We’re thrilled to announce some exciting changes to our Wednesday night ballroom dance classes, effective from Wednesday 11th September. As our community of dancers continues to grow and progress, we want to ensure that our classes meet your evolving needs and help you reach your dancing goals. With that in mind, we’re adjusting the levels of our classes to better align with your skills and aspirations.

Class Changes:

• 8:00 PM – Improver 2 Level:
  The current 8:00 PM Improver class will now be elevated to an Improver 2 level. This class is perfect for those who have a solid foundation in basic ballroom techniques and are ready to take the next step in mastering more intricate moves and combinations.
• 9:00 PM – Improver 3 Level:
  The 9:00 PM Improver 2 class will transition to an Improver 3 level. This advanced Bronze level class will challenge you to refine your technique further, focusing on more complex patterns and styling to elevate your dance to the next level.

Why the Change?

These changes are designed to allow us to cover a broader range of the bronze level steps and techniques, giving you a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of ballroom dancing. By splitting the classes into these more specific levels, we can tailor our instruction to ensure that you’re progressing at a pace that’s right for you, whether you’re honing your fundamentals or fine-tuning more advanced skills.

We’re confident that these adjustments will enhance your learning experience and provide a more structured path to advancing your ballroom dancing. As always, our experienced instructors are here to support you every step of the way.

Join Us!

We invite all our dancers to join these new classes and continue their journey toward ballroom mastery. Whether you’re moving up from a previous level or are ready to challenge yourself in a new class, we can’t wait to see you on the dance floor!

Thank you for being a part of our vibrant dance community. We look forward to continuing to dance with you and helping you achieve your dance dreams!

If you have any questions or need guidance on which class is right for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us or check out our website.

Happy dancing!

Feel free to share this update with friends who might be interested, and let’s make this next chapter of our Wednesday night classes the best one yet!

The post Brand New Improver Level 3 Classes appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Hopefully from April 12th lockdown easing will be on track, allowing our ballroom dance lessons to resume in the studio. However the dates are not set in stone! So we have no guarantees at the moment that we will be able to welcome you back next month.

The guidance does however currently allow personal trainers to provide individuals, and same-household, with 1-to-1 sessions. That is so long as it is outdoors, and social distancing measures are applied.

This got us to thinking, as to whether this was something we could potentially provide as an option now the weather is improving. We are going to therefore trial some outdoor private lessons at the Cherry Orchard during the week.

Where will these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons be held?

There is an overflow car park onsite that is only used during the football season at weekends. The gate is locked at all other times and we are confident that this should work for our purposes.

The car park is a short walk from the main entrance (less than a minute). You can park closer than that in the main car park.

The logistics of erecting a dance floor, that would need to be put away after every session, means we will not be using any type of outdoor dance floor. Instead we are going to rely on the fine gravel-type surface of the car park to allow flowing movement.

It goes without saying that we wouldn’t recommend wearing your dance shoes for these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons!

You should also be aware that there is also the chance of members of the public walking past!

I’m up for trying it, how do I book?

At present only Antony is offering these outdoor dance lessons during our trial. When booking please select ‘outdoor’ and the lesson length required. Existing packages and sessions can be used.

Use the appointment search below to book. You can also choose Zoom lessons if you’d like to have us stream a lesson instead.

Please only book a weekday slot. We may be able to offer weekend slots on the next two Sundays but football resumes after that. Contact us first if you have any questions about potential sessions.

What about bad weather?

Obviously we cannot forecast for short-term changes in weather! But we will have a more flexible cancellation/reschedule policy should the weather take a turn for the worst.

We are happy to teach in all weathers, taking appropriate clothing precautions. However if we feel the surface of the car park would be dangerous we may have to cancel sessions.

Initially we are only thinking of offering these sessions during daylit hours (currently sunset is around 6.15pm). If there is interest in later sessions we can look into lighting options.

With that, you also accept that these outdoor lockdown ballroom dance lessons are taken at your own risk. We will do our best to select an area of the car park that is flat. We cannot however guarantee there won’t be unexpected changes in the surface. Extra care should be taken as the surface conditions may change as you move across the car park.

Why are you providing outdoor lockdown Ballroom Dance lessons?

There is a lot of uncertainty around when we will be permitted to reopen. We’re also still waiting on the detailed guidance to be released.

We feel that this is an option that may appeal to some of our students who are unable to Zoom!

This will also serve as a trial to potentially offering some outdoor group classes. The current roadmap may actually permit these from the end of this month!

We are already receiving bookings for this option and we hope more of you will be able to join us. Otherwise we look forward to welcoming you back to the studio as soon as it is permitted.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Our dance studio is currently closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However we are still looking at innovative ways to keep you dancing. From online streamed classes and private lessons, live free classes on YouTube, and now lockdown ballroom dance lessons outdoors.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Lockdown Ballroom Dance Lessons Outdoors appeared first on Learn To Dance.

With that in mind we thought it would be a great idea to put together a playlist. We’ve prepared a 2hr playlist with a selection of songs for all the dances we teach. This has been uploaded to our YouTube Channel so that it is accessible to all our students.

We’ve set the playlist up exactly the same as our in-person practice sessions. So we have two of each dance for the 12 dances and then we repeat with more songs.

For music copyright reasons we have chosen songs we have the rights to use. They may not be immediately recognisable, but we hope you enjoy them.

The Ballroom & Latin American Dance Music Playlist

Now we know a 2hr Ballroom & Latin Dance Music playlist can seem quite daunting if you just want to Waltz! To skip to certain songs/dances you can use the track list for our playlist:

‘Disc 1’

1. Waltz 1&2 [00:00:16]
   • ‘Waltz For You’ by Alexander Valentine
   • ‘Waltzing In A Dream’ by Etienne Roussel
2. Rumba 1&2 [00:05:03]
   • ‘When Two Become One’ by Lennon Hutton
   • ‘Beautiful Woman’ by Ramin feat. Staffan Carlen
3. Foxtrot 1&2 [00:10:04]
   • ‘Jolly Jules’ by Mid Knight
   • ‘Magic Armchair’ by Sugar Rose
4. Samba 1&2 [00:15:13]
   • ‘Swing With You’ by Mica Emory
   • ‘Mi Filosofia’ by Hugo Correia
5. Tango 1&2 [00:19:09]
   • ‘Desire Flows’ by Lukas Amil
   • ‘Accordions Galore’ by Tiki Tiki
6. Jive 1&2 [00:23:40]
   • ‘Bad Shipments’ by Laurence Lee Murphy
   • ‘Bip Bop Baby’ by The Best Ofs
7. Quickstep 1&2 [00:27:44]
   • ‘Changed My Mind’ by Aldenmark Niklasson feat. Divty
   • ‘Baby Doll’ by The Best Ofs
8. Cha Cha 1&2 [00:32:24]
   • ‘He Wants To Dance’ by Chalalatas
   • ‘I Won’t Waste This’ by Wildflowers feat. Russell Vista
9. Viennese Waltz 1&2 [00:38:18]
   • ‘Just One Kiss’ by Loving Caliber feat. Mia Niles
   • ‘Dresden Swing’ by Trabant 33
10. Salsa 1&2 [00:44:26]
    • ‘Casa De Campo’ by Chalalatas
    • ‘Back in Rio’ by Jay Cano
11. Argentine Tango 1&2 [00:48:21]
    • ‘Come Over To Me’ by Thea Tyler feat. Dinah Smith
    • ‘Diamond Necklace’ by Lennon Hutton
12. Merengue 1&2 [00:53:43]
    • ‘Swing of the Hips’ by Jay Cano
    • ‘Frio’ by Timothy Infinite

‘Disc 2’ – More Ballroom & Latin Dance Music

13. Waltz 3&4 [00:58:28]
    • ‘An Open Ride’ by Radio Night
    • ‘Waltz for Little Italy’ by Bireli Snow
14. Rumba 3&4 [01:03:05]
    • ‘Suppose We Kissed’ by Lennon Hutton
    • ‘Stay For A Little While’ by Wildflowers feat. Russell Vista, Christine Smit
15. Foxtrot 3&4 [01:09:09]
    • ‘Times We Had’ by Mid Knight
    • ‘One More Dance’ by Poindexters
16. Samba 3&4 [01:13:19]
    • ‘Summer Lilac’ by Bonsaye
    • ‘Festival’ by Jay Cano
17. Tango 3&4 [01:17:17]
    • ‘Red Romance’ by Lukas Amil
    • ‘Dance of Decisions’ by Tiki Tiki
18. Jive 3&4 [01:21:22]
    • ‘Days Far Ahead’ by Logan Rich
    • ‘Hot Stuff Goin’ On’ by The Best Ofs
19. Quickstep 3&4 [01:25:14]
    • ‘Each Day’ by OTE feat. Divty
    • ‘When You Look At Me’ by Berny Shepard
20. Cha Cha 3&4 [01:30:05]
    • ‘More Than You Know’ by Chalalatas
    • ‘Round-Trip’ by Chalalatas
21. Viennese Waltz 3&4 [01:34:11]
    • ‘Heaven Sent’ by Aluvio
    • ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ by Courses
22. Salsa 3&4 [01:39:53]
    • ‘I’ll Get Over You’ by Loving Caliber feat. Mia Niles
    • ‘The Team’ by Earle Belo
23. Argentine Tango 3&4 [01:45:35]
    • ‘My Morning Coffee’ by Trabant 33
    • ‘In a Gyroscope’ by T. Morri
24. Merengue 3&4 [01:49:44]
    • ‘Sunset Valley’ by Harvio
    • ‘Never Had To’ by OTE feat. Naiad
25. Last Waltz [01:56:06]
    • ‘Misty Dreams’ by Etienne Roussel

Play the Ballroom & Latin Dance Music Playlist

You can find our full playlist below:

If you’re wondering how you can adapt your dancing to fit smaller spaces check out our online dance lesson videos.

As well as our Ballroom & Latin Dance Music playlist we also have regular lessons as well as fun videos on our YouTube Channel.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help people to keep dancing!

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Ballroom & Latin Dance Music Playlist appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Hearing your feedback gave us an idea…what if we could provide space to practice, whilst still observing government guidelines?

How then can we practice Ballroom & Latin American dancing in the current pandemic?

Our plan is to provide a whole day of pre-bookable 1 hour practice slots at our dance studio in Burnham. We have scheduled this in for Friday 14th August.

There will be a maximum of 4 couples permitted in each slot. We will allow 30 minutes for sanitising the studio in between sessions.

Students will be asked to respect social distancing guidelines. Hopefully however there should be enough space to keep away from each other!

We will play a selection of Ballroom and Latin American dance music so that you can practice your repertoire.

You can book for more than one session, but will be asked to leave the studio during the sanitisation break.

That sounds amazing, how can I book?

There are a number of ways to book onto the Ballroom & Latin American practice sessions. You can call or email us, or book online.

Please note we are unable to accept walk-ins on the door. You can call us on the day to confirm if we have slots available. However we do expect this to be a popular event so pre-booking early is advised.

The sessions will cost £15 per couple.

Will you run these Ballroom & Latin American practice days regularly?

If they prove popular we may consider making them a regular occurrence. Possibly one Friday a month but midway through the month with our regular social on the usual last Friday of the month.

Obviously our regular socials cannot currently run under government guidelines. But we hope the pandemic situation will improve to the point they can be restarted.

The post Ballroom & Latin American Practice Day appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Sequence dancing is where you repeat the same 16 or 32 bar routine throughout a song, dancing around the room, and in sync with everyone else.

Now that’s great when you have the space! What we’re going to show you today is how to practice the basic movements in your front room.

The Dance – Balmoral Blues

The Balmoral Blues is a nice laid-back dance, albeit with a couple of tricky movements within.

To convert this into the full routine you would dance the initial chassé and lock section down line of dance, and back to where you started.

The chassé to shadow hold is danced down the room, ending facing diagonal to the wall.

The walk and points move diagonally towards the wall for the first set, turning on the point to face diagonal centre for the second set of walks.

The turn at the end commences facing diagonal to wall.

The Music

For this Sequence for Small Spaces lesson we have used Tired of Trying by Red Revision:

The Balmoral Blues video

You can see our Sequence for Small Spaces online lesson below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Balmoral Blues sequence dance video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our other online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

We hope you enjoyed our Balmoral Blues sequence dance lesson.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Balmoral Blues – Sequence for Small Spaces appeared first on Learn To Dance.

The lesson will be broken down into easy to follow sections to help you learn the steps, and then builds up from there.

We give you plenty of time to practice the routine as we build it up, but if you’re happy with the basics you can always skip ahead.

Learn Samba

The Samba is the Brazilian carnival dance. Whilst you are normally looking to dance through the streets, we’ll be showing you how to keep it compact.

We’ll start you off with the basic whisks and introduce underarm turns to the right and left.

Then we’re going to try the Argentine Crosses and Stationary Samba Walks, bringing in an underarm turn at the end.

Finally we’re going to look at the Maypoles, rotating in both directions. We’ll also try a direct change from one rotation to the other.

Don’t forget you can always pause and rewind to work on any steps and moves you struggle with.

The Music

For this Learn Samba lesson we have used Swing With You by Mica Emory:

See the Learn Samba dance video

You can see our partner dance lesson video below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Learn Samba partner dance video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our other online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

If you liked our Learn to Dance the Samba video, you can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Learn Samba – Online Partner Dance Lesson appeared first on Learn To Dance.

If you want to know more about our ‘offline’ classes click here.

With our Under 8’s Rainbow class we normally start with a gentle warm-up, followed by a selection of party dances and then whatever dances we are currently working on – adapted for younger kids.

The aim is to have a few fun elements that teach basic techniques.

The Dances – Ballroom Party Dances

In this class we’ll be teaching you how to do a selection of some of our Ballroom Party Dances.

We’ll be teaching you the basic steps of:

• The Farmer’s Wife
• Baby Bus Stop (a simplified version of the Saturday Night Fever line dance)
• Heel-Toe Polka; and
• The Elephant Walk.

As well as being a fun way to start our classes they also help our kids to work on identifying left and right, and pick up some of the basic steps of other dances.

We hope you enjoy the class.

The Music

We have used a selection of music for this week’s Ballroom Party Dances class:

• The Farmer’s Wife

• Baby Bus Stop

• Heel-Toe Polka

• The Elephant Walk

See our Ballroom Party Dances for kids video

You can see our kid’s lesson video below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Ballroom Party Dances for kids dance video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our other online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Ballroom Party Dances – Kid’s Edition appeared first on Learn To Dance.

We’ll ease you in slowly before building up to fast dances like the Jive, and then coming back down to end with a nice slow Rumba.

Apart from a few quick hints and tips we’re not really going to be teaching the routines, so if you want to brush up on the individual routines you can find links to their lessons below:

The Dances – Brush Up On The Routines

• Salsa
  • including Cucaracha, Back Basics, a Chassé, Cross Basic, Basic with Turns, and a Pata Mala
• Samba
  • including Reverse Basics, Whisks, Bota Fogos, Solo Spot Voltas
• Cha Cha
  • including Alternative Basics, Open Basics, Cuban breaks (including split Cuban breaks), New Yorks, Spot Turns and then a Zig-Zag grapevine with a spring and flick
• Quickstep
  • including Quarter Turns to the Right and Progressive Chassés, Charleston, Tipsies to the Right and Left and Lock Steps
• Viennese Waltz
  • including Pendulum Swings/Hesitation Changes, Natural and Reverse Turns, and a spin (Canter Pivot)
• Jive
  • including Swivels, Fallaway Rocks, Mooch, Toe-Heel Swivels, Flick Ball-Changes, ‘Flicks and Kicks’, Chicken Walks and Stalking Walks, Flick and Break
• Charleston
  • including Scissor Kicks, Suzy Q’s, Tick Tocks, Cross Points, The Lock Turn, Charleston Basics with kicks, Flying Charleston, and Spank The Baby.
• Tango
  • including Walks and Progressive Side Steps, Contra Checks and Promenade, Reverse Turn with some Rocks and Swivels, Oversway, the Chase, and a Point-cross-slip, Basic Reverse Turn
• Rumba
  • including Alternative Basics, Open Basics, Rumba Walks, Cuban Rocks, Cucarachas, Open Outs/Hand-To-Hands, Solo Spirals, Grapevines and Advanced Leg Turns

See our Solo Ballroom Dance Fitness Class video

Once you’ve brushed up on the routines you can try our solo dance fitness class video below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Dance Fitness Class video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

We hope you enjoyed our Solo Ballroom Dance Fitness Class.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Dance Fitness Class – Solo Ballroom appeared first on Learn To Dance.

Sequence dancing is where you repeat the same 16 or 32 bar routine throughout a song, dancing around the room, and in sync with everyone else.

Now that’s great when you have the space! What we’re going to show you today is how to practice the basic movements in your front room.

The Dance – Sindy (Cindy) Swing

The Sindy Swing features a mixture of Charleston, Cha Cha, Waltz and Quickstep steps.

To convert this into the full routine you would do your lock steps and solo spin down the room. Obviously if near a corner you would still curve round to avoid crashing into the wall!

The box step and shoulder-to-shoulder would be done with the leader facing their nearest wall.

The chassés at the end would be danced down the room, but still turning around your partner. You would still end up side-by-side ready to start again after opening out.

The Music

For this Sequence for Small Spaces lesson we have used These Words Don’t Lie by Mike Franklyn:

The Sindy Swing video

You can see our Sequence for Small Spaces online lesson below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Sindy Swing sequence dance video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our other online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

We hope you enjoyed our Sindy Swing sequence dance lesson.

You can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Sindy Swing – Sequence for Small Spaces appeared first on Learn To Dance.

The lesson will be broken down into easy to follow sections to help you learn the steps, and then builds up from there.

We give you plenty of time to practice the routine as we build it up, but if you’re happy with the basics you can always skip ahead.

Learn Merengue

The Merengue comes from the Dominican Republic but also shares similarities with other dance styles, such as Calypso.

We’ll start you off with the basic march, and add in a Reverse Top.

Then we’re going to bring in a Wrap and Walkaround, before introducing a Change of Sides for our partner.

Finally we’re going to add in the Rolling Off The Arm to tie all the moves together.

Don’t forget you can always pause and rewind to work on any steps and moves you struggle with.

The Music

For this Learn Merengue lesson we have used Swing of the Hips by Jay Cano (we couldn’t find an online player for this one).

See the Learn Merengue dance video

You can see our partner dance lesson video below:

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed our online Learn Merengue partner dance video please send it to your family and friends. Why not also check out our other online dance lessons.

About Learn To Dance

Learn To Dance is a Ballroom and Latin American Dance School based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Whilst our studio may be closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’re still trying to help all our students to keep dancing!

If you liked our Learn to Dance the Merengue video, you can check out our website, or follow us online, at:

Website: learndance.co.uk
Youtube: youtube.com/learndance
Facebook: facebook.com/learndance
Instagram: instagram.com/learndance
Twitter: twitter.com/learndance

The post Learn Merengue – Online Partner Dance Lesson appeared first on Learn To Dance.