STAFF REVIEW: ARTHUR MURRAY

Arthur Murray is a well-established international danced studio. Whether you are a beginner looking to have fun or a professional looking to further develop your skills, Arthur Murray welcomes everyone. Charlotte, and I were beyond excited to learn the art of ballroom and Latin dance. We had no previous dancing experience, were curious to see how good we would actually be. 

We decided to visit the Baker Street venue. It was an easy journey from Brighton to London Victoria. When we arrived at London Victoria station, with a quick change on the tube to Baker Street. When we arrived at Baker Street, we were amazed at how many places there were to visit. The studio was less than a 10-minute walk from the station. 

On arrival, we were greeted by the lovely Ellie and Rytis our dance instructor for the private lesson. We began with a brief introduction into the world of dance, and Rytis taught us that that ladies are always right. Which we all already knew, of course! This meant that in Latin dance, the ladies would always put their right foot forward, whereas men would lead with their left foot.

Our first style of dance was the waltz. Rytis taught us a few steps which seemed easy at first, but once we picked up the speed, things got a little bit trickier. Just I thought I was getting the hang of it, I accidentally stepped on Rytis! We laughed it off and he reassured me that he gets stepped on a lot, so I didn’t feel too bad. He was really helpful when it came to memorising the steps, as he would talk you through the steps while doing them. He would also tap me on my right or left arm to remind me which foot I needed to move first. After some more practice, Rytis decided it was time to dance with some music. He also stood in front of charlotte and I and held one of our arms. This was a good method of teaching as he was able to instruct and guide both of us at the same time. He also took turns dancing with Charlotte and I individually, which was also very helpful as it was a one to one dance.  We were then joined by Rio, the managing director of Arthur Murray. He took turns dancing with Charlotte and I individually to help us practice the dance routine. 

Once we mastered the waltz, it was time to pick up the pace and learn the famous Salsa, which was faster than the waltz. I also found it slightly easier than the waltz as I had gotten the hang of following the steps at this point. Rytis introduced the Salsa by describing the first step as being on an island, using our right foot we would step out of the island then take a step back. With these two simple steps, he was able to lead us. Radus, who is another instructor at the Arthur Murray also joined us and partnered up with me. Although we only learnt the basics of Salsa, we found ourselves doing a whole dance routine! We learnt so much in a short space of time. 

After our dance taster with Rytis we then had the opportunity to join a dance class. The dance class included 5 teachers, who stood at the front. Isobel, was our main instructor for the group dance class. She taught us our steps while being at the front of the class, the first dance we learnt was the waltz. Isobel make sure everyone was comfortable with the routine before putting us into pairs. Once we practiced the dance a few times alone, we partnered up with one of the instructors. All the partners would rotate, so everybody had the opportunity to dance with a different teacher. I was partnered with Isobel first. The music came on, then the dancing began! It was interesting to see how all the teachers had a different style of dance. 

Charlotte and I had an amazing time! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the dance lessons and I would love to go again! We would like to say a huge thank you to Ellie and Rio for inviting us and our amazing dance teachers Rytis, Radus, Isobel and Luzia.