46 THE QUEENS COURIER • DANCE • AUGUST 30, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
dance
Making those wedding dances something special
BY TRESA ERICKSON
You’re getting married in a few months,
and unlike some of your friends, you
value convention and have planned a
very traditional wedding. Everything is
all set, including the music for the ceremony
and reception. You can’t wait for
that fi rst dance. You even managed to
convince your fi ancé to enroll in a dance
class so the two of you can glide across the
fl oor with ease. Of course, you want to do
the fi rst dance the traditional way, so here
is a reminder of who dances with whom
during that event.
During the fi rst dance, the bride and
groom traditionally take to the fl oor alone
and dance to their favorite song. Aft er a
few bars of music, the father of the bride
cuts in on the groom to dance with his
daughter, while the groom asks the mother
of the bride to dance. Th e number of
couples on the dance fl oor now numbers
two.
Th e groom’s parents then join the couples
on the dance fl oor, with the father
of the groom cutting in on the father of
the bride to dance with the bride and the
groom asking his mother to dance aft er the
father of the bride cuts in on him to dance
with his wife. Th e number of couples on the
dance fl oor now numbers three.
At some point, the groom’s parents will
dance with each other and exchange partners
with the bride’s parents, while the
best man dances with the bride and the
groom dances with the maid of honor.
Finally, the entire wedding party will
make their way onto the dance fl oor and
the rest of the guests will be invited to
join them.
Traditionally, this is how the fi rst and
sometimes the second dances go. Keep in
mind that you can switch it up. You can
dance one song entirely with your groom,
the next with your parents and the last
with your wedding party. For guests itching
to get onto the dance fl oor, you might
want to limit the initial dances to one or
two, and to ensure everyone knows where
they should be during those dances, you
might want to have the DJ announce the
exchange of partners.
Once everyone is on the dance fl oor,
you can have various special dances. You
can have a dollar dance, during which
anyone who dances with you and the
groom donates a dollar or more toward
your honeymoon or some other purpose.
You can also have an anniversary dance,
where all married couples get out on the
dance fl oor and leave as instructed until
the couple that has been married the longest
remains.
Th e options for dancing at a wedding
are limitless. Don’t be afraid to shake
things up a bit aft er you have completed
the traditional dances.