💃 The Dance Instructor

Who plays who

• A — The Instructor: you teach the routine, and you lead the first half of the night.
• B — The Student: you follow the count, until the count stops and the lead changes hands.
• A leads Acts 1 and 2. Whoever stops asking for permission first leads Act 3, and the lead is traded from there.

What you need

• A clear floor and one slow song you can count to
• Clothes you can actually move in — nothing restrictive
• Water within reach, because this one keeps you on your feet
• A chair or windowsill for the pauses

Act 1 — 🕯️ Setup

The lesson starts properly: you are the student, the floor is the studio, and your instructor stands a full step away, fixing your posture with words alone. Every part of the routine is named before you dance it, and the distance between you is the first thing either of you notices. This is a genuine lesson, for now.

Beats

• Name each move out loud before it is danced. The instructor teaches, the student repeats.
• Keep one full step of space for the whole first song. The gap is the tension.
• No touching yet — corrections are verbal, or made with a pointed finger in the air.

Lines to say

• "Shoulders back. Again — slower this time."
• "You are counting ahead of the music. Stop thinking and follow me."
• "Good. Now do it without watching your feet."

Act 2 — 🔥 Build

The corrections change now: a flat palm on your lower back to square your hips, two fingers under your chin to lift it. Each fix is held a beat longer than the last, and the step between you shrinks with every count. You are dancing the same routine — only the room inside it has gone.

Beats

• Every correction is a hand now, and every hand stays a second past the fix.
• Keep the praise coming — the student dances better the closer the instructor stands.
• One move per count, no skipping ahead, however much either of you wants to.

Lines to say

• "Hips first, then the turn. Let me feel it."
• "You keep drifting in. That is not the step."
• "Hold that. I am going to move you."

Act 3 — ⚡ Escalate

Now the instructor dances with you instead of at you: one hand at your waist, the other laced through yours, the routine running on a count you both feel rather than hear. Every count brings them closer until there is no room left to misstep. Whoever stopped asking permission first leads from here — and you both know who that was.

Beats

• Hands stay on the body for the whole act: waist, back, the back of the neck.
• The student stops watching their feet and watches the instructor instead.
• At the end of the act the lead changes, out loud, as characters.

Lines to say

• "Follow me and do not look down."
• "You know this one. I taught you this one."
• "You are in charge of the next song. Show me what you do with it."

Act 4 — 💥 Climax

The counting stops. The music is still playing but neither of you is following it any more, and you are no longer stepping apart between the beats. Stay inside the lesson — the instructor directs, the student answers — and take as long as the night allows, because the studio has no closing time.

Beats

• Nobody explains anything. If it has to be described, the dance is already over.
• Use what Act 3 built: the lead, the hands, the count.
• Let it finish when it finishes, not when the script says.

Lines to say

• "Do not stop. Keep the rhythm."
• "Stay in the hold. Do not let go."

Act 5 — 🤍 Aftercare

The track runs out and the lesson is over, though neither of you has stepped out of the hold yet — you are still standing in each other's arms, breathing hard and laughing. Come back into your own names out loud, then look after each other the way you would after any real class.

Beats

• Step out of the roles by name, out loud: "that was me, this is you".
• Water, somewhere to sit, and hands that are no longer performing.
• One thing each of you liked, and one move to learn in the next lesson.

Lines to say

• "That was a good class. Thank you for teaching me properly."
• "Next time I want the other side of that."

Aftercare

Water, somewhere soft to sit, and skin on skin with nothing left to perform.,Say one thing you liked and one thing you want in the next lesson — out loud, before either of you moves.,The student is told clearly, in plain words, that they danced well. Training is only fun when it ends with praise.

Ground rules and consent

• We stay in the lesson the whole way through — instructor and student, no slipping out to talk about tomorrow.
• Touch is added one step at a time. Either of us can say "start again" and rewind a move without stopping the scene.
• "Tempo", or simply a raised hand, stops everything in one second with no explanation owed.
• If it moves off the floor, we say so as our characters first — out loud, before any clothes come off.

For the thinking behind it, Roleplay for beginners is the long version.

Frequently asked