Do-It-Yourself Quinceañera Dance Choreography

Practicing for your vals and surprise dance is one of the best ways to count down to your quince. Here are some tips to making your quince dances unique without hiring a choreographer!

Choose a close family member or friend to be your “coach”. Their job would be to help you brainstorm, stay organized, and coordinate your quinceañera dance choreography. You could also choose a few close friends to help you with this creative process.

Write down a possible timeline for your reception including the following quince dances you'd like during your reception, and anything else you need to practice. Your timeline may change but this will give you basic outline of practices.

• The Entrance Dance

• The Growing Up Dance

• The Presentation with Daddy Daughter Dance

• The Court Presentation Dance

• The Quinceañera Dance (The Waltz)

• The Surprise Dance

While watching YouTube videos, copy and save the links to different videos with dance routines you like and want to use. Save these to look at for later! Write down the time down of the sections of videos you like.

You may already have special songs in mind, but if you don’t, listening to songs for inspiration can be really helpful. While listening to songs, see what you can picture. It can be nice to brainstorm with friends that can be creative in this way. Choose a song that best describes you, makes you proud of who you are! You could even start a Spotify playlist of possible songs you see yourself dancing to.

After you’ve picked out your songs, timeline, and dance inspiration, sit down with your Coach or team to start planning your dance moves. You may have picked out some steps already, but writing them down will help you keep your creative thoughts organized and easy to explain to your whole court. Start with these steps.

1) Print Lyrics: To start, it may be helpful to print out lyrics or the music itself to write the dance moves out. Use a pencil to easily change things while working on the full dance.

2) Traditional Moves: Listen to and learn traditional Mexican dances by meeting with close friends and family members. Record the dances if you need to practice later or to show your court. Write down dance variations you want to use!

3) Be creative! Listening to the lyrics of the songs and feeling the music can help you make up your own dance moves with your court.

4) Notes: Refer back to your YouTube notes. Watch these again with your songs in mind and decide what dance routines or moves could fit in what song.

5) Simple: Choose simple songs and movements for everyone so it isn’t stressful to learn! Making it too many steps could be cool or a disaster. Simply moving everyone in unison is easy and beautiful!

6) You are the Queen: Remember you are the center of attention so make sure the dances include how awesome you are!

After asking your court to be part of your big day, start a Facebook Group, Whatsapp Group or Text with the members of your court, including their parents so they know the updates. You can post things like;

• Dance Updates/changes

• Discuss the schedule

• Pictures and Videos to practice at home

Make it clear how important it is for everyone to make it to practices! Schedule a designated day or 2 of the week every week for 6 weeks prior to your quince. Be sure your members know to block off several hours (1-2 hours) for each practice, especially in the initial practices.

Choose a practice location that has a lot of space while welcoming others

Some ideas: garage, driveway, local park, church, school gym, parking lot

Use the same reception timeline for your dance practices

Loud speaker with easy access to all songs

Petticoat, Shoes, Crowns

All other props, including The Last Doll!

Water and snacks

While you're practicing your dances remember to wear your shoes/heels, petticoat and possibly even a crown if your crown is heavy and take getting used to.

Have all of your props ready to dance with at practices. If your props are special, and you don’t want to use the exact thing yet, use a replacement prop that is almost the same.

Click Here to watch Jessica's Full Dance Routine at her Quinceanera, song list included!

For more tips on planning your quinceañera dance choreography check out the blog!