Dancing can keep you fit? Don’t jive me!

Whether you wish to attend a dance class to learn Latin American, quickstep, Foxtrot, or something more modern such as hip hop or street dance lessons; someone will offer dance lessons to suit.

While dance classes can help keep you fit, you might like to tailor your dance style to what you can manage - at least until you are agile enough to take on more than a waltz, through the tango, then on to a jive!

Finding beginners’ dance classes, or are you up for advanced Latin dance?

Finding dance classes might be easier than settling upon a preferred style - such is the range of dance styles out there. Ballroom, rumba, cha-cha, samba, paso doble, then specialist tap dance lessons or freestyle dance lessons that take you elsewhere. No one is going to confuse hip hop or street dance lessons with ballet dance lessons, not a child attending a lesson for children’s dance, nor someone starting out looking for beginners’ dance lessons.

The Latin American aficionado, when attending Latin dance lessons at their local dance centre, probably won’t be looking at taking disco dance lessons.

Ay, cu-rumba! A child to a lesson for children’s dance and not a lesson for adult dance

A parent sending their child to a dance class wouldn’t want them taking part in a lesson for adult dance - no doubt, nor would a good dance studio!

Nowadays a dance centre may have their origins in the local village hall but have grown to offer a wide variety of dance styles. Offering more than just ballroom dancing, the modern dance centre can teach hip hop, street dance, and equally energetic dancing, maybe with a nice gentle waltz thrown in!

Quick, step into the dance studio - oh, you come to the people?

Some dance studios aren’t just about fixed locations. After school clubs exist and offer a lesson for children’s dance through to a lesson for adult dance at adult education centres, and suchlike.

Dance types: tango, cha-cha, samba, paso doble - take your pick!

So you have a location in mind. What about the dance style?

First there is the tango: a very purposeful and almost aggressive dance. It has abrupt head movements and quick turns.

The quickstep evolved from a combination of the Foxtrot and the Charleston. The music clashed with the fashions of the time precluding the leg movements which the Foxtrot required. The quickstep requires fast footwork.

And speaking of the Foxtrot... A very difficult dance to do well. Characterised by very seemingly effortless long strides, the Foxtrot is a distinctive style.

Next, the waltz. Graceful and elegant, waltz dancers appear to glide around the floor almost effortlessly. This is sometimes the archetypical view of what ballroom dancing is about to many non dancers.

Latin American dance is a genre with many sub forms. It can be made up by dance styles such as:

the Cha Cha - a rhythmical Latin dance and a modified form of mambo; the rumba - possibly the classic of all the Latin American dance styles;

the Jive - a lively and uninhibited variation of the jitterbug;

the samba - the national dance of Brazil, from where it originates;

the paso doble - a very lively Spanish style of dance.

Are there enough hours in the day for all the dance classes available?

On top of the established forms of dance, there are rock & roll, freestyle dance classes, tap dance , Hip Hop, Street Dance... The number of types of dance lessons in a dance class you could sign up to is huge.

So, whether you are looking for beginners’ dance lessons, freestyle dance lessons; or something more specialised such as hip hop, or traditional like general ballroom dancing, having a fish about on the Internet is a worthwhile exercise.

The word on the street: dance is good, dancing frees the soul. Find a class to suit you and know for yourself.