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Learning to dance is fundamentally about learning how to move your body to music and interacting with another human being in partner dancing. Many dancers find it helpful to take classes to build their understanding of the dance as well as their vocabulary.

CURRICULUM TRACKS

Our class syllabus is organized into a Beginner FUNdamentals track, a Core Concepts track, a Deep Dive track, an Adventure track, and a Balboa track.

BEGINNER FUN-DAMENTALS TRACK

The Beginner FUNdamentals Track answers the question: “What is Swing Dance?”

Come learn Lindy Hop! You’ll build the dance from the basics while learning some of the history of this Black American art form. Our progressive classes are designed to get you social dancing and having a blast at our weekly dance parties in no time.

PRE-REQUISITES: Two-left-feet friendly, no partner required; just bring comfy shoes and your enthusiasm!

FORMAT: There are four months of distinct curriculum mixing 6ct, 8ct, and Charleston.

  • Beginning Swing ♠︎: 6-count Lindy Hop
  • Beginning Swing ♦︎: 6- and 8-count Lindy Hop
  • Beginning Swing ♣︎: 8-count Lindy Hop
  • Beginning Swing ♥: 8-count Lindy Hop & Charleston

CORE CONCEPTS TRACK

Core Concepts - Building on Your Dancing: 2 Counts at a time

Building on Your Dancing: 2 Counts at a Time
We've taken a 6-count and 8-count series, but what is 2-count dancing? Instead of thinking about the dance as always having a certain number of counts or rhythms, we can chunk our dance in 2 counts to help us shorten, extend, or vary moves. In this class, we'll learn how we can build and interchange our steps like Lego pieces, which is the foundation for learning variations, expanding your moves vocabulary, and upping your musicality to better fit the music structure. And likewise, we'll use this idea to help with smoothing out our transitions between moves we already know.

PRE-REQUISITES: 4 months of Beginner FUNdamentals or comfort with 6-count Lindy Hop, 8-count Lindy Hop, and Charleston. No partner necessary.

Core Concepts - Partnered Charleston Variations & Musicality

Partnered Charleston Variations & Musicality
Now that you know the basics of partnered Charleston, this class will teach you new variations (e.g. airplanes, tandem) and work on improving the musicality of your Charleston.

PRE-REQUISITES: 4 months of Beginner FUNdamentals or comfort with 6-count Lindy Hop, 8-count Lindy Hop, and Charleston. No partner necessary.

Core Concepts - Swingout Variations

Swingout Variations
The Swingout is a core movement of Lindy Hop. It’s taught to beginners in their first classes as the basic that people can return to while they learn other skills, moves, and techniques.

The wonderful thing about the swingout is that there are so many different ways to change it to fit with your partner the music and how you’re feeling in the moment. We want to return to that core and discover the many ways that you can make your dancing more fun and flashy by giving you tools to make your swingout not just a placeholder but an emphasized part of your dance.

By the end of this class, if you were limited to only doing the swingout for a whole dance, we will give you the skills to have dynamic vibrant dances for the whole night.

PRE-REQUISITES: 4 months of Beginner FUNdamentals or comfort with 6-count Lindy Hop, 8-count Lindy Hop, and Charleston. No partner necessary.

DEEP DIVE TRACK

FORMAT: Class topics are based on the triangle: me, partner, music. This is an advanced level class.

Deep Dive - B-Section Dancing (me & music)

B-Section Dancing (me & music)
Meant to be the next level after last year's Journey classes, these new Deep Dive classes are geared toward Int/Adv dancers who want to push their dancing both technically and creatively. For this month, we'll explore how to dance to the sections of the music that are lower energy moments. We all know what to do when the chorus of a song drops (swing out!!!), but what do we do during the "B" sections of songs? In this class, we'll aim to explore the questions: How do we craft a dance to tell a full story, from beginning to middle to end? And how do we change our quality of movement and repertoire to dance those lower energy sections?

PRE-REQUISITES: 6 months of Journey, Level 2, or Intermediate/Advanced Level classes (or equivalent).

Deep Dive - Flowmentum and Redirection (me & you)

Flowmentum and Redirection (me & you)
Great. You know moves, but when you feel yourself dancing or see a recording of yourself dancing, it just seems… rigid. You do some 8-count, then you find trouble stringing in the next one, so you just do a basic. Your default thing to prepare for the next move is to reset as if you were starting a completely new dance. In this series, we aim to get you past that rigidity. Through concepts of flow, momentum, and redirection, you will find your next move being dictated by how your partner and you respond to the previous ones.

PRE-REQUISITES: 6 months of Intermediate Level classes (Core Concepts, Journey, Level 2, or equivalent).

Deep Dive - Interesting Connections (me & you)

Interesting Connections (me & you)
A good, working connection is at the core of a partnered social dance. Like rhythm, foot work, and styling, the connection you employ in each moment should be a conscious decision. In this course, we will first solidify our basic types of connections so that we can break into more advanced options. The goal of this series is to give dancers the tools to make their dancing more dynamic and exciting.

PRE-REQUISITES: 6 months of Intermediate Level classes (Core Concepts, Journey, Level 2, or equivalent).

ADVENTURE TRACK

Adventure - Blues: Intro to Stride

Blues: Intro to Stride
Born out of Harlem in the 1920s, The Stride (the dance) developed alongside Stride Piano (the music) as musicians began blending musical styles of ragtime and blues. As the tempos slowed, dancers would travel around the perimeters of the ballroom with elegant but long-reaching steps (or, as they call them, strides) to the constant drive of the bass line.

The class will begin with the basic step and moving in and out of promenade to close embrace. We’ll then walk you through taking corners, redirections, and a few basic turns.

PRE-REQUISITES: Stride is danced in close embrace (aka chest-to-chest), so please be open to learning to dance with this connection. No previous dance experience necessary. No partner required; just bring your enthusiasm and comfortable clothes!

Adventure - Intro to Collegiate Shag

Intro to Collegiate Shag
Collegiate Shag is a partnered swing dance that originated in the 1920s and 30s and is typically done to faster tempo music (180-250+ beats per minute). It is an energetic dance with relatively upright posture and features hops, kicks, and creative footwork rhythms.

Join Karen and Chris to get started with Collegiate Shag! In this series, we will teach you the basic steps plus some other fun moves, rhythms, and shapes.

PRE-REQUISITES: None. No partner necessary; just bring comfy shoes and your enthusiasm!

Adventure - Introduction to Pure Balboa

Introduction to Pure Balboa
Embark on your journey into the captivating world of Balboa with our beginner-friendly class. Tailored for individuals with no prior Balboa experience, this class offers a welcoming introduction to the fundamentals of the classic partner dance style. In this class, you'll learn the basic footwork, connection techniques, and characteristics that define Pure Balboa. Participants should be comfortable with close contact, as Pure Balboa involves maintaining close physical proximity with your dance partner. For those who took the Pure Balboa class last winter, this class will introduce new variations.

PRE-REQUISITES: None. No partner necessary; just bring comfy shoes and your enthusiasm!

BALBOA TRACK

Balboa - Foundation: Bal Swing

Balboa - Foundation: Bal Swing
Originating in the Balboa Peninsula of Orange County, the Balboa combines intricate footwork with smooth body movement, to create a dynamic and fast-paced dance that is fun to watch but even more fun to do!

In this series we’re going to explore the “open” side of balboa with bal-swing movements that originate from the original LA Swing movements that the dance inherited. In this class we’ll explore the out and in and the lolly movements. Come learn what it means to be rotational!

PRE-REQUISITES: Completion of 3 months of Beginners, 6 months of Journey and/or social dancing weekly for a full year. No partner necessary. Students are expected to arrive with curiosity, kindness, and a willingness for self-directed study.

Balboa - Foundation: Bal Swing (Toss Outs)

Balboa - Foundation: Bal Swing (Toss Outs)
Originating in the Balboa Peninsula of Orange County, the Balboa combines intricate footwork with smooth body movement, to create a dynamic and fast-paced dance that is fun to watch but even more fun to do!

In this series we’re going to explore the “open” side of balboa with bal-swing movements that originate from the original LA Swing movements that the dance inherited. In this class we’ll explore the out and in and the toss-out movements. Come learn what it means to be rotational!

PRE-REQUISITES: No previous Balboa experience is necessary (nor Lindy Hop). No partner necessary. Fundamental Balboa Classes are taught “from scratch”. Students are expected to arrive with curiosity, kindness, and a willingness for self-directed study.

Balboa - Foundation: Pure Bal

Originating in the Balboa Peninsula of Orange County, the Balboa combines intricate footwork with smooth body movement, to create a dynamic and fast-paced dance that is fun to watch but even more fun to do!

Starting with the chest to chest pure Balboa foundation, we'll show you the moves and techniques that make Balboa a unique and fun swing dance! We'll cover pure Bal, ad lib steps, lollies, out and ins and more.

PRE-REQUISITES: Pure Bal is danced in close embrace, so make sure you are comfortable with it. No previous Balboa or Lindy Hop experience necessary. No partner required; just bring your enthusiasm and comfortable clothes!

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