Jive/Rock’n’Roll
A form of Swing Dance, popularised in 1930’s America, take yourself back to the heady pre-war days when inhibitions and prohibition were breaking down and dance moves (and music) were livening up!
Hoola Boogie
Jive/Rock’n’Roll Classes
Mondays
Upstairs @ The Savoy Tup, 2 Savoy Street, WC2
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. 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.
Blues Revolution
Merchant House, Bow Lane, 13 Well Court, EC4M 9DN
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.
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays
Various Locations
credit: JackF
Pole Dancing
Pole Dancing involves muscular endurance, upper body strength and athletic development so perfect for all round toning – helps you get over some shyness too!
Basement Dance Studios
C/O White Hart Studios, White Hart Lane, N17 8HR
Rail: White Hart Lane
Street/Commercial
Derived from the style of dance that emerged outside the professional studios, Street Dance encompasses everything urban from Hip-Hop to Liquiding (no me neither) – upbeat this dance will definitely get you fit! Danceworks Studio provides many types of Street Dance including Basicz, Boomdiggidy and House Waacking…
Seven days a week 8am-10pm weekdays, 9am-6pm weekends
Danceworks studio, 6 Balderton Street, W1K 6TN
Tube: Bond Street
Frame Rave
“It’s like hitting the dance floor hard with your best mates disguised as a workout.” – that’s what the website says and it sounds good to us! 45 minutes of high cardio with your besties…
Wednesdays 8.30pm & Fridays 7.30pm
King’s Cross, Queen’s Park, Shoreditch, Victoria
90’s Britney Spears Dance Workshop
Bring out your inner Britney with this dance workshop and add some attitude to your dancing. Includes choreography from ‘Baby One More Time’ and ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’
City Academy
38 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4RN
Tube: Farringdon
World Dance Masterclasses
These classes cover everything from Bollywood, Salsa & Burlesque to Rockstar Belly Dance and Brazilian Zouk.
Pineapple Covent Garden
16 Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9JA
credit: saffo
Classical Ballet
For something a bit more graceful but still requiring a certain level of athleticism try some classical ballet
Pineapple Covent Garden
16 Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9JA
Every day, throughout the day
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. Get a 25 min taster where you’ll learn the basics before heading to the dancefloor.
Karen Hardy Studios, 10 The Boulevard, Imperial Wharf, SW6 2UB
Tube: Imperial Wharf
80’s London Hen Dance
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 locations
Ballet Barre
A complete body workout including dynamic and static workouts all based around the barre.
Gymbox, various locations
various days
credit: PeopleImages
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.
Saturdays 1pm-3pm class, 3pm-6pm Jam
Caxton House, 129 St John’s Way, N19 3RQ
Tube: Highgate
Acrobatic Rock ‘n’ Roll
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.
2Rock
Mondays 8pm-10pm
Westminster Academy Sport, Torquay Street, W2 5EZ
