Biggest Tips Before You Even Get to the Moves
Think of who will be performing your song?
If you have a DJ….
You’ll want to communicate before about when you’re done with your dance.
You won’t need to dance to more than a minute, but you don’t want to be left standing up there, signaling them to switch the song.
Maybe you tell them “after the first chorus, can you invite everyone to join”, or “after the first chorus, we want everyone to sit down for dinner”.
Either way, make them responsible for continuing the night, that way your focus is on each other and enjoying the moment!
If you have a Band singing it live…
First of all, if you’re not learning a fully choreographed dance, then I always suggest for your Band to sing it live!
It will sound slightly unfamiliar at first, but having them there keeps less eyes on you.
They can be part of the entertainment- that’s why you hired them!
Communicate with them: tell them how long you’d like for them to sing for.
Again, you don’t need ot use the whole song, so you can either have them go right into another song to encourage others to join you, or continue singing the song and using that as the slow dance of the evening.
What does your space look like?
Most layouts are in a square shape.
One side is the entertainment, across from that is a table or doors, and on the sides are usually people.
You want to direct your faces to the middle of the U-shape that your audience creates around you, having your backs to the Band.
If you don’t have a typical layout, talk to each other beforehand and decide where most of your audience will be.
That’s where you want to direct your facing.
If you’ve ever performed on stage you’d know:
you don’t want your backs to the audience!
“Maya is amazing to work with! My husband and I did not want a full choreographed dance, but we wanted to not look like we were swaying on the dance floor for two minutes. Maya came to our apartment, had the dance ready to go, where the music needed to be cut, and was so patient. We continued to practice after our one lesson, and the dance came out perfectly. It was so fun, and we got some really great pictures. I told multiple friends who were engaged to hire Maya, and they did, and had great first dances as well!”