Balboa
Learn Balboa - a fast-paced dance, perfect for small or crowded dancefloors
Next round of classes
4th of July - 25th of August
Registration
Opening date: 20th of June
Closing date: 3rd of July
Price
Regular: 790 kr for 8 classes of 1 h 15 min
Student: 650 kr for 8 classes of 1 h 15 min
Location
Happy Feet Studio,
Ørnevej 33, København NV
Questions?
See Frequently Asked Questions
or Contact Us
Registration for classes
Classes in the period: 4th of July - 25th of August
Registration opens on June 20th
In the meantime:
Come to one of our Friday Parties with live music!
Level Description
Description In the Balboa 1 course you will learn the basics of the dance with the Úp-Hold basic, Out & Ins, Come Around and variations of those. This will give you a solid base for further Balboa classes as well as social dancing. Level Guidance Description Pure Bal focus - In this course you will learn the major basic of Pure Bal like Paddles, Crab-Walk, Shuffles and variations to foot work. At the same time we will work on integrating more musicality into your Pure Bal. Level Guidance
This course is aimed towards beginners. You don't need any prior dance experience to join this class. But if you have danced swing or another dance before, then that's of course an advantage.
You should know the basics of Balboa, including the Balboa Basic, Come Around and basic Out & Ins.
Shoes for Balboa
Pure Bal & Bal Swing
Balboa is a swing dance that originated in Southern California during the 1920s and enjoyed huge popularity during the 1930s and 1940s. It is a dance primarily danced to up-tempo swing jazz and is danced in a close embrace position as well as a more open, closed position.
Two styles of modern Balboa dance developed back in the early days of the dance. "Pure Bal" is danced in close embrace and has developed as an answer to packed dance floors . Pure Bal has focus on footwork and musicality. "Bal Swing" developed when Swing dancers started using Balboa steps in their more open-style dance. Bal Swing is danced primarily in open position, with a focus on figures, spins and turns.
On the social dance floor most Balboa dancers dance a mix of both during a song.
Teachers
Eiki
Having started dancing Lindy Hop in 2007, Eiki got the Balboa bug while living in Germany in 2011. Taking private classes, as well as going to the first Balboa Castle Camp, Rock That Swing Festival 2012 and The Snowball 2012 Balboa track. Taking a hiatus from the dance due to a knee injury in 2013, Eiki started dabbling back into the dance in 2018 and has been actively training and teaching the dance since 2019. Eiki regularly attends workshop events and takes private classes swith some of the most experienced Balboa dancers in Europe. He brings his wealth of knowledge and experience from teaching swing dancing since 2009, to his Balboa classes. Emphasizing solid technique, fun atmosphere and comfortable, musical dancing.
Lara
One of Lara’s earliest memories of dancing happened on a cozy day at home, where she found herself moving her feet to jazz music while watching an old movie. Years later she could finally attend her first swing dance classes in Slovenia in 2007. Since then, she never stopped dancing. First Lindy Hop, then Balboa and Blues. She loves all different styles, as they all express different feelings and emotions. But nevertheless, she found her passion in both dancing and teaching Balboa soon after moving to Malmø in Sweden in 2013.
She moved to Copenhagen from Malmø in 2015, where she’s been teaching balboa regularly for Ministry of Balboa. During her dancing years, she also tried other styles of dances, Tango, Salsa and Ballet, all of which inspire her Balboa.
Lara believes in solid technique as a foundation for creativity and musicality, and you will be met with all three in her classes.
Music from class
We have collected some of our favorite swing songs, which are good for practicing new moves, and put them together in a Spotify and Youtube playlists.
Open Practice
Come and practice moves from your class during Open Practice. It's free and open for everyone! You might want to bring a partner to dance with though.
Social Dancing
In Copenhagen you can dance socially almost every evening, and in most cases the entrance is free! Check out our list of venues with recurring social dancing events:
Frequently Asked Questions
You don't need a partner to register. If you register alone, we will simply pair you up with another participant. We will also have partner rotation in the classes, so you will get to meet and dance with other people in the class. A nice way to make new friends! A little tip though: since this is a partner dance, we need to balance the number of leaders and followers (traditionally leaders are men and followers women. However, in these modern times we welcome anyone to pick whichever role they prefer). We typically have many more followers than leaders, so if you choose to be a follower, we recommend that you sign-up with a partner to avoid the waiting list. You can also join an intro class to swing dance in Student House on Tuesdays. See more info about it here. We don't offer sign ups for single classes to our weekly classes. We need to make sure that our classes are well balanced, so that there is an equal or almost equal amount of followers and leaders (where leaders are usually men and followers are women). Sign ups for single classes would disrupt our leader-follower balance. Therefore it is only possible to sign up for a full round of classes (7 to 8 weeks of classes). If you feel like you have missed out on too many classes, and you are having trouble catching up with the new material, you can: Regarding refunds: Once the course has begun, we do not offer refunds for any missed classes. Friday Parties at Happy Feet Studio Open Practice in Happy Feet Studio Other social dancing opportunities in Copenhagen: • Tuesday Swing Dance • Sunday Swing organized by Swingin' Hepcats • Saturday Extra Training organized by SwingShoes Apart from that there is also plenty of other events and places where you can dance socially and meet other swing dancers. For more info, check out the Facebook group Swing Dance in Copenhagen - it has over 6000 members and has important updates on swing dance events in Copenhagen.
Regarding footwear, flat shoes will be the best choice, preferably with a not-too-sticky sole. We do not recommend high heels for beginners. If you want to invest in some good dancing shoes, try these brands: Keds, Aris Allen, Toms, Dance Joy.
• book a private lesson with us, where we will work one-to-one with you on the material. Check our Private Lessons section for more info.
• sign up for the Beginners Course again. It will give you a chance to recap the material you've learned, and catch up with the things you missed.
You may sell your registration to someone else. All we need is an email from you, with their name and email included. Please note: It is not possible to change the follow/lead role of your original registration.
(every second/third week)
Great evenings of dancing and hanging out in in the home of happy feet! Each party starts with an Intro Class to swing dance. After that, the dancefloor is open, and we have plenty of special attractions prepared for you, making each party different and unique.
From time to time there will be live music, dance competitions, dance shows, quizes, intro classes in blues/shag/balboa, and much more. There is also a cozy bar where you can buy drinks and hang out with your friends in between dances.
Get more info about Friday Parties here.
(almost every day)
You can come to Open Practice in our studio up to three times a week, to practice moves from your class or just dance with your friends. Days and times are a bit different each round of classes, depending on the room availability.
You might want to bring a partner to dance with, but otherwise the dancefloor is open, and the music is playing, so just show up and dance! Open Practice is free and open for everyone, no sign up needed.
Get more info about Open Practice here.
at Studenterhuset: 19.30 - 23.00
at Indre By Kulturhus: 15.00 - 18.00
(and 16.00 - 19.00 on the 1st Sunday of the month)
at Vesterbro Kulturhus: 12.00 - 14.00