At Portland Dancesport we teach a student to dance using 3 main methods; combined they can produce an extremely well rounded and successful dancer.
Private Lessons:
A private lesson is a 45-minute time block of one on one instruction. Students learn either as a single or couple with an instructor helping them overcome their personal challenges to partner dancing. It is by far the most effective and fastest way to learn to partner dance. At Portland Dancesport our instructors teach all styles of partner dancing (click here for descriptions of different dance styles) and teach all elements of each style (meaning steps, lead/follow, technique, styling and timing).
Group Classes:
Class at PDS
Group classes are an excellent way to supplement your private lessons and get experience dancing with different partners. We teach group classes in a “series” at Portland Dancesport, which means that a student signs up for a once-weekly class for the same day and time for 4 weeks. Over the course of a group class a student learns about everything from the music and history of a dance to the technique and steps.
As group classes generally cost less than private instruction, they are a great way to increase the number of dances you can learn in a short amount of time. They also offer an opportunity for you to work on whatever material you’re doing in your private classes and so speed up your progress in those as well.
Coaching:
Latin Coaches - Olga & Dima Sukachov
During a student’s training it is often wise to bring a third party onto one’s private lesson for a fresh “eye”. A “Coach”, usually a senior or very experienced instructor, observes what the student has been working on and can do and offers advice to the student and staff instructor about the student’s overall direction, strengths and weaknesses. This approach keeps the student winning and moving forward and can help work out any snags that may appear while learning to dance.
Portland Dancesport’s in-house coach is Rebecca Bishop, however we bring in other coaches from outside for their specialities. Our Latin coaches are Dima and Olga Sukachov and our Ballroom coach is Beth Knoll.
Prices for in-house coaching (with instructor and coach): $125 per lesson
