What: 4-hour beginner swing dance workshop
When: Saturday September 1st 2018 at 12pm
Where: RVA Swing Dance Studio, 6114 Lakeside Ave, Suite C
Instructor: Jennifer Barnett
Cost: $55 per person if registered by August 30th
Includes: - 4 hours of beginner-friendly dance workshops with our special guest instructor
- admission to the Saturday evening dance featuring the Boilermaker Jazz Band at Dogtown Dance Theater.
IMPORTANT: Class size is limited and classes often sell out ahead of time (especially for follows attending without a partner). We strongly encourage you to register online in advance to ensure that you get a spot! Once all the spaces in the workshop have been sold, there will be no more at-the-door registration available.
What is Balboa?
Balboa is a style of swing dancing that evolved in Southern California in response to the tightly packed dance floors and up-tempo music. While typically associated with fast tempos, this dance can be danced at any speed. Often danced in a close embrace, Balboa typically features small, intricate footwork and emphasizes partner connection & communication over the large, visually flashy moves seen in Lindy Hop.
Check out Jen's 1st place finish with Adam Speen at the the 2015 All Balboa Weekend:
About the workshop:
New to swing dancing in general? This workshop is for you!
Done other forms of swing dance, but are new to Balboa? This workshop is for you!
Taken a few beginner Balboa classes but still lack confidence on the social floor or would like a review? This workshop is for you, too!
No partner or previous experience required.
In this special 4-hour workshop, guest instructor Jennifer Barnett will introduce students to the fundamentals of Balboa. The focus will be on learning basic rhythms, common moves and patterns, connecting with the music, and developing good technique & partnering skills.
Schedule:
Part 1: 12pm - 2pm
- one hour break -
Part 2: 3pm - 5pm
Evening Dance with live music at Dogtown Dance Theater: 8pm - midnight
included in your workshop registration!
Because Part 2 will build on the material learned in Part 1, all students must attend Part 1 in order to participate. Registration is for the entire 4 hour workshop only.
About Jen
We are pleased to bring you one of New York City's top Balboa dancers for this afternoon of workshops at the RVA Swing studio.Known for bringing a little math and science into the ballroom (don’t worry, just a little), Jen began tap dancing in pre-school and continued dancing and later teaching through high school. After putting aside dance to focus on chemistry in college, Jen was happy to return to dance during graduate school–-this time the partnered swing dances of Lindy Hop and Balboa.
Jen teaches and competes in Balboa on the international stage, having won the All Balboa Weekend J&J four times. She has also won the Canadian Balboa Championships and placed in various strictly competitions at events such as the California Balboa Classic.
As a teacher, Jen tries to balance her straight-forward manner and high expectations with lots of love, humor, and support for her students. Never forgetting to address both follows and leads, Jen blends a clear, technical presentation with the musicality and spirit that make swing dancing so enjoyable.
Register Online:
You can register for yourself or for yourself and a dance partner in the same transaction. (If you are registering a friend of the same dance role, please complete a separate registration for them, so that our class roster is correct).
Don't understand what "lead" and "follow" mean? Read about dance roles, as well as what to expect in a beginner dance class here.
Add your name to our wait-list to be notified of cancellations or check out our other upcoming beginner classes
Refund/Cancellation Policy:
Due to the costs involved in bringing in an out of state instructor and a live band, this special event workshop is not refundable, but your registration may be transferred or sold to another person, provided you contact us at RVAswing@gmail.com with the name of the person who has purchased your pass no later than Thursday, August 30th
Registered students: Our registration system sends out an almost instant confirmation email with all your information. Didn't receive one? Please check your spam folder first, then contact us at RVAswing@gmail.com. (You will also get a PayPal receipt once your payment is complete, sent from PayPal).
If you experience any errors being re-directed to PayPal (or if you just derp and navigate away), you can always use the "return to this booking" link in your RVA Swing confirmation email to complete your payment. The more you know! :)
You'll also receive an email from us the week of the workshop with everything you need to know. In the mean time, if there is something not already answered on this page or our Info for New Dancers page, please don't hesitate to contact us with questions. We can't wait to meet ya!
Shoe Policy
We spent over a month building our dance floor and we want it to stand the test of time! Help us keep it nice by following these basic guidelines:
--Please remove your street shoes right away (before you come inside, if you can).
-- Please wear suede or leather-soled dance shoes for classes and dances.
-- If you don't own dance shoes, please bring any clean pair of sneakers/flats with non-marking soles to change into for classes/dances. This will help us keep grit and dirt off the floor.
The following types of shoes are absolutely prohibited inside the RVA Swing studio:
- NO stilettos or other spiked heels. Not only are these inappropriate and dangerous footwear for swing dancing, they also tend to gouge and dent wood floors. Thick, sturdy dance heels are ok.
- No home-made duct tape soles. Yeah these might work great for a bit, but as you dance, you wear through the tape and leave sticky adhesive gunk for everyone else to dance on. No bueno!
- No tap shoes. These shred the floor. Any tap classes offered will be soft-shoe only. :)
We spent over a month building our dance floor and we want it to stand the test of time! Help us keep it nice by following these basic guidelines:
--Please remove your street shoes right away (before you come inside, if you can).
-- Please wear suede or leather-soled dance shoes for classes and dances.
-- If you don't own dance shoes, please bring any clean pair of sneakers/flats with non-marking soles to change into for classes/dances. This will help us keep grit and dirt off the floor.
The following types of shoes are absolutely prohibited inside the RVA Swing studio:
- NO stilettos or other spiked heels. Not only are these inappropriate and dangerous footwear for swing dancing, they also tend to gouge and dent wood floors. Thick, sturdy dance heels are ok.
- No home-made duct tape soles. Yeah these might work great for a bit, but as you dance, you wear through the tape and leave sticky adhesive gunk for everyone else to dance on. No bueno!
- No tap shoes. These shred the floor. Any tap classes offered will be soft-shoe only. :)
How to find us
The RVA Swing studio is located inside the Lakeside Towne Center, at 6114 Lakeside Ave. There is tons of free parking in the lot adjacent to the Farmer's Market pavilion, as well as behind the Towne Center building. Enter through the Towne Shops door under the RVA Swing sign and head down the hallway!
Please note that some GPS systems will send you about 2 blocks away. You want the parking lot by the Farmers Market and the CVS. :)
