What To Wear And What To Bring
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes that are not too grippy but which don’t fly off your feet. Dance shoes of all varieties are fine but not necessary.
There is no bar so please bring your own water or soft drinks, there is drinking water available so you can refill your bottle through the night.
Otherwise the most important thing to bring is yourself!
When You Arrive
When you arrive you will be greeted by our friendly helpers on the door and asked to sign up as a member, verify you are 18 or over, and agree to the safe spaces policy (full version). Becoming a member is totally free and we only collect the minimum information we need (privacy policy).
At the desk you will also be asked whether you want to lead or follow. Traditionally in partner dancing men lead and women follow, however, at Jive4All we believe that everyone should be able to choose their dance roles regardless of gender. We would recommend that you choose one role to focus on initially to avoid confusion! You can try the other role once you are confident with the first if you want to, and many of our more experienced dancers dance both roles.
Please try to arrive in enough time so that you are ready for class or freestyle to start. There are chairs at the back of the hall where you can leave any bags and coats while you join in the class.
Classes
On a lesson night the beginners lesson is led by two of our teachers and will last for half an hour. During this time we will teach three moves as well as the basic step that forms the basis for modern jive dancing. We rotate partners in the class so that no one gets left out and you get to dance with lots of different people.
At the end of the beginners lesson there will be a short break where you can take a rest, grab a drink and have a chat with the other dancers.
After this there is a short dance fundamentals session for everybody, followed by a beginners practice session led by our experienced mentors while the intermediate lesson takes place in the main hall. In the beginners practice session you will be given the opportunity to go over the moves you’ve just learnt in the beginners lesson and pick up some tips from our mentors. This session is very valuable for beginners as you will get one to one advice from experienced dancers. We recommend you attend this session for the first four to six weeks or until you are fully confident with the beginners moves; this can be anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months, everyone is different but if you stick with it we promise you’ll get there.
At 20:45, you will rejoin the group in the main hall for a final freestyle session until 21:45. Don’t be afraid to ask people to dance and show them what you’ve learned! We pride ourselves on a friendly and inclusive group of dancers who welcome everyone and remember that everyone was a beginner once. Most importantly, have fun!