11 Weeks of Balboa to take you from Zero to Awesome!

This workshop series is designed to cater for total beginners, seasoned beginners and intermediate-advanced Balboa dancers.
Structured to be weekly drop-in classes, you don’t have to have been there the previous week to grasp what we are teaching this week (although you probably missed some great stuff if you weren’t there).
Starting with the basics and building through the class levels to focus on technique and more challenging content. The workshop covers the four basic Balboa shapes (rhythms) and Bonus Slow Balboa goodness!

Total Beginners will get easy to follow instruction designed for success!
We break down the movement into it’s easiest and most basic form, giving you lots of opportunity to repeat and repeat until it’s as natural as walking. We rotate partners often so you get a well rounded experience, dancing with lots of people while making some great friends!

Seasoned Beginners will take the content from the beginner class and build a solid foundation to expand your skills!
Those who easily grasped the concepts in the Beginner class should find this class a natural progression and should feel confident to try it. Those of you that have previous Lindy Hop (swing) experience should find these movements to be related (like siblings) and easy to master. We will challenge you with variations that will add depth and excitement to your Balboa dancing journey.

Intermediate-Advanced dancers will go to a new level designed to get you out there dancing Balboa socially with ease and confidence.
We aim to give you lots of ways to transition from one basic of Balboa to the next, easily and skilfully to make every dance a winner and encouraging you to let your dance personality shine!

The Menu:

Pure Balboa

Front to Front close connection, moving in sync with each other. The heart and soul of this cool, shuffly, fast dance that was invented to cope with crowded dance floors to fast music.
Pure Bal moves include:
Pure Balboa Up Hold & Down Hold Basics, Come Arounds, Paddles, Scoots, Shuffles, Crab Walks, Promenades, Serpentines and Hangman.

Lollies

Pivoting V-shape connection using fun combinations of kicks, taps and steps generally (but not always) rotating in circular motions.
Lollies Moves include:
Clockwise Lollies, Anti-clockwise Lollies, On The Spot, Linear, Inside and Outside turns (connected and free), Pivots, Snookies and footwork variations.

Out and Ins

Front to Front connection pushing away from each other (while remaining connected) and coming back together with alternating footwork each time.
Out and In moves include:
Standard Front-on Out and Ins, Rotating Out and Ins, Crossovers, Swivels, Slides, Hand to Hand Open Crossovers.

Come Arounds and Throw Outs

Come Arounds: Circular motions in close connection
Throw Outs: Stretching out with whippy type redirecting turns to come back together.
If Pure Balboa is the heart and soul of this dance, then Throw Outs are the rollercoaster adrenaline rushes of Balboa! They are more challenging to learn, but sooo worth it!!!
Throw Out and Come Around moves include:
Standard Throw Out, Wrong-Handed Throw Out, Pop Turn, Blind Throw Out, V-Slide, Texas Tommy, Multiple Turns.

Slow Balboa

Balboa movements done nice and slow to cruisey blues music, pairing beautifully with slow Lindy Hop and other blues type partner dance shapes you may like to express. You’ll have slow songs handled and you won’t ever have to leave the dance floor!
Slow Balboa moves include:
Pretty much everything that Balboa has to offer with some special extras like Pivots, Fans, Double Fans, and Slow-Outs (a modified Throw Out specific to Slow Balboa).

Weekly on Thursday nights from June 5 2025 through to August 14th.

Level 1 Beginners: 7pm sharp - 7:50pm - No prior Balboa knowledge required (don’t be late, the basic rhythm that you will rely on is covered first up and will be essential to the class)
Cost: $15 or $20 when combined with a Level 1.5 Seasoned Beginner class

Level 1.5 Seasoned Beginners: 7:50pm to 8:40pm - Basic Balboa knowledge is helpful, if you cruised through the Beginner class, you should find this class comfortable as it expands on the same content.
Cost: $15 or $20 when combined with a Level 1 Beginner class (short social dancing time after to practice)

Level 2-3 Intermediate to Advanced: 8:50pm - 9:40pm - A good understanding of each of the four basics is necessary for this class. Accomplished swing dancers venturing into the world of Balboa should cope with this class as the rhythms are familiar.
Cost: $20 includes free Level 1 Beginner class & Level 1.5 Seasoned Beginner class (at 8:40 there is short social dancing time before class to warmup)