BDC Student Spotlight: Matt & Nicole - Nice Men Marry Dancers, Real Men BECOME Dancers
It was the last day of July when a very excited Nicole dragged her very worried fiance Matt into Ballroom Dance Chicago. Nicole grew up dancing and envisioned a classic first dance with lots of personality. Matt on the other hand couldn’t help remembering those rare occasions he went dancing with Nicole and felt out of place and uncomfortable. In fact, his primary dance move was just to try and grab on to Nicole and slow her down as much as possible. After some red wine to calm the nerves and discussing their goals with us, Matt and Nicole learned the box step and were both surprised at how well they took to Rumba (Matt was especially surprised). Matt and Nicole worked hard to practice their dance until they felt comfortable and confident. The wedding in New Buffalo, MI was spectacular, despite a rainstorm (that’s good luck, right?!), and their guests applauded and cat-called and cheered during the entire first dance. Matt and Nicole explain, “The whole place went crazy when we finished, and it was one of the best parts of our entire day.” More importantly, they discovered a love of dancing and learning together, and are excited to continue doing both at Ballroom Dance Chicago!
What was the best thing about learning to dance together? Matt says: For me, the best moment was when Nicole realized that we could pull off the dance she had envisioned for our wedding. To see how excited she was made me really happy. For her, she was definitely thrilled to have me willing and able to finally dance with her. After a few lessons we both began to talk about continuing to learn new dances after our wedding as we felt we were picking up skills we could use the rest of our lives.
What did you in the few minutes before the dance on your wedding day to prepare? We planned on it, but as with a lot of things that day, it just kind of snuck up on us. On the bus just before the introductions we sat together and hummed the beat of the song. So really, just a minute or so of reviewing “Slow, quick, quick” is all we did.
How did you meet each other? Was it love at first sight? Matt says: We met through mutual friends and ended up spending the day together. I thought we hit it off wonderfully, and even declared later in the evening (after several more drinks) that I was going to marry Nicole. However, she was surprised that I asked our mutual friend for her number a couple days later, so maybe it wasn’t love at first sight as I thought! Nonetheless, after a few times hanging out we both knew we were onto something special.
If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you? Matt says: George Clooney, but mostly because I’m going gray quickly. I think Nicole looks and acts a bit like the characters played by Rashida Jones, but she doesn’t see it.
Describe your perfect day off of work? We are both certainly big fans of sleeping in! But we also like to do the little things we always intend to do on weekends but seldom have time for…take our dog to the park, hangout at the lakefront, try a new restaurant. Anything that gets us out of the house and lets us relax.