Ballroom Dancing By Bud Walters

We only had time to take one lesson with Bud Walters to prepare for our first dance, and he still got us to a point where we feel much better about stepping out on the dance floor together. He is very patient yet concise. He had to move fast with us, due to the limited time frame, but he still made sure we were doing everything correctly. I love that he showed us how to walk on and off the dance floor--many couples don't think about those kinds of things, but Bud does!! We have been excited to dance our first dance together, but now we are really excited knowing it will look good! ETA--We are now married and the pictures of our first dance look FABULOUS thanks to Bud! We look like we really know what we were doing! Thanks, Bud! I recommend him to EVERYONE!!!

Neither of us are dancers, so the idea of having 200 people stare at us while we dance was intimidating! We decided to take some ballroom dance lessons with Bud Walters and are so glad that we did! It was nice to have something fun and low-stress to do together before the wedding and we had a great first dance!

Bud taught us how to dance the foxtrot for our dance, and swing - so we could enjoy our big band. Neither of us could dance very well, so we signed up for a package at a local studio. However, after three weeks of private and group lessons we still didn't know what to do on the dance floor: we had tried a dozen different dances, but we could only walk the studio's perimeter doing our basic step, which neither looked nor felt right. At this point we started looking for alternatives - which is when we found Bud. After one hour with Bud - just one hour - we could dance. Based on our experience with the other studio, here's our take on why Bud's classes where so much more effective. 1) We got full one-hour lessons - i.e., 60 minutes, no breaks (not 45 minutes as in the other studio) 2) These were private classes: we were the only couple in the studio, we practiced to our music, and we had the complete attention of our instructor - non-stop. 3) We received instruction. There was no "just dancing" or practicing one move over and over again - Bud was on us all the time, stopping us, correcting, explaining , having us try a move, then explaining again, refining it, etc. We practiced at home - not during the class; during the class we learned what seemed like a lot - much more than we had expected. 4) Bud explained the little details which seemed to have made a big difference in how we danced. Where and how to place your hand, keep the fingers together to make the hand look smaller, keep the shoulders straight, etc, etc. - the tiny things we never heard of, and which made us look so much better and feel so much better once we learned them. UPDATE: Dana - the reviewer from 9/24 - is quite right about walking on and off the dance floor: Bud taught us how to do it both gracefully and naturally, which looked so much better than a "staged" walk. 5) In our opinion, Bud is not only diligent in his instruction - he is also a very good teacher. He can explain very well, and he made us feel comfortable about everything we did - without flattering us with empty compliments (like they did in the other studio). When he complimented us - we knew he meant it; he also smiled and laughed, and the whole class was such a delightful experience! 6) Last but not least, there was no pressure to purchase more packages - because there are none! It was just our upcoming wedding, and it seemed that Bud wanted to teach us what we needed to know in as few classes as possible: at the end - believe it or not - we were the ones insisting on one more class or two! CONCLUSION. After only six classes we had learned enough foxtrot to look glamorous (and we did!); we also learned swing well enough to enjoy our big band. In fact, we could've pulled it off after just one or two classes with Bud! We are not very good dancers, but we felt very comfortable and relaxed dancing at our wedding - and, judging by the video, we looked wonderful on the dance floor!...

Everyone loved our first dance! Especially me and my husband. Bud taught us how to look like we knew what we were doing on the dance floor, and it was so much fun! I'm glad we were able to fit this into our wedding budget because it was worth it! It made that special moment even more special.

Bud was absolutely great, our first dance at our wedding was perfect. He helped my wife get over her fear of the first dance and coached us to perfection! I would highly recommend bud to EVERYONE! He was very fun to work with and made it easy to learn.

We had a blast taking lessons and our guests loved the dance. Take the lessons, you won't regret it :)

His direction gave us the confidence to dance a two-step with our four left feet at our reception. He was kind but also efficient at getting us to where we need to be. He even made us interested in the whole dancing world and may entice us to dance more often.

Bud was fantastic to work with. He listened to our ideas about how we wanted our first dance to go, what our song was like, and helped us figure out the best dance style. He taught us so much in three weeks, that our first dance was fun and relaxed instead of scary! If you are concerned at all about your first dance, take some lessons with Bud and he will make you feel comfortable about what you are doing. We may go back for lessons again.

Before the wedding, my fiance and I were very nervous about the first dance and our DJ recommended we contact Bud Walters. We were coordinating long distance and had kind of put this off, so in the end we only had one week together before the wedding (and minimal budget!). Bud worked with us in just one lesson and got us comfortable enough to be excited instead of scared for our first dance. The way he teaches, your dance looks very natural -- not canned or choreographed. He was easy to contact and schedule with, easy to learn from, and responsive to our situation and needs. We highly recommend working with him!

Bud was amazing! Our wedding coordinator suggested we do at least one lesson, just so we would feel comfortable during out first dance. We loved it so much, we took 3. We didn't want to do anything really special, we just wanted to look like we had some idea what we were doing. Working with Bud was easy. We never felt overwhelmed during the lessons, but we were so impressed with how much we learned by the end. And, of course, when we got to that moment, we were pretty relaxed and were able to just enjoy dancing together. We had so much fun taking the lessons that my husband is now trying to convince me that we should back to Bud to learn swing dancing.

Bud was GREAT to work with. He had us laughing the whole time and really made sure we felt comfortable dancing together. He even went out of his way to teach us a 6th turn even though we were only supposed to learn 5. I would definitely reccommend him if you are looking to take dance lessons.