The Slow Dance Revolution
How Bella Marie Johns is using free social media instruction to solve the biggest problem in partner dance: the six-month skill cliff that stops most people before they ever fall in love with it.
Partner dance has a problem that nobody in the industry likes to talk about. It's not the cost, though that's real. It's not the time commitment, though that's real too. The problem is the first six months — the period when you know enough to understand how much you don't know, but not enough to actually enjoy yourself. The period when your brain and body are fighting each other, when every pattern feels like a puzzle you're solving in real time, when you feel, as one instructor puts it, "like a bit of a fool."
Most people quit during this window. And they quit not because dance isn't for them, but because nobody told them the cliff was coming — or gave them the tools to get through it without spending hundreds of dollars on private lessons first.
Bella Marie Johns is trying to change that.
The Skill Cliff
Every partner dancer who sticks with the art long enough eventually looks back at their early months and laughs. The patterns that felt impossibly complex become automatic. The connection that felt forced becomes natural. The music that seemed like a separate thing to manage becomes something you move with instinctively. But getting to that point requires surviving a period of genuine discomfort that most beginners aren't prepared for.
The challenge is neurological as much as physical. Learning a new movement pattern requires building new neural pathways — and until those pathways are established, every repetition requires conscious effort. You're thinking about your footwork, your frame, your partner's movement, the music, and your own balance simultaneously. It's cognitively exhausting, and it feels nothing like the effortless dancing you see on a competition floor or in a viral video.
Figure 1 — The Skill Cliff That Stops Most People
The dancers who make it through this window almost always have one of two things: a patient instructor who normalizes the discomfort, or a community that makes the awkward phase enjoyable enough to keep showing up. What they rarely have is free, accessible content that lets them build a foundation before they ever walk into a studio — which is exactly the gap Bella Marie is filling.
Who Is Bella Marie?
Bella Marie Johns grew up in dance — ballet first, then ballroom as a teenager. She's a competitive dancer and the owner of Danse L'Amour, a first dance instruction company with studios in Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, New York City, Columbus, and Portland. Her in-person work focuses on couples preparing for wedding first dances, and she describes her mission in terms that go beyond the mechanics of dance: she's interested in what partner dancing does to a relationship.
"In each of the couples I've worked with as a ballroom dance teacher, I've seen the power that dance has in transforming relationships," she writes. "From empty nesters needing to reconnect, to fiancés prepping to say 'I do', to people early in their relationships still building a strong foundation, I help couples deepen their connection to one another and find an intimacy that they just can't find anywhere else."
That framing — dance as a relationship tool, not just a performance skill — is what distinguishes her approach from most ballroom instruction. She's not trying to produce competitors. She's trying to give couples a shared language.
The Free Content Strategy
What makes Bella Marie notable in the ballroom world is her commitment to putting high-quality instruction on TikTok and Instagram for free. This is not a common approach in an industry that has historically relied on a studio model where the first lesson is cheap and everything after it is expensive. (More on that in our ballroom cost guide.)
Her social media content is specifically designed for people who are intimidated by dance — people who have never taken a lesson, who think they "can't dance," who want to do something special with their partner but don't know where to start. The moves she teaches are genuinely simple, the instruction is clear, and the tone is warm and encouraging without being condescending.
The effect is that someone can watch a handful of her videos and actually learn something they can use at a wedding or a social event — without spending any money. That's a meaningful thing. It means that the first experience of partner dance doesn't have to be a $29 introductory lesson at a studio that immediately leads to a $300 package pitch. It can be a quiet evening at home, learning a few steps with a partner, building enough confidence and curiosity to want more.
Figure 3 — Why Her Approach Works
Simple moves, clearly taught
Bella's content focuses on moves that are genuinely learnable in a short time — not simplified versions of competition choreography, but social dance patterns that actually work in real situations.
Free content on social media
By putting high-quality instruction on TikTok and Instagram for free, Bella removes the financial barrier that stops many people from ever trying dance. You can learn real skills before spending a dollar.
Couples-focused framing
Most dance instruction is individual or competition-focused. Bella's work is explicitly about the couple — the connection, the communication, the shared experience. This makes it immediately relevant to people who want to dance together, not perform.
Normalizing the awkward phase
One of the most valuable things a dance teacher can do is tell students that feeling foolish is normal and temporary. Bella's approach acknowledges the discomfort of the learning curve rather than pretending it doesn't exist.
What She Teaches
Beyond her free social media content, Bella Marie offers a series of online courses designed to take couples from complete beginners to confident social dancers. The courses are focused on practical, immediately usable skills — not competition technique, but the kind of dancing that makes people look at you at a wedding and say, "Wait, when did you learn to dance?"
Figure 2 — What Bella Teaches
Slow Dancing
The foundation — how to actually move together instead of swaying in place. Covers basic connection, timing, and simple patterns that work to any song.
Dips & Tricks 101
The moves that make people gasp. Taught safely and accessibly so couples can add drama without needing years of training.
Hustle 101
One of the most fun and versatile partner dances. Works to almost any pop music and is a crowd-pleaser at any social event.
First Dance 101
Specifically designed for couples preparing for their wedding first dance. Practical, efficient, and designed to build confidence fast.
Why This Matters for the Dance Community
The ballroom dance community has a retention problem. Studios attract beginners constantly — the introductory lesson model is effective at getting people in the door. But converting those beginners into long-term dancers is hard, and the skill cliff is a major reason why. People who quit during the awkward phase don't become the experienced social dancers who fill the floors at competitions and events. They become people who "tried dance once" and decided it wasn't for them.
Instructors like Bella Marie who are working to lower the barrier to entry — to give people a foundation before they ever walk into a studio, to normalize the discomfort of learning, to frame dance as something for everyone rather than something for the naturally gifted — are doing something genuinely valuable for the long-term health of the community.
If you're a beginner who's been curious about partner dance but intimidated by the cost or the learning curve, Bella Marie's free content is one of the best places to start. If you're already dancing and you know someone who's been on the fence, send them her way. The more people who make it through the first six months, the more people who discover what's on the other side of that cliff.
Find Bella Marie
Follow Her Work
Bella Marie's free instruction is on TikTok and Instagram. Her online courses and in-person first dance services are available through her website. If you're in Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, New York, Columbus, or Portland, her Danse L'Amour studios offer in-person instruction.
Related Guides