Save the first dance for me

16 July 2007

If you're getting married, you'll want the big day to be perfect. But what about the first dance? If your ability doesn't stretch further than swaying from side to side, consider getting lessons in tripping the light fantastic, like Nancy wedge and her husband.

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Planning a wedding should be one of the happiest times of your lives - but it can also be one of the most stressful. There's setting the budget (and sticking to it), choosing the bridesmaids and best man (without making enemies of friends who weren't picked), finding the perfect dress, and working through an endless list of tasks, none of which you can ever seem to completely tick off.

Not least on the list of pressures is the first dance. For one day in your life, you are expected to have all the exhibitionist tendencies of drama-school darling: confidence by the bucket-loads (everyone's eyes will be on you), the enthusiasm to pose for your paparazzi (despite the fact that your jaw is aching from smiling so much), and, of course, a flair for dancing (swaying from side to side is rather dull for the guests to endure).

If you have two left feet and a distinct lack of rhythm, the first dance can be a bit of a looming nightmare. For me, simply twirling in and then out again was a problem, usually ending up in a clumsy tangle of limbs.

The fiancé was OK. Bill had several years of tap lessons as a child under his belt, but I only had bad memories of childhood dancing classes. I was asked to leave the class in ballet for cheekily flapping my arms rather than gracefully gliding them up and down, and jazz lessons weren't much better. One sunny day, my mum found my friend and me skulking in the park with a bag of chips when we should have been at our class.

I was destined to embarrass myself beyond belief in front of 120 close friends and family (and I would take Bill down with me). I had to do something. After searching on the internet for various solutions (scrap the first dance altogether being a very pervasive one), I stumbled across a company called First Dance UK.

Devoted to the business of making soon-to-be-marrieds look half decent on the dance floor, they track down a teacher in your local area who will choreograph a routine to your chosen song. Over five lessons - either in your home or at a venue of your choice - you will be taught all you need to know to be relaxed and confident when you step on the dance floor (at least that was their promise).

We had our lessons in our dining room (we cleared out the table and chairs each week) but you only need enough room to swing a bride.

If you have difficulty in choosing a first dance song, they can recommend ones that work particularly well (Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Andy Williams) or unusual songs they have created routines for in the past (Murder On The Dance floor by Sophie Ellis Bextor). While this latter choice seemed most apt, we were torn between Elton John's Your Song and Elvis Costello's She. Our teacher Natasha encouraged us to choose She as it would be a bit easier to dance to. We happily consented.

At the start of our first lesson we had to demonstrate our dancing abilities (or lack of) to Natasha - supposedly so that she knew what she was dealing with. We obliged by self-consciously swaying from side to side in a circle for a while. Then she quickly developed the first part of our routine and soon had us twirling and spinning.

By the end of the first lesson, I felt much happier. The fear of making a fool of myself subsiding. By the end of the second, I began to wonder whether swaying from side to side wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.

The routine she had worked out was brilliant, but for the life of me I couldn't work out how I was going to remember the sequence, especially after several glasses of Champagne.

Like all good intentions, we started off well - rehearsing several times a week - but soon life took over and dancing became less of a priority. A couple of weeks before the wedding, my fiancé and I decided to try out the dance at the venue. A good idea in theory, but it actually served to make us realise how many mistakes we had yet to iron out.

I had also left it till this point to swap my trainers for my towering Gina stilettos. Not a good idea. I am not used to wearing heels, let alone dancing in them, and I found I had to relearn the routine on tiptoes or I made too much of a clatter on the dance floor - hardly very elegant for a bride.

The wedding day was wonderful. Everything from the ceremony to the speeches ran smoothly and then it was time for our first dance. We hadn't told a soul (not even the best man) that we had been having lessons.

Everyone gathered around the floor as we walked on hand in hand, hearts thumping. We started by swaying from side to side in a circle (Natasha's idea to trick people into thinking that this was all they could expect for the duration) - and then we gradually added a few spins until we broke into a more elaborate routine.

Hopefully, we looked all smiles rather than a bundle of nerves and concentration. Unbelievably, we both remembered the whole routine and really enjoyed the experience, especially hearing guests cheer as I leaped into Bill's arms for grand finale.

For more information, call First Dance Uk on 0845 055 0729 or visit www.firstdanceuk.co.uk.