer here is practice and time. Try to temper your expectations and those of your partner, and to do things step by step. After a while you can of course raise the bar for yourself and challenge yourself to perfection. Which does not mean that you don’t have to pay attention in the beginning though! Just allow yourself a little more room to learn, to make mistakes in the beginning. Mistakes are human, laugh about them and try to get back into the dance. Practice makes perfect!
  • How do you communicate? Try not to criticize your partner but for instance to say that it would be easier for you when he/she holds their arm less stiff, their grip a bit looser or the steps a bit smaller. Try to avoid saying that all at once and work on things one by one before proceeding to the next improvement, that helps a lot.
  • If you have no idea what the problem is, you can always call us. Maybe a short video call is enough to figure out what is going wrong :).

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We are not getting married, but we do want to learn dancing. What would you recommend?

Depending on what you want to learn, there are many possibilities. We also teach groups, privately on-site or online, for example for a graduation ball, a group of friends or you alone.
Of course all of our online courses can be booked regardless of whether you want to learn to dance for a wedding or not, simply pretend like the comments on weddings and wedding dresses are not there ;).
Private lessons and customised dance choreographies can be modified to fit every occasion (opera ball, carnival, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance etc.) and be booked for different group sizes.
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What is your policy for journey compensation/ room rental?

With private lessons that are on-site, for example in your living room or in a rented space, we charge 0,80 € per kilometer for journey compensation, with a minimum amount of 10 €, because in the city travelling just 5 km can sometimes take over 30 minutes.

Renting a room is really only necessary when we cannot use your kitchen, living room or garden to dance. If you book a private lesson and want to practice with for example your friends when you are eating in a restaurant, it is useful to know that sometimes restaurants offer a spare room when you buy some extra drinks. So it does not always have to be expensive to have no place at home ;).

How long would it take to do the dance lessons you offer at a regular dance school?

This question is not easy to answer, because not all dance schools offer customised choreographies and because we don’t know how other dance schools teach them. Furthermore it would depend on the difficulty level and the desired choreography itself. The more show elements or dance styles are included the more practice, effort and learning time are required.
Let’s say you learn the steps and figures separately, like with us, and then in addition to that learn the choreography, you could broadly say the following:

  • A customised choreography, befitting a beginning dancer, lasting about 2 minutes with personally chosen music, poses and perhaps a lift should be comparable to 5 to 7 hours of private lessons in a regular dance school (notwithstanding the time it takes to practice at home, which nobody can really do without 😉 ).

What happens if we don’t like (parts) of the choreography?

When the choreography is finished, you will get the chance to see it in its entirety, so you can decide right away whether you like it or not. Normally we have a pretty good idea of what to do, because we discuss your wishes and ideas beforehand. At this stage it is of course possible to make changes (changes can always be made during the lessons as well).

The later changes are being requested, the harder it gets to actually make them – but it is always possible. Depending on the effort it requires to make the changes, we have to charge the private lesson rate of 75€ including VAT. (effort meaning; rewriting the choreography and recording/ editing video lessons).

How long will we have access to the videos?

All videos are always accessible for the period of 1 year starting from the moment you receive the access credentials. You can view them as many times as you like. Should you like to refresh a specific course after that period expires, you can always renew access to that course. If you want to access one of the best seller flash mobs we do charge a small fee. The customised dances are being taken offline after one year, to save memory, but are available for free on request. .

What are the technical requirements to take part in online lessons?

You need a good internet connection, preferably capable of DSL speeds (i.e., 16 Mbit/s download speed or more). For video calls we recommend a bandwidth that is even higher than that, to avoid frozen or stuttering video.
Furthermore you need a PC, laptop, TV or mobile phone capable of streaming (including a speaker).

Finally you need access to a web browser (Internet Explorer/ Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari), as well as operating systems Android, IOS or Windows. This is important for both our videos and video calls to work. Other browsers may work but have not been tested and are therefore not recommended.

You can test your internet speed here: http://www.speedmeter.de/

Please note that for video calls you will need a microphone and a webcam. Various video call providers allow you to test your system before making a video call, to see if everything works. We highly recommend you do that before a dance lesson to avoid disappointments.

If you are already using Skype or Google Hangouts, we can also make the video call via those channels, otherwise we use Zoom, which is a free program that can be downloaded here: https://www.zoom.us/. You can download and install this program on your system as well as run it via a browser window (if your internet speed allows it).

You can test whether you meet the technical requirements for zoom here:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362283-How-Do-I-Join-or-Test-My-Computer-Audio-
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362313-How-Do-I-Test-My-Video-
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/202952568-My-Video-Camera-Isn-t-Working

How can we reach you?

If you have any questions, doubts or need personal advice or otherwise, please do not hesitate to give us a call or write an email!
info@ao-dance.com
+49 (0) 1511 7557151
Or click on contacts in the menu list and fill out the contact form. We will get back to you as soon as possible!