What: 2-hour beginner-friendly swing dance workshop
When: Saturday August 16th at 3pm
Where: RVA Swing Dance Studio, 6114 Lakeside Ave, Suite C
Instructors: Ryan Lemar & Erica Vess
Cost: Sliding Scale of $12.50 - $35 per student (choose your own price at registration)
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.
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!
Looking for a chill way to dance easily to fast music without breaking a sweat? Oh, friend, this workshop is totally for you!
No partner or previous experience required.
In this special 2-hour workshop, Ryan & Erica 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. This workshop will focus on the original form of Balboa, danced in a close embrace (just like a hug) and will give students a great way to enjoy the faster songs at the dance with the Sunnyside Jazz Band the next day!
Your Instructors
Register Online:
click here to sign up for class
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. If you are experiencing a payment difficulty please CONTACT US at RVAswing@gmail.com instead of submitting multiple registrations. 😇
Venmo payments need to be submitted on the same day you register. Venmo info is @Erica-Vess and you can use 3132 if prompted to verify.
You'll also receive an email from us the week of the workshop with everything you need to know.
You'll also receive an email from us the week of the workshop with everything you need to know.
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 in the hallway sitting area.
-- Please wear suede or leather-soled dance shoes for classes and dances if you have them.
-- 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 in the hallway sitting area.
-- Please wear suede or leather-soled dance shoes for classes and dances if you have them.
-- 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. We recommend using our Google Maps listing for directions.
