Queer Ballroom home of the
Welcomeing you to swing from the old to the new turn of the Century!
San
Francisco's only non profit and first ever all Queer Dance Studio run by and
for Queer Folk-
Queer Ballroom home of the
Welcomeing
you to swing from the old to the new turn of the Century!
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Learn all the Swing dances in our Tuesday Swing Variety Class: Jitterbug, Ballroom City Swing, Ballroom East Coast Swing, and Ballroom West Coast Swing (all mostly 6 count dances) started from the grandmother of all dances- Lindy Hop sometimes also called Jitterbug! Lindy Hop evolved from the 1920's Charleston!
Swing dances in a nutshell: Charleston: 20's Charleston started with African American dancers and became popular in the general community and with the Women's Flapper movement. Swing Charleston developed into the Lindy Hop. Lindy Hop: The original swing with mostly 8 count and a bit of 6 counts. Several styles exist but two main ones are the hop'n Savoy Style and the Smooth Hollywood Style. East Coast Swing: Ballroom 6 count part of Lindy. West Coast Swing: 6 and 8 count part of Hollywood Style Lindy. Balboa: The 1930's swing that developed from the crowded Ballroom's. Balboa Swing is when couples break away from each other out of Pure Balboa. Very romantic and stylized like Argentine Tango. Collegiate Shag: The 6 count hip hop of the 1930's/40's. Commonly remembered from the cartoon. Find out more about what we know about swing by clicking on the below links: What's Swing? "Jitterbug"
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Different styles of Lindy Hop survive today! Originally there were many dancers on the floor creating this dance. There were no rules on stance or what to do. Some of those "old timers" survived and started teaching in the resurgence of Lindy Hop in the 80's. Such dancers were then termed with a style. Dean Collins "Hollywood or Smooth Style" way of dancing swing is more encompasses fancy footwork. Frankie Manning and others "Savoy Style" encompass footwork as well but with a stronger emphasis in style on the down beat! Charleston is: Danced in closed position, fairly upright posture with both partners standing 'chest to chest.' Its simplicity & economy of movement make it suited to fast tempo music. But can be danced to all tempos Started in the early 1930's by dancers in the Los Angeles area such as Maxie Dorf, Willie Desatoff, Hal Takier & Ann Mills, to mention but a few. The dance was named after Balboa Island in the Newport Beach area which was the location of the Rendezvous Ballroom. The dance is known for its romantic closeness, fast and fancy footwork and effortless flow. This is a dance you perform to songs as slow as Tuxedo Junction or as fast as White Heat! Balboa has two main forms. Pure Balboa: In this form, dancers remain with their torsos touching, doing variations based on footwork. Main footwork variations include single-time Balboa, double-time Balboa, and triple-time Balboa. Bal Swing: In this form, dancers separate their bodies for spins and
turns, much like in swing dance, returning to pure Balboa on occasion.
Collegiate Shag is: Originated in the 1930’s. Parents wanted their children to learn
Waltz and other partner dances, but the younger generation didn’t
want anything to do with that. They decided to learn but to make it as
crazy as possible. Thus Collegiate Shag was born. It was hugely popular
with the college kids, hence the name, all across the United States. It
was so popular that Arthur Murray even made it part of his curriculum.
He cleaned it up and made it really smooth, creating two schools of shag,
Wild and Crazy & Smooth and Quiet. Collegiate Shag can be anything
you want it to be, and that’s the fun of it. Collegiate Shag is
a 6 count dance and anything can be incorporated into it, including East
Coast Swing.
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