Dance classes
Move your body like a pro or shake the day away at these rockin’ drop-in classes. By Olivia Gee, Emma Joyce & Emily Lloyd-Tait
You should be dancing. Here’s where you can learn to move your body in all the fun ways
Groove Therapy: Beginner Grooves
Our energetic teacher, Amy Zhang, kicks things off with a welcome to country and a brief explainer of the ’80s hip-hop party groove we’re about to learn. “It was created in clubs, on dancefloors, so it’s less about being perfect and more about having fun with your friends,” says Zhang. We warm up with glorious grapevines and stretches followed by headbopping, toe-tapping isolations to a soundtrack that’s Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five meets Missy Elliott and Anderson .Paak. Zhang takes us through moves like the leg-wobbling butterfly and the jump-and-kick party machine, and we stitch together a short combo. “What makes these moves supersick is when you start fucking with it: switch up directions, start doing double legs or moving different parts of the body.” OGà107 Projects, 107 Redfern St, Redfern 2016. groovetherapy101.com. Mon, Tue 6-7pm. $20.
Latin Dance Australia: Reggaeton Open Level
If your body is aching for energetic movement full of fierce style, reggaeton is your remedy. Our instructor, Debralee Scarselletta, has a knack for helping us master the hip grinding, chest pumping, booty dropping and body rolling of this popular Latin dance style. “There’s a definite heaviness and an attack to the movements, but also a beauty and flow in its fluidity,” she says. We get sweaty in a warm-up before focusing on specific movements for the full duration of a thrumming song. Our thighs are burning after three minutes of booty dropping to the floor, and we discover uncharted territory in our core as we body roll into an aching abyss. For the hilarious finale, the group bumbles into two circles to pump out freestyle flows. Then we pair off – hello, sweaty stranger: let’s grind – and laugh our way through dual booty shakes until we collapse. OG
Broadway Rd, Glebe 2037. 02 9552 3352. latindance.com.au. Tue 6.30pm; Thu 8.30pm; Sat 10am. $20.
Swing Patrol: Total Beginners
Swing Patrol get top points off the bat for the authentic feel of their borrowed church dancefloor, where you could easily imagine you’re Charlestoning around an English village hall during WWII. Teachers Trish Carruthers and Derek G structure each class so you learn a complete set of moves, allowing more practiced swing kids to incorporate it into their repertoire and beginners to repeat it throughout an entire song. If you brought a friend you might start partnered up, but as moves are introduced you continuously change partners. According to Carruthers, this lets you feel the steps differently while enhancing the social element of the style. “The dance is done on feel,” she says. “It’s a conversation.” ELTà St Stephen’s Church, 189 Church St, Newtown 2042. 0412 309 311. syd.swingpatrol.com. Mon 6.30pm; second, fourth and fifth Friday of the month 8pm. $18.
Sydney Dance Company: Contemporary Beginner
Walking into Sydney Dance Company’s new Ultimo studios can be intimidating for a first timer, but this beginners’ class is well worth the challenge. We spend a third of the time warming up with stomach crunches, bicycle legs and travelling movements to ‘Gimme More’ by Britney Spears. Next, our teacher, Vi Lam, has us perfect a short choreographed routine to Alicia Keys’ ‘If I Ain’t Got You’. Lam breaks it down into segments, slowing trickier movements and bringing it back up to speed with the music. He says contemporary dance is about “using the floor, taking big steps – the bigger the more accessible” and musicality. He likens it to karaoke, but you’re using your body to react to the song. “It’s athletic, it’s expressive.” We’re exhausted but exhilarated. EJà 385 Wattle St, Ultimo 2007. 02 9221 4811. sydneydancecompany.com. Mon 8.159.30pm; Wed 7.45-9.15pm. $24.
Crossover Dance Studio: Popping Beginners
Popping. Is. Hard. The foundation movement of this hip-hop/funk variant involves contracting your muscles to a beat – it looks as if tiny electric volts are jolting through your arms, legs, chest or neck. The first half of the class is dedicated to accustoming newbies to this style, which originated in Fresno, California in the early 1970s. Our teacher, Keanu Wardana, says it takes time to master the style, and besides, “simple is good, simple is funky.” Soon we realise he’s tricked us into learning a routine. He slows the pace down for new combinations. At the sweaty end, we haven’t mastered all the pops, but we’ve had a great time trying. OGà 1/22-26 Goulburn St, Sydney 2000. 0433 375 555. crossoverdance.com. Mon 7-8.15pm; Thu 5.30-6.30pm; Fri 6-7pm; Sat 4-5pm. $21.
Dance Central: Bollywood
After about five minutes warming up, our instructor, Prafulla Parida, throws us into a routine. Our knees are soft as we spin with flexed hands, strike poses, pump our hips, drop to the floor, and leap back into action. The gestures, foot movements and facial expressions we make are a kind of sign language that helps tell the story of the Hindi-language song we’re following. We’re sure we recognise a bird in the slower parts and a swaying elephant as we speed up. There’s a real sense of camaraderie in the class as we bumble through sections of choreography in slow motion before bringing them up to Road Runner speed. And even as we’re fudging steps near the end, we’re glad we put in the hard yards. We can’t wait to learn more. OG
Lvl 1, 268 Cleveland St, Surry Hills 2010. 02 9319 2268. dancecentral.com.au. Bollywood Fri 6.30-7.30pm. $18.