Pearl is simply amazing and you'd be a fool not to book her…read more
To get an idea, I have no dance background and have avoided dance for decades simply because I'm a slow learner, I'm easily confused with patterned steps, I get frustrated quickly such that I give up, and I look like Elaine on Seinfeld when I dance.
I came to Pearl with a simple mission : teach me how to dance country in one month so that I could ask a special lady, "May I have this dance?" I was ambitious. I wanted to learn El Paso, Schottische, Sidekick, and Shadow in no more than one month to be adequately prepared to dance at Nashvilles in Rochester, NY. Pearl wasn't phased. She didn't think I was crazy for trying such a stunt and she was confident I could succeed [even though I wasn't so sure despite assigning myself this mission]
Pearl didn't know the country couples dances and i was fully aware of that when I signed up with her. It's very clear on her website what she is versed in. But, she's a professional dancer and an experienced teacher. All she had to do was look at videos of the dance styles a time or two and she had it down immediately. It was unbelievably amazing to someone like me who would watch for hours just to fail.
I truly did learn ALL of those dance styles in one short month. And although I didn't get the chance to ask that special lady that one night, I have since discovered that I enjoy country dancing immensely and I can thank Pearl for fostering that development and confidence.
Now, I've asked Pearl to take me through her unique dance program to learn the language of dance and apply it to Country Two Step. It's not memorizing steps, patterns, or combinations. It's like learning concepts, theories, and vocabulary so that when you take your follower on the dance floor, you have all you need, to dance however you feel, in that very moment. I'm not stressed out about, okay first I turn her, then I put her in a wrap, then into a neck wrap, then switch places, then go into cape position...now, "Finish her!!" [Mortal Kombat reference] No, I do what I feel and I have fun with it, every time.
I've only had a few of those lessons so far and it works. I get comments from long time country dancers who are surprised that I've only been learning for less than 2 months [which is really more like 1 month because of the other dance mission] And, I notice that I don't learn as well in other classes who are trying to teach memorization of combinations; all my anxieties return and, more importantly, I don't remember their lesson. I remember Pearl's.
Pearl is very kind, patient, energetic, and effectively communicative in both her words and actions. It makes for a great lesson each time. If you want to learn how to dance, whether the style is listed on her website or not, just ask her, and put your trust in her that she won't let you fail - because she absolutely won't.
PS - for all you brides and grooms to be that are looking for help with their 1st wedding dance event, I personally got to see a couple grow from rigid timidness to graceful fluid movements in 7 lessons. The choreography that Pearl created fit their chosen song so well. Altogether, it was very heartfelt, endearing and awesome.
