At Danse L’amour, we LOVE photo moments for your first dance! What better way to capture your memories in rhythm? After all, you put so much work into your first dance, so it’s important to ensure you have the photos and videos to help you memorialize that special moment for a lifetime.
We use our choreography to create photo moments that will earn a spot on your mantle forever, designed to be comfortable, easy to navigate in wedding attire, and stunning all around!
And it’s not by accident – we use four key steps in every first dance to ensure that your first dance is captured in all its beauty!
Extending your investment in first dance lessons
There are so many reasons to make the investment in first dance lessons beyond those three precious minutes on the floor!
Prioritizing photo moments extends your investment for years to come. You’ll show these photos to your future children and grandchildren someday – and look back on that moment with the same fondness!
In addition to photo moments, first dance lessons will give you the foundational skills to dance anywhere – whether as wedding guests or in the kitchen!
Pro-Tip: Use your newfound dance skills to have a private last dance at the end of the night! This gives you a chance to soak in the final moments of your wedding day as a couple. Make sure to let your DJ or band know to clear the room when it’s time to wrap up the evening!
The Four Key Steps to creating photo moments
We use four key steps in every first dance we choreograph! While this looks different for every couple, depending on their preferences, dress style, and venue, the basics stay the same.
Dance Frame Details
It’s all in the details! Your first dance should be beautiful from any angle. And you don’t want to capture it from a single frame of reference. We always aim for your photographer to be able to capture your first dance up close for those loving looks and from a distance for those showstopping moments!
And don’t worry about capturing your guests in the background – you’ll look back on these photos and LOVE seeing your guests' faces reacting to your dance!
Nailing a dip/lift
The best part of any first dance is that showstopping dip or lift! Based on your dress and dance style, our choreographers choose a signature move you feel comfortable and confident doing.
Ballgowns have many advantages when it comes to your first dance. With plenty of room to move, you won’t have to stress about limited leg mobility for spins and lifts!
You may be worried about wearing a ballgown, but we have some pro tips to avoid stepping on the dress!
Tip #1: Ensure the leader is offset to the left and always ahead so their feet arrive before the dress.
Tip #2: Act like the dress isn’t there! Take confident steps for the duration of your dance. Usually, when you think about stepping on the dress, that’s exactly the moment you’ll step on the dress. Embrace your dress in all of its beauty!
Tip #3: Opt to hold your dress up as part of your choreography! Some dresses have pieces attached for easy holding. And, if you have a train, you can bustle your dress for your dance if you feel more comfortable.
Tip #4: The most important step – work with a choreographer who knows how to create a dance that aligns with your first dance style! Your instructor should have the experience and skills to know which moves work best with certain styles.
Leg mobility allows you to do a beautiful spin into a lift for ballgowns, creating that showstopping photo moment.
And for fitted dresses, you have options too! You could do a vertical under-the-booty lift or a sexy dip.
Rotating Q Box Steps
Learning the box step is foundational to making your first dance look professional and photo-worthy! The rotating “Q” motion allows you to show off that beautiful dress as it flows across the floor. With a little practice, you’ll be able to do this move and look like the pros anywhere you go for your first dance and beyond!
Choreographed “slow moments”
While we love showstopping moments and fluid motions, it may become difficult for your photographer to capture your faces if you’re swiftly moving for the entire dance. “Slow” moments are choreographed to ensure you and your photographer have time to soak in the moment!
What should you tell your photographer and/or videographer?
It’s a good idea to communicate ahead of time with your photographer and videographer that you’re doing a choreographed first dance. If you’ve chosen a great photographer/videographer, they’ll have no trouble capturing this special moment.
But it’s not a bad idea to let them know ahead of time if there are any shots that you’d like to prioritize, like your showstopping lift or dip!
Pro-Tip: Ask your venue/photographer if it’s possible to capture photos from above during your first dance!
You deserve a first dance that will live on for many years after those three minutes on the floor! When you make that investment, you’re not only walking away with a choreographed first dance, you’ll have a lifetime of precious memories to revisit again and again.
Your first dance should look INCREDIBLE live and be fun and easy to do, but prioritizing photo moments is equally as important for extending your investment.
And the best part? When you choose Danse L’Amour, you won’t have to change a thing to create these photo moments – it’s built into the foundation of our choreography process! We want you to step on that dance floor confident, relaxed, and in love, not focusing on what’s happening around you.
When you’re dancing, you should feel like the only two people in the room – leave the rest to us!
