BDC Student Spotlight: Paul & Liz, Escaping the Daily Stresses Through Dance

It’s always a dance teacher’s pleasure to work with a couple who is interested in learning to dance together and who already move naturally together and Paul and Liz are one of those couples. Not only did they master their first dance, a romantic Rumba to Maxwell’s “Fortunate,” but they also learned some hot salsa moves to show off at their wedding and at our practice dance parties!
On another note, Paul and Liz are expecting a baby boy! To Paul and Liz: Congratulations guys! We are so excited for you!

How did you meet?  We met through friends.  For over a year we would miss each other by minutes, finally we met at a party and there was an instant attraction.

What do you enjoy doing together on your days off?  The thing we like to do the most on a day off is travel and explore.  When Paul first moved to Chicago I was his tour guide taking him around the city and suburbs, showing him all the city had to offer.  We also frequently go on small and large trips around the United States.

What was your engagement like?  Our engagement was a bit stressful with my father being sick and planning a wedding.  One of our favorite stress relaxers was going to dance lessons.  It was a time for the two of us to simply focus on learning something new together.  The dance lessons, while challenging, were a great way to escape from the stresses of daily life.

What are some of your favorite moments at your wedding? A few of my favorite moments from our wedding are my father walking me down the isle, wearing crowns during our ceremony, the trolley ride to the reception and dancing the night away at our reception.  We come from two different cultures, I am Serbian and Paul is Ugandan, and we shared music and dances from both our cultures throughout our reception.

What was your first dance lesson like? At our first dance lesson we were both nervous and excited.  We came in a were greeted very friendly by Szewai, who offered us some beer or wine then started to ask us about the direction we would like to go with our lesson.  She found out what type of music we liked and what types of dance styles we were interested in.  For the last part we did some simple dance moves so she could get a feel of our dance level.

What styles of dance did you learn? What is your favorite? We learned Salsa, Rumba, and Bachata.  We liked Rumba and Salsa best, if we practiced more we think Salsa would be our favorite.

What was the best thing about learning to dance together? The best thing about learning to dance together was practicing and showing off our moves at parties and other weddings.  It was nice to have a time where we spent together focused on a task and not worrying about other things.

What advice would you give other couples who are learning to dance together? Relax and enjoy the time spent learning together.