What is Balboa?
Balboa is a dance that originated in Southern California during the 1920s and 1930s. Balboa also now refers to a fusion of dances that originated from that era.
It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is ledwith a full body connection. The art of Balboa is in the subtle communication between the lead and follow, including weight shifts, which most viewers cannot see.
Clip taken from the documentary “Dancetime Research #1”.
Balboa dance Classes
Levels
Experience in terms of time is not always a good indicative of which level you should join, so please be authentic about your easiness with the requirements asked: when listing a step in a class level description, we expect students to not only know of it, but to be comfortable enough with it that it can be built on.
Newcomers
Where you learn the basics! This level is perfect if you are new to the dance.
Duration: 1 trimester
Improvers
Focus on fundamentals and core elements of Balboa. Down hold basic, up hold basic, out and ins, come arounds, toss outs, pop turns, promenades etc. New comers are welcome to this level and more challenging layers will be given to non-beginners.
Duration: 1 trimester
explorers
Required to join: moderate experience in social dancing, comfortableness with down hold and up hold basics and changing between the two, out and ins, come arounds, toss outs, pop turns and some footwork variations. It's important to have already mastered fundamental techniques such as stretch and compression in order to explore the new moves and ideas here
Duration: Not defined (change of class is decided by both students and teachers).
Slow Bal
An open level class entirely dedicated to slow bal. Accessible to beginners we'll build from the ground up, but will also provide more in depth ideas and techniques for experienced dancers.
Duration: Not defined (change of class is decided by both students and teachers).