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 is the dance!
Bluegrass Balboa
Blast!
For this workshop, both Beginner and Intermediate level classes offered!

o New to Balboa?  Bal curious?  Take the Beginner Level classes and join
Lexington's growing Balboa scene! 
Why should I learn Balboa?  To be a well-rounded and versatile swing-era swing dancer, you need to learn -
and embrace - Balboa!  Plus it's really cool to dance effortlessly to 200 bpm while other dancers just
watch and wonder how you do that!!

o Balboa dancers - your chance to learn some new and cool Balboa moves
and footwork at the Intermediate Level!

Saturday,
April 28th
1:00-5:30 pm

Instructors:  Mike & Mary Richardson,
with assistance from members of the Rhythm Cats performance group.

Saturday, April 28th
1:00-5:30 pm
Beginner & Intermediate
Workshop Classes

-------------------------------------------
Saturday, April 28th
8:00 pm - 12:00 am (or later?!)
Hepcats Swing Dance!
They’ll be some great Balboa music played at this dance!

What class level should I take?

o Beginner Level.  For the Beginner Level, you'll learn the basic steps, patterns and footwork that will get you on the road to Balboa nirvana.  No prior Balboa or other dance experience necessary.  For those with a little Balboa experience, the Beginner Level is also good to strengthen your basics and solidify your technique.

o Intermediate Level.  The Intermediate level is for those comfortable with the basics of Balboa:  the basic footwork, the comearound, lollies, crossovers and the swing out.  For the Intermediate Level, we'll add new moves, footwork variations and styling, in addition to working on technique, and lead and follow skills, plus dancing Balboa to faster tempos of music.

Cost:

In Advance: $35 ($30 students); At the Door: $40 ($35 students)

 Cost includes admission to the Hepcats Swing Dance on April 28th, 8 pm -12 midnight.

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 repertoire!

See you there!

Upcoming Hepcats events:
Apr. 27-Swing Dance at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Apr. 28-Hepcats "Bluegrass Balboa Blast" workshop, and a Swing Dance.
May 19-Hepcats Swing Dance;
June 2-Swingin' on Main, Lexington's annual street dance with live music;
Add'l dates TBA.

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