Fancier footwork

Dance instructor Shana Vitoff thought she had seen it all.

But when a couple came into her studio and demanded to learn the complicated routine from the movie Dirty Dancing - even its signature lift - in the few weeks before their wedding, she knew the whole concept of the First Dance had ratcheted up to a new level.

In recent years, it's become commonplace for a couple to sign up for dance lessons before their big day. After all, who wants to have three awkward minutes of the junior-high sway-and-shuffle on the wedding video you'll trot out for your grandchildren?

But now, Vitoff, owner of Society Hill Dance Academy, is seeing more than a few pairs going way beyond the simple, elegant steps she teaches beginners. Think splashy, elaborately choreographed routines, a la Dancing With the Stars.

Showstopping first dances are definitely gaining in popularity, according to the online wedding mecca theknot.com. It's the next logical step: Weddings have gotten more lavish over the years, and some couples view the day as a performance.

"They'll say, 'We don't want a routine. We just want something little.' And then they get addicted to it," Vitoff said.

Take Kate and Greg Friedman of Center City. Kate, an attorney, persuaded Greg, a graduate student at Wharton, to try a few lessons at Society Hill for their October 2005 wedding.

They had fun. They were good, fast learners with rhythm. They were partway through their lessons when they had an epiphany.

The Friedmans were watching the movie Swing Kids when they realized they could teach themselves a flip and put it in their First Dance routine.

"We did this elaborate dance with kicks and a Charleston and the flip," said Kate, 30.

The staff of Society Hill was awestruck at their star pupils (Vitoff remembers them fondly as "The Dancing Friedmans"), who figured out their signature move by covering the first floor of their house in pillows and practicing like crazy.

"We just got so carried away," Kate said, a little sheepishly. "I had to bend down, and he would kick over me."

Kate even changed dresses for the dance, swapping her elegant ivory sheath for a short gown she wasn't afraid to leap around in. And she kicked off her lovely heels - attempting to land a flip in flats was a much safer bet.

The routine was a surprise for their guests - many couples keep their moves a secret. In wedding photos, the Friedmans' friends and family are cheering and clapping, their mouths agape.

"People's faces got better and better as we went on," Kate said.

The Friedmans spent four months taking classes every week. In all, they probably laid out $800 on the whole package - lessons, dance dress and shoes. The cost was small for the bang it provided their day, Kate said.

"We wanted the whole thing to be a great party. We wanted to set the tone, and it really made the evening. People still talk about it."

Quinn Martin and Ashley Primis had the same general idea, minus the flip. The couple, who live in Center City and were married March 10 in Naples, Fla., opted for private lessons with Society Hill instructor Kate Slovich.

Their path to dance glory was typical: At first they just learned basic steps, no choreography involved, figuring a few lessons would be enough to make them look smooth when it counted.

Then they realized that a routine they could memorize - albeit one with fairly simple steps - was a much better idea for two dance novices standing mid-floor with 200 sets of eyes fixed on them.

A few weeks before their wedding, they took the floor of a private room for 90 minutes of practice to their song: Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Slovich ran them through the moves: rumba moves, a hustle section, rock steps and a dip.

"Put your personality into it!" Slovich told Martin and Primis as they marked steps slow-slow, quick-quick. "This is your day, and your dance. This is a fun song."

The downside to ramping up the first dance is the angst that goes along with it, Martin and Primis said.

"We're more nervous for the dance than for the vows," Primis, 27, an editor at Philadelphia Magazine, said after one of the last lessons before the wedding. "This is the big pressure part of the day. We need to nail this dance."

Martin nodded.

"I can see how people get into it," said Martin, 28, an attorney. "You learn the routine, you get really serious about it."

Even so, Primis said the dance experience was one of the most enjoyable parts of wedding preparation - much better than stressing over where to seat people at the reception or how much money to spend on a photographer.

"It's a fun investment, a nice break from serious planning," she said. "It's not like giving your money to a florist."

Lindsay Fellenbaum and Scott Caris didn't go with a special routine for their small, elegant March 17 wedding, but they learned complicated, advanced moves - ranging from rumba to fox-trot to tango - to wow their guests.

"I can't wait to show everyone how well we dance at the party," said Caris, 34, who owns gyms in South Jersey, pausing during a pre-wedding lesson with Vitoff.

Fellenbaum, 30, is a Pilates instructor who comes from a family of people who love to dance; she took lessons as a little girl. She surprised Caris with lessons as a gift, and in return got an enthusiastic, energetic partner who earned raves from Vitoff for his eagerness to learn every dance.

"It's such a good time spent together," Fellenbaum said. "It's such a stress reliever."

Vitoff has been teaching for 15 years, and a steady one-third of her business is couples preparing for weddings, she said, typical of the industry. She advises all couples, especially those serious about intricate choreography, to start their road to rhythm early.

Still, she chuckles at the last-minute couples who want the Dirty Dancing lift. In fact, she wishes more brides- and grooms-to-be would think that way.

"The problem with wedding couples is that they have tunnel vision," Vitoff said. "They'll spend 10 grand on a band, but won't learn to dance so they can really enjoy it."