Do you find yourself retreating into the background when the dance music starts blasting and your butt starts shaking? Do you look at dancers with envy and wish you knew how to move your body without looking like Elaine from Seinfeld? You’re not alone, but there is a cure. To help you get into the groove and learn to dance casually, I sat down with dancer Marlyn Ortiz, owner of MODance and Fitness Studio in North Hollywood, to get some pro advice on how to dance like no one’s watching (even when everyone is).

"Anyone can learn to dance. Anyone can learn a step or two and look great," Ortiz said. "But first you have to want to dance and express yourself in that way." Ortiz has toured the world with Madonna, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and many others, so she can probably teach you enough about not looking like a fool at your brother's wedding reception.

(If you like to learn visually, scroll to the bottom of this article for a video of Ortiz demonstrating some simple dance steps.)

The key to dancing is, of course, rhythm, so finding the beat is essential. “The easiest way to ease yourself into dancing if you’re not a dancer is to put on some music that you like and just listen to the beat,” Ortiz says. “Imagine you’re at a party and there’s a great band playing. You hear the instruments; you hear the bass and the drums and you feel that vibration, and that’s what you want to use.”