The wedding dance may go straight to video
At their wedding in December in the Berkshires, Katie Daily and Rob Bruckner of Brookline plan to surprise their guests with a first dance that borrows moves from the TV show "Dancing with the Stars." Then, if all goes as planned, the newlyweds will take their place among the many highly rated wedding-dance videos found on YouTube.
It's the latest thing in weddings: Newlyweds trying to knock the socks off wedding guests - and online viewers - with a surprise, choreographed, fast-paced first-dance routine.
"We've been to a lot of weddings, and we wanted ours to be different," said Daily, 30, who like her 31-year-old fiance is a teacher. "We didn't want to do what I call the eighth-grade shuffle, which is usually as painful for the couple as it is for the guests."
Shows like ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" are driving the trend. But now one program is even drawing from it: TLC's "Rock the Reception," which airs Friday nights at 10:30, follows couples planning and carrying out a first wedding dance surprise with direction from world-class choreographers.
Most people say YouTube introduced them to the wedding dance surprise. The site features hundreds of videos - filmed by wedding videographers and guests - that show newlyweds launching into well-choreographed first dances to such songs as Soulja Boy's "Crank That," Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back," and Michael Jackson's "Thriller."
Michele Cloutier, owner of a Brookline ballroom-dance studio called Dance In Boston, said surprise wedding dance routines began to take off less than a year ago. "It all started with the dance shows," she said. "They make couples realize they can learn to dance, too. Usually the couple has been to a lot of boring weddings and want their guests to be entertained. They are willing to take more chances at expressing what their personality is, and this is one more way to do that."
In the last month alone, Cloutier has been approached by dozens of couples inquiring about performing a breakout wedding dance routine, from the cha-cha to salsa to hip-hop. Currently she is instructing six couples, including Daily and Bruckner. So far the pair has completed half of the 10 lessons - at a cost of $730 - planned to master a routine to Santana's "Why Don't You and I."
"We're not changing into leg warmers and dressing up as Sonny and Cher," Daily said. "We're doing salsa and mambo moves mixed with hip-hop. We just want to loosen everyone up. So many times people dance to a slow song, and it's romantic and beautiful, but we want to be nontraditional, fun, funky, and interesting."
They might soon find a video of their dance shown on YouTube along wedding dance hall-of-famers Joel and Holly Grossman, who had their reception at the Courtyard by Marriott on Tremont Street last November.
There, the Grossmans were introduced for the first time and started a slow and predictable waltz to Harry Connick Jr.'s "Recipe for Love." A minute later, on cue, the band cut out and the Grossmans pretended - convincingly - to be confused. Suddenly the music changed to "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas. Off came Joel's jacket, and into twists, dips, and flips they went. Then came the cheers.
"You can see in the video there are some uncomfortable faces. They thought something went wrong with the music," said Joel, a Harvard Business School graduated who grew up in Needham. "There were a few times before the wedding that we asked ourselves: Is this going to be offensive? Are we being crazy to do this? But when we started dancing, people were screaming and clapping, in amazement." By the end of the song everyone was on the dance floor.
"It never occurred to us it would be a big deal after the fact," said Grossman, who recently moved to San Francisco with his wife. On YouTube, the video has been viewed more than 100,000 times and has earned an average rating of four and a half stars.
Other couples have created spin-offs.
Stacey Travis plans to surprise guests attending her Sept. 13 wedding in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., by dancing the tango not with her fiance, Ray Sicard, 31, but with her father.
"My dad hadn't danced since he danced with my mom at his wedding, and even then I think they just danced once," said Travis, 30. "He's a funny guy. It won't be your typical tango. We're using props. I'll have a rose in my teeth."
At their May reception in York, Pa., newlyweds Nell Fay, 27, and her husband Daniel Kaplan, 26, burst out in song and dance to the Peggy Lee hit "Fever."
"We found a karaoke version of the song on iTunes, then at the wedding we put it in the iPod, started snapping our fingers, dancing, and then we started to sing," said Fay, who lives with her husband in Cambridge. "It set the tone for rest of the evening and put everyone in the right mood. They were all was so surprised." 