Want to learn how to swing dance, or take your dancing to the next level?

You've come to the right place! This is the epicenter of Balboa-Swing in the Bay Area, and we also feature Lindy Hop along with occasional special interest classes like Charleston, Shag, and Smooth-Style Lindy, Dean Collins' Shim Sham, Lindy in the Park routine, etc. In addition to the Bay Area's own Jeff Kroll, 200 Grand hosts nationally known teachers such as Carla Heiney, Marty Klempner, and Brenda Collins as well international guests like Anthony & Sarah, plus the best regional instructors.

Balboa-Swing

July 3-week series (Thursdays, Jul. 10, Jul. 17, Jul. 24) (CLOSED Jul. 3, Jul. 31)

7-8pm Intermediate Balboa-Swing with Jeff Kroll & Heather Snyder

8-9pm Beginning Balboa-Swing with Jeff Kroll & Heather Snyder

Each 3-week series is $39 at the door, or just $36 with advanced registration

Save by registering in advance with these buttons:

July 3-Week Intermediate Balboa Series, 7-8pm: $36

July 3-Week Beginning Balboa Series, 8-9pm: $36

Drop-Ins for All Series Classes:

Drop-ins are always welcome, $15 per class

Drop-in to two classes on same night for a total of $25

Drop-In Discount for People Already Taking a Series:

If you are taking a series and want to drop-in to a second class on the same night, the drop-in class is just $12

The classes are followed by the 200 Grand dance at 9pm, which is free if you took a class that night (or if there is a band, admission to the dance is discounted).

Pure Balboa and Balboa-Swing

Pure Balboa and Balboa-Swing (now collectively known simply as Balboa) are the twin answers to the question "What can you dance all night to really high energy swing music?", though they are in fact great dances for all tempos of music. These dances have had a loyal following ever since their inception, and have grown rapidly in world-wide popularity over the last decade. Locally, the last several years have seen an explosion in their popularity.

What is Pure Balboa?

Pure Balboa is a style of dance which began taking shape in the late 20's & early 30's in Orange County, California to the big band swing music of the day. Specifically, it's birthplace is said to have been in or around the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach, California, thus giving the dance it's original name, The Balboa Shuffle, and later just The Balboa. Early innovators/influential dancers of this style include Bob & Marge Steinbrenner, Jim & Izzy Hignett, Gordon & May Almas, Dean & Nancy Raftery, and Hank Negley.

The dance is characterized by a very close upper body connection with your partner, and efficient, smooth, rhythmic footwork, often fast and with fancy syncopations on today's dance floors. In its original pure form, the dancers would never break away from each other and would rarely even move off the spot on the floor where they started the dance.

What is Balboa-Swing?

Balboa-Swing is the modern name (as of 1984 when Dwight Lapardis coined the term) for a style of swing dance done in the 30's in Los Angeles County, California. This style of dance originally went by the following names: Swing, LA Swing, Randy Swing (though the latter, after the Ray Rand Swingers, was inclusive of other styles of dance as well). Early innovators/influential dancers of this style include Maxie Dorf, Willie Desatof, Hal Takier, and Lawrence Wise.

Balboa-Swing has the appearance of a mash-up between pure Balboa and open position swing moves. It tends to be flashier and more fun to watch than pure Balboa, and thus has become the more popular dance of the two "Balboas".

What is Collegiate Shag?

The Collegiate Shag is a style of swing dance popular in the 20's and 30's. It is thought to have originated in the south, and was danced primarily to fast Ragtime Jazz type music then. It shares a 6 count basic pattern of "slow, slow, quick, quick" with East Coast Swing, and shares a close upper body connection with Balboa, but it's truly a dance unto itself that is a lot of fun both to watch and more importantly to do!

Other styles of Shag include Carolina Shag and St. Louis Shag. Carolina Shag was born in the 1950's in Myrtle Beach and resembles West Coast Swing more than anything else, mixing both 6 and 8 count patterns. This was the style of dance featured in the movie "Shag". St. Louis Shag, also known as "Speed Shag", is primarily an 8-count dance done to really fast swing music.

What is Lindy Hop?

Considered the Granddaddy of swing dances, this style of dance started in the ballrooms of Harlem in the mid 1920's, most notably at the Savoy Ballroom.A great dancer by the name of George "Shorty" Snowden was at the end of a long dance marathon when a reporter watching asked what this crazy dance was called. Quick witted Shorty answered that it was the "Lindy Hop", since Charles "Lucky Lindy" Lindbergh's daring "Hop" across the Atlantic was on everyone's mind. The name stuck. The Lindy Hop is thought to be a direct descendent of the Charleston, and while it is primarily an 8-count dance, 6-count patterns abound as well. There are two predominant styles of Lindy Hop... the original Savoy style, and "Hollywood" or "Smooth" style, the later being the creation of Dean Collins when he brought the dance to LA from New York in the 1930's.