with Angela Horton

Ballroom dancing is a form of together-dancing, either the couples bodies are in contact or the partners hold hands.

The man determines the figures to be danced and their order. It is his role to control and lead his partner throughout each dance; the women's response is to follow the mans lead.

Learn to dance:

Basic Waltz
Viennese Waltz
Quickstep
Tango
American Smooth
Slow Foxtrot!

• One to One Instruction!

• Couples and Singles welcome!

• Achieve the end of term trophy award for your merits in dance!

  Absolute Beginners (level 1): the Waltz, Quickstep, American Smooth and Modern Tango. Absolute beginners (ideal for starters with no dance training experience)

  Intermediate (level 2): the Waltz, Quickstep, Modern Tango, American Smooth, Slow Foxtrot & Latin American classes. Intermediates (for people who have completed a level 1 course or have previously had dance training in Modern Ballroom / Latin American dancing)

  Improvers (level 3): the Waltz, Quickstep, American Smooth, Modern Tango, Slow Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz & Latin American classes. Advanced (for dancers who have completed a level 2 course)

•  

See Classes page for more information on class times and prices

An overview and history of some of the Modern Ballroom dances

The Waltz

The strains of the modern waltz often bring back happy and romantic memories to many people of warm summer evenings, beautiful languid music and all that makes life worthwhile. Its gentle lilting melodies have continued to capture the souls of generations and the waltz is today firmly established as a great favourite throughout the world.

Said to have begun life as an old folk dance of Austria and southern Germany, the Modern Waltz so named because it was developed in the early part of the twentieth century, is played at a tempo of 30 bars per minute. The basic figures used in constructing choreography for the dance are based on diagonal patterns that produce a smooth and relatively easy progression around the dance floor in an anticlockwise direction.

The Modern Waltz is usually the first dance taught to beginners in the dance schools. The simple construction of the basic figures, the regular even changed of weight required throughout the dance and the slow tempo, coupled with the easy to hear repetitive unsyncopated based rhythm are ideally suited to put beginners at ease and help them gain confidence.

The Tango

There is something very special about Tango music; it brings with it an atmosphere of tense expectation.

The music's clipped, staccato notes, blending in to soft but firm, flowing crescendo's, create a mood of drama and stealth intertwined with stark confrontation which changes yet again to offer an exciting invitation that cannot be resisted.

The dance, handed down by generations of Tango dancers, originated in the slums and backstreets of Argentina and for over 100 years was considered too immodest for the dance halls. Cleaned up, it became fashionable in Europe in the early 1900's. Surprisingly, it is not a difficult dance to learn, the basic figures are easy to master.

The secret of capturing the drama of the Tango however, lies in taking up the correct posture and hold and achieving the elusive cat-like movement used during each walk.

It is important to pay strict attention to the relative positions of your bodies when taking up the Tango's close hold position. Dancers should note carefully the mans right shoulder lead and that each time his feet are closed, the ball of his right foot is brought to the instep of his left foot.