A couple months ago, my dad invited Josh and me to participate in a private dance lesson as a gift to us for our upcoming wedding. Being slightly hungover the day after an OSU game and unsure of his abilities, Josh was not excited for our first lesson. But by the end of lesson one, a little fire had started to spark up. Before our next class, he was beyond excited to practice our new moves. We even found ourselves dancing on the sidewalk during a vacation with the applause of another couple egging us on. Now, with a couple more lessons under our belts, it has become something we genuinely look forward to doing together. Even just practicing in the comfort of our home has us smiling and laughing. We wanted to share our newfound hobby with you and the dance studio that started it all!

EA Dance Art Studio opened in Hilliard just this year! Even though they have been open for a bit, they are hosting a public grand opening party THIS Saturday! Owners Enoch and Anastasia started dancing at a young age before meeting in 2018 to dance together professionally. In addition to teaching classes at their new studio, they continue competing to learn and practice continuously. When it comes to lessons, they have several different variations to best suit what you are looking for. There are one-on-one lessons with an instructor, private group lessons, public group lessons, and even lessons tailored to special events. You pay per dance instead of paying for a set number of classes or a package. Their one-on-one introductory lesson starts at just $45, with an increase to $75 for the 30 days following your first lesson. Afterward, private lessons increase to $100. Group and special occasion rates vary. What I loved to see is that the public group lessons are incredibly affordable. At only $15, you can join one of their two weekly public group lessons. Every Wednesday in October, the group lessons are focused on swing dancing, while each Tuesday showcases a different kind of dance. Image of the group schedule below!

Want to try to dance but don’t have a partner? EA Dance Art has multiple solutions for this. In a public group lesson, you may be paired with one of the group dance instructors, who tend to be the owners! Dancing with our instructor was one of the best ways to learn because the other person knew what they were doing. Another solution is visiting one of their special singles date nights. In the summer, they had a weekly class aimed at singles who wanted to learn to dance. You are learning something new, and maybe you’ll meet someone new too! It doesn’t look like they have dates for this in winter yet, but keep an eye out!

On your first lesson, they will have you fill out a standard waiver, and then you are ready to dance! Dress, however, feels comfortable to you; I’ve worn skirts and workout clothes, flat shoes, and heels. For our first 45-minute session, we started learning the basics of two different types of dances. Like a waltz, the standard bachata was learned first to prepare us for those slow dances that always occur at weddings. Our favorite dance to learn was the second, the Hustle. Full of spins and at a slightly quicker tempo, we found ourselves laughing at our mistakes and celebrating our successes with this one. In our next lesson, we extended off these basics and learned how to combine all the steps to make it feel like a flowing dance. Check out this picture of Josh cutting up the dance floor with our instructor, Corinne!