Dear Dish-It: First Dance Advice

High School Dance

Dear Dish-It,

I'm so scared about my first dance. What should I do?

skittles

Dear skittles,

It's perfectly OK for you to feel nervous about going to your first dance - just like it's totally normal for kids to feel scared or anxious about anything they're about to do for the first time. Think about the feelings you had on your first day of school, your first time riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. I'm sure you felt scared about those "firsts," too, but now that you've done them, you probably think there was nothing to b scared of in the first place, right?

So now that you're about to go to your first dance, keep in mind that once you've done it, you'll forget why you were nervous about it at all!

In terms of how to dress and act at the dance, the best thing for you to do is to talk to your friends about it. Ask them what they're wearing and how they're going to get to the dance - maybe you can even suggest that all your friends go and/or arrive at the dance together, to make it a little less scary as you go in.

Here are some more quick tips on going to your first dance:

1. Dance with your friends to fast songs. In terms of dancing in groups, it's fun to stand in a circle, facing in or facing the DJ.
2. Realize that it is almost impossible to dance with a guy on fast songs, but sometimes the braver guys will dive in and dance.
3. Remember, you're not going to dance "wrong." If you want to blend in, try to imitate what others are doing. If not, go crazy.
4. You don't have to ask anyone to dance if you don't want to. If you do and they say no, just say, "OK. Have fun!" and dance your way back to your friends. Smile and laugh and dance off the nervousness.
5. If you're asked to dance by someone you don't want to dance with, just say "No, thanks." Be polite and don't fuss about it with your friends. Just let it go.

The most important thing to remember is dances are held in order for kids to have some fun. So go with the idea in mind that you will get to see and hang out with your friends outside of class and that there will be great music to listen and bust your best moves to!

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