Dance Around the World in 80 Days – Toronto

TORONTO edition runs Tuesdays, March 19 – May 21 (2024).

Each class learn a sequence you can loop or vary for a whole song, while also growing towards playfully improvising together. Video class summaries so you can review any time.

Partner not required. Many partners rotate.

Young? Old? Highly trained? Never trained? Unless otherwise specified: All welcome. Concerned class will be too hard? Too easy? Contact us or just come try. Most classes are semi-customized – so everyone works at a level right for them.

$80 for 10 hours (Around the World for $80), $135 for 20 hours, or: $10 per class, $15 for 2 hours the same evening – except $10 for 2 hours of just the open dance event.)
(Or combine it with other happenings 6-11 pm, $20 for 3-5 hours: 2 classes + dance or 3 classes or 3 classes + dance.)
No tax, no ticket fee. Money back guarantee.

Practice Sessions + Parties:

* 9pm. Open Studio / Open Social. Some of us will be artistic-social dancing. Feel free to work what you’ve learned in these classes or elsewhere, or work on your own performance. Cameras allowed in back third. Diverse music. Requests are possible.
* Saturday March 30, 3-5 pm @ the exquisite Windrush Estate Winery, $35. $15 for Dovercourt students. (The party will almost certainly continue – either at the venue or at the teachers’ house.)

Classes:

Dovercourt House, 3rd floor. (Sorry – no elevator.)
Tuesdays: 7-8 pm || 8-9 pm… (6-7 pm = Floor Flow / FloorPlay / Floorwork. 9-11 = Dance Freedom – diverse styles / open studio.)

March 19: Swing || West Coast Swing
March 26: Waltz || Waltz-like patterns in Foxtrot and Polka
April 2: Cuban Rumba vs Ballroom Rumba || Cha cha & Merengue
April 9: Contact Improv || Square Dance
April 16: Country Two-Step || Folk Dances – Greece/Turkey, Hungary, Sweden
April 23: Argentine Tango || India* – Kathak ||
April 30: Traditional South African** || Contemporary African**
May 7: Brazil – Samba + Forro || Samba Parades and Rodas
May 14: Spain – Paso Doble || Scotland Cèilidh + Irish Cèili
May 21: Salsa || Salsa Rueda
* with guest teacher Malini
** with guest teacher Mafa Makhubalo, mafadancevillage.ca

(Missing a destination? Let us know where you want to go! We are exploring the possibility of having a member of a First Nations community come and teach. More on that below.)

Feels like too much of a whirlwind? We also love slow culture – taking things slow – but people with 3 left feet who seemed almost hopeless at the start of these classes have learned the essence of each dance and some very cool moves. I expect you will be similarly delightfully surprised. (We’ll go into more depth in a single style May 28 to the end of June – students’ choice.)

You can choose to go only to specific “destinations”, but the intention is to grow a range of complementary skills that gradually grow freedom and fun on the dance floor to any music, so we recommend the complete journey.

E-transfer is best – to dance ‘ať’ dancershouse.com (no fee).  For credit card, use the form below.

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A note on the politics of dancing: Some ballroom versions of dances from around the world are distortions from the originals. We’ll mostly attempt to honour the originals – and how they have continued to evolve – while also appreciating the best of the ballroom versions. (More on this and related issues at dancershouse.com/politics.)  Related: We are exploring the possibility of having a member of a First Nations community come and teach. I have been invited to go – perhaps with a few others, but not a whole class at this time – to a powwow. We would not be dancing to most dances, but to intertribal dances and perhaps round dances. If this is of interest to you, let me know.

For the partner dances: Not attracted to the binary of lead and follow? Learn the freedoms of following and the ways good leaders follow the follower. Choose either role, or learn to switch between roles. Also get an intro to a dance style where both people are following – following the movement of their shared centre of gravity, and both leading – free to “follow an impulse”, a.k.a. lead at any time.