Welcome to the Academy!
Our program is designed for new dancers that are interested in learning Lindy Hop or Balboa, and giving them a pathway to progress on.
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The Lindy Hop program has a Beginner Track which covers all of the essentials to becoming a confident social dancer.
All other Lindy Hop Courses classes can be taken in any order.
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The Balboa program consists of 3 Levels. Start with the basics in Level 1 and work your way up!
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All courses are 4 weeks long unless otherwise stated.
Want to dive in? Check out our Course Packages for discounted rates.
The Curriculum
Beginner Lindy Hop
Beginner courses start at the very basics in Section A and progress through to Section D.
No dance experience required!
This foundational course focusses on basic footwork and building confidence for social dancing using 6 count patterns.
If you are new to swing dancing, we recommend starting here!
section A
Here, we explore fundamental 8 count patterns, and work our way up to prepare for Lindy Circles and Swing Outs.
section b
It's time to swing out! In this course, we focus on circles and swing outs, the Lindyhopper's delight.
Now that you have 6 and 8 count patterns, its time to combine them. We will use connection and partner teamwork to successfully put these patterns together.
Lindy Hop Specialty Courses
These courses can be taken in any order and are scheduled on rotation.
Prerequisite: Complete all Level 1 courses or be proficient in Lindy Hop basics. If you aren't sure, ask J&J!
Charleston is a great option to add into your social dancing repertoire. Here we cover basic 40's Charleston and Hand-to-Hand.
This class covers Tandem Charleston, a dynamic and intricate pattern. We'll show you how to get into it using a Charleston Chase.
Making your swing outs more comfortable and fun, and adding some variations to play with.
This is J&J's bread and butter. We will nerd out on connection concepts that will improve your partner dancing and musicality.
This course will cover basic musicality concepts and jazz music structure to help understand and dance to the music more precisely.
Here we work on basic Solo Jazz steps and rhythms, and work our way up. We'll show you how to add these into your partner dancing too!
Find your groove! Piece together moves and rhythms that flow nicely, and start building a style that suites your artistic voice.
We will choose a routine to work on as a group. This may be a classic Lindy Hop routine, or something straight from the minds of J&J. Routine will change each time we run the course.
Balboa
The Balboa program is separate from the Lindy Hop series.
Start at Level 1 and work your way up to Level 3!
Balboa is perfect for crowded dance floors and faster music tempos.
We will go through the basic footwork patterns, connection, and comfortably leading and following.
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No previous dance experience required, but it does help!
We will work on building a better connection with your partner, new patterns and concepts to play with.​​
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You are not required to have taken Balboa 1, but must be confident with basic footwork, Come Arounds, and Out and Ins.
More Bal! Continuing to find the flow and transition smoothly between pure-bal and bal-swing.
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To take this class, you must have taken Balboa 2, or be proficient with basic pure bal and bal swing concepts. Ask J&J if you're unsure.
The Studio
All of our courses are located at:
Vancouver Columbia Music Dance School
5365 Lane Street, Burnaby