What's that swing dance where people are slidin' and glidin' on the dance floor as they shuffle their feet to fast (and even really fast!) swing music? 
Balboa!

o Your next chance to learn Balboa is at the Hepcats
"Bluegrass Balboa Blast" workshop,
Saturday, April 28th, 1:00-5:30 pm.
Beginner & Intermediate classes offered for that workshop!
  
o And don't forget the Hepcats play lots of great Balboa songs
at all our  swing dances!

What is Balboa?  Tradition holds that Balboa developed in the 1930's in southern California as a result of very crowded dance floors.  Originally, Balboa was danced in closed position, but patterns and steps in the open position also developed.  Today, this is often called Balboa-Swing (or Bal-Swing), although the original Balboa dancers just called their dancing "swing".         

Balboa emphasizes cool footwork, without a lot of upper body movement, with the dance partners both in closed position (often called "pure" Balboa) and open position (Bal-Swing).  Because of it's simplicity and economy of movement, Balboa is well suited for dancing comfortably to faster music, i.e. 190 to 250 beats per minute or higher.  This has meant that Balboa is sometimes thought of as a fast dance.  Indeed many of the original Balboa dancers could dance at extremely fast speeds, but they also liked to dance Balboa to slower music. 

Balboa has lots of fancy footwork, although the feet often "shuffle" and hardly leave the floor.  The upper body remains still and the dance does not normally travel much around the room on the social dance floor.  

Balboa continues to grow in popularity in the swing dance community and is a great dance to have in your dance repertoire!

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