Dance classes in London -- the best toe-tapping tuition in the capital

Hukilau Hula

Imagine you’re on sunny Pacific shores and learn to do the Hukilau like a true Malihini with Hula Boogie’s Miss Aloha. Lessons are at the start of Hula Boogie Sunday, held on the third Sunday of every month. Learn the moves to this popular 1950s dance style then strut your stuff on a night out on the tiles.

Oval
Sun, Mar 18, 8pm
South London Pacific Tiki Bar, 340 Kennington Road, SE11 4LD
Tube: Oval 
hulaboogie.co.uk

Blues revolution

Experience the music, dance and social spirit of a style once confined to backwater honkytonks in America’s Deep South. As much about hanging out as it is about having fun, this regular event starts with a one-hour class – suitable for beginners. Then drink, chill-out or cut some serious shapes on the dancefloor to music courtesy of DJs and bands. Entrenched in African principles of movement, blues dancing is all about the motion of the hips and dancing within a boundary. It’s also an expression of emotions. But you’ll leave this place feeling happy.

Monthly
Various locations
bluesrevolution.co.uk

Swing dancing

No longer the preserve of a bygone era, styles such as the Lindy Hop and Charleston have gained a new following in the modern age. See what all the fuss is about at this weekly social dancing class, which revives styles from the 1920s through to the 1940s. Just swing by, you don’t need experience or a partner.

Putney Bridge Wednesdays, 7pm-8pm
Temperance Bar, 90 Fulham High Street, SW6 3LF
Tube: Putney Bridge
swingpatrol.co.uk 

Erotica

This class will teach you to emulate the sassy r’n’b moves of Rihanna in six weeks. You never need an excuse to learn how to dance like a foxy minx, although you might need to find someone to practice on.

North London Thursdays, 6.30pm-7.30pm
The Basement Dance Studio, 400 York Way, N7 9LR
Tube: Caledonian Road
 jumpanddance.com 

Gaga method

An oddly intriguing style promoting self-awareness by using imagery, such as tiny ants crawling all over your body, or ice-cold water rushing off your limbs, is used to promote various body movements.

Bond Street Mondays, 10am-11.15am
Danceworks studio,
6 Balderton Street, W1K 6TN
Tube: Bond Street
danceworks.net 

Musical theatre

Channel your inner stage star and learn a dance from a top West End musical – think Chicago, Dirty Dancing or Flash Dance. Classes are taught by real stage stars, so you can’t go wrong.

London fields Tuesdays, 12pm
Netil House, 1 Westgate St,
E8 3RL London Fields
moveyourframe.com

Michael Jackson dance workshop

The King of Pop sure had some moves in his lifetime, and you can do your best to emulate them in this day-long class themed on one of his music videos.

Farringdon TBC
City Academy Office, 51-53 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE
Tube: Farringdon
city-academy.com

Cheerleading

Any class where that lets you swoosh a pom-pom thorugh the air has got to be worth a look. At this school, which is dedicated to the discipline of cheerleading, all elements are covered – cheers, chants, dance, kicks and jumps, plus basic stunting. Sociable, glamorous and fun, it will keep you fit, even if you do end up collapsing in a fit of giggles with your mates.

Covent Garden Saturdays, 12pm-1pm
Pineapple Dance Studios,
7 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA
pineapple.uk.com

Classical ballet

If this, the most elegant and fluid of dance styles, passed you by as a kid, this is your chance to give it a shot. Don’t be concerned if you have the grace of an elephant, the class is for beginners. Pineapple’s groups are classically-based and start at the ‘barre’, which will support your body as you flit back and forth and practice your ‘turn out’, which is that awkward outward rotation of the leg. Apparently, it helps with your balance. Only one way to find out.

Covent Garden Tuesdays, 8pm-9pm
Pineapple Dance Studios, 7 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA
Covent Garden
pineapple.uk.com

Rumba party

Ballroom dancing is a fabulous pastime, just ask Karen Hardy, who shimmied her way to a Strictly Come Dancing winners’ trophy in 2006. Set in her own salubrious studios, Hardy’s Practice Party Rumba class offers a bit little extra. You get a glass of bubbly on arrival and a 15-minute master- class where you’ll learn the basics before heading to the dancefloor.

Imperial Wharf Sundays, 7pm-9pm
10 The Boulevard, SW6 2UB
Tube: Imperial Wharf
karenhardystudios.com

I Love Eighties

There are many things from the Eighties many of us would be happy to forget: cotton dungarees, shoulder pads, and highly flammable bouffant hairstyles. But the music – Fame, Footloose, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – are too good to keep locked away. Relive those awkward disco moments all over again, this time learning the famous moves and routines from the songs and films. Leggings, legwarmers, pumps and highly flammable bouffant hairstyles essential.

Anytime
Various locaitons
londonhen.co.uk

Serious about street dance 2012

The elite of the UK dance scene gather under one roof for an explosive evening of live performances from groups such as Flawless, Alliance Collective and Magical Bones. Thrilling for spectators, the event will also stage the finals of a 5 v 5 street-dance crew battle. With 21 acts confirmed, this event promises to be electric.

North Greenwich Fri, Mar 16, 7pm-2am
Indig02, the O2, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX
Tube: North Greenwich
superbadevents.com

Belly bolly dance

It’s belly dancing, but not as you know it. The Arabic dance form gets a Bollywood makeover, which requires you to isolate body parts, as in belly dancing, but loosen your muscles, as in Bollywood. We wish you luck.

Bond Street Mondays, 6pm-7pm
Danceworks, 16 Balderton St, W1K 6TN
Tube: Bond Street
bollywooddancelondon.com

Contact improvisation

If nothing else, it makes for unusual dinner party conversation. This movement involves two bodies moving together, with emphasis on the flow of kinesthetic energy. Sometimes wild, other times meditative. It’s worth a go.

Dalston Saturdays, 11.30am-1.30pm
St Mattias Church Hall, Wordsworth Road, N16 8DD
Tube: Dalston Kingsland
contactimprovisation.co.uk

Acrobatic

Like rock ’n’ roll on springs, this style involves high-kicks and jumping, and so is more suited to shows than clubs. All levels are welcome.

Westminster Thursdays, 8pm-10pm
Naim Dangoor Centre, 255, Harrow Road, W2 5EZ
Westbourne Park
2Rock.org

Rave

Can’t wait for the weekend? This explosion of energetic dance and rave moves to uplifting music with glow sticks, should do the trick.

Covent garden Tuesdays, 6.45pm-7.30pm
2-43 Saint Martin’s Lane,
WC2N 4EJ
Tube: Covent Garden
gymbox.com

Shim Sham Tap Jam

Named after the Shim Sham Shimmy, a dance created by legendary twinkle toes Leonard Reed in the 1920s, this weekly rhythm tap class will help you find your own groove. You’ll also draw inspiration from past masters, Bojangles, the Nicholas Brothers and Steve Condos who grooved to a slightly different beat.

Shoreditch Mondays, 6.30pm-7.30pm
Shoreditch Tab Centre, Godfrey Place, E2 7NT
Tube: Shoreditch
shimshamtapjam.co.uk

Locking and Popping

It might sound like something you do to your jaw, but this is one of the original funk styles of dance which came out of California in the 1960s and 1970s. Popping is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the body, referred to as a pop or a hit. For example, if you’ve ever done the ‘robot’ on the dancefloor before, you’ve ‘popped’. This class incorporates ‘tutting’ (interpretive dance), ‘boogaloo’ (Latin dance), ‘waving’ (doing the motion of a wave) and moon-walking, so it’s an all-round street-dance class. Learn it all in six weeks.

North London Mondays, 7.30pm-8.30pm
The Basement Dance Studio, 400 York Way, N7 9LR
Tube: Caledonian Road
jumpanddance.com

Image via Getty