Learn to Swing Dance!

Information on the upcoming/current class series can be found here.

About our classes

Class Format

Each class is approximately 1 hour in length.

There is social dancing before classes to warm up, some social dancing after the first class of the evening to practice what you’ve just learned, and social dancing after the last class until the end of the night.

Pricing

Prices are $10 per class for Basic or Intermediate when you pay as you go. Price includes the After Class Social Dance. Discount pricing available for series purchases.

Levels

Basics (Beginner Classes)

before and for intermediate dancers who want to improve their basic techniques. Every beginning segment is a little bit different, even when the specific style is the same. For instance, the current East Coast Beginning segment is a little different than the last time East Coast was taught, so the classes are repeatable, new techniques can be picked up and it never hurts to practice your basics.

Intermediate Classes
Intermediate picks up where the previous series Basics classes left off so you can progress smoothly into more advanced dancing. The content of these classes varies from a Beginner Plus level of dancing to a more

Advanced level, depending on the needs and nature of the current class participants.

Social Dancing
Social Dancing before, between and after classes to practice what you’ve learned in class.
Instructors and advanced dancers are available to dance with and to help you on an individual basis with any questions or challenges you may be having with any of the material taught in class.

Schedule

Current class schedule is posted on our calendar on the right.

Class and Element Descriptions

Jitterbug, East Coast Swing (6 Count Lindy)

Strictly based in six-count patterns that are simplified forms of the original patterns copied from Lindy Hop, these forms of Lindy Hop have a 6 count basic step in contrast to the meter of most swing music, which has a 4 count basic rhythm. In practice, however, 6-count moves are often combined with 8-count moves from the Lindy hop, Charleston, and Balboa. (Later classes)

While similar, East Coast Swing, Jitterbug and 6 Count Lindy do have clear distinctions. East Coast Swing evolved from the Lindy Hop with the work of the Arthur Murray dance studios in the 1940s for instructional purposes and later standardized and codified for competitive ballroom dancers. 6-count Lindy and Jitterbug remain less formal and are primarily danced in clubs and at social events.

This class will take you through the basics of rhythm, footwork & connection with your partner. New moves will be introduced throughout the series and will provide the foundation for transitioning into the 8-count rhythm of Lindy Hop to be introduced in the next Basic element of the series.

Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop is an American dance, based on the popular Charleston and evolved in New York City around 1927 and grew throughout the Swing Era of the 30′s and 40′s. It is a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston.

In its development, Lindy Hop combined elements of both solo and partner dancing by using jazz improvisation along with the formal eight-count structure of European partner dances. This is most clearly illustrated in Lindy’s basic step, the swingout.

Revived in the 1980s by American, Swedish, and British dancers, Lindy Hop dancers and organizations can now be found world-wide.

The class teaches the basic 8-count rhythm and the basic Swingout pattern and Swingout variations.
In the intermediate class, we build on this foundation and include mixing 6-count and 8-count patterns, introduce more moves and how to combine two different 4-count moves to create 8-count patterns. Also covered are steps that allow you to dance Lindy to very fast music.

Lindy Charleston

Lindy Hop developed from Charleston and it kept a lot of the Charleston roots.

This class will teach the 8-count Charleston rhythm, side-by-side Charleston and variations.
The intermediate class will cover Tandem Charleston and variations and mixing Charleston steps with your East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop.

Blues Fundamentals

While blues dancing is not technically swing, it is danced and enjoyed by many swing and lindy hop dancers. Many lindy hop dancers have injected blues moves into their dance.  As a result, a fusion between blues and lindy hop dance forms has evolved.

In the Blues Fundamentals class, we explore rhythm, footwork, connection and basic moves used in blues dancing. After a solid understanding of these principals and some experience at lindy hop, you will be ready to fuse the two with your dancing.

Balboa

Balboa today is commonly used as a general term for dances that came from southern California during the 1920s through 1940s, which makes the history very obscure. Most of the original Balboa dancers have passed and many of the swing dancers that followed continued to use their steps and styles to integrate into their “swing” dancing which some people today call “Bal-Swing”.

It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is led with a full body connection. The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, like weight shifts, that most spectators cannot see. As a result, Balboa is considered more of a “dancer’s dance” than a “spectator’s dance”.

Balboa is danced to a wide variety of tempos. Because the basic step takes up such a small space, Balboa can be danced to very fast music (over 300 beats per minute) without exhausting the dancers, and it can be danced on very crowded dance floors.

Coming on the heels of the intermediate “Fast Lindy” class, this class teaches the basics of the Balboa step and dancing to music over 180 beats per minute using the same rhythms found in Lindy Hop.
The intermediate class builds on this and introduces the swing element, combining Balboa moves with Swing and Lindy Hop moves.

Specialty classes

Getting really serious! From time to time, we will have specialty classes  that will focus on some really spectacular stuff! Each class will focus on one set of Cool Moves, like Slides, Steals, Aerials, Advanced Styling, Dips, and more.

Check the “Specialty Classes” drop down menu for more info.