“Option 2”

Rick* & Hannah* came to our dance studio to learn to dance, but more importantly, to have some meaningful time together as husband and wife. Rick was a successful real estate broker with his own company, Hannah was able to be a stay-at-home mom to their five children.

Not knowing their full story at first, we gave them the opportunity to weigh in on how they wanted to progress with learning to dance. We essentially gave them two options: the first option was that they could both learn steps and patterns, add in some frame, posture, and connection, and move forward in what most people considered to be the “normal” way. The second method would focus on Rick learning the steps and patterns, but more importantly he would focus on leading. Hannah would mainly learn to follow and rightly connect with Rick. She would only learn the rhythms and patterns of the dance steps only when they were overly tricky and hard for beginners to communicate. Rick and Hannah chose option two.

Now for the kind of amazing part… Rick and Hannah were a solidly Christian couple, who for the most part were living out the Biblical roles of marriage. What we found so exciting, and Rick and Hannah found so empowering, was that by choosing to learn by Lead and Follow (option two), their learning and proficiency was 55% - 70% faster than couples who chose patterned based lessons. Neither Rick nor Hannah had played musical instruments, been in choir or theatre, or even really played team sports, and, they were coming to couples dance from very strict and conservative Christian backgrounds, with “just” the asset of being willing to learn. By choosing to learn to dance by learning connect with each other, listen to each other, and grow together from the foundation of mutual trust and respect, Rick & Hannah proved that Leading and Following is a joyous experience.

Rick and Hannah were our students for over 5 years, and in that relatively short time, they mastered 7 - 8 dances, and he could lead at least 10 different patterns per dance style! Hannah was fearless in her adaptability to follow Rick, (and other leaders too), as she had learned the art of connection and coupled that with devout teamwork.

Rick and Hannah were the first couple to whom we gave that original two-choice option, at their first lesson. Our lesson in it was that by choosing to learn to Lead & Follow God’s way… anything is possible!

*Names changed.