Classes

Please note that for all of our classes, it is not necessary to bring your own partner, as there are plenty of other people to dance with. Comfortable clothing and flat, smooth-soled shoes are recommended.

Lindy Hop

Swing is a wide family of dances incorporating many related (though sometimes only loosely) dances, from Lindy Hop to East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing to Boogie Woogie, Balboa to Shag, and from Rock 'n' Roll to Jive.

Dating back to 1927, Lindy Hop is the original - and still the best! - of the Swing dances, reigning over American dance floors for about 20 years.

Lindy Hop classes are taught at the studio of the brand new National Dance Academy:

• Mondays at Studio 2, Cecilia Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
  6-week session costing €60 (students: €55)

Pre-registration for the Beginners class is recommended as space is limited. Contact the NDA on 0818 333 666 or 087 202 4573 to reserve your spot. Be sure to arrive early on the first night to complete your registration. See the Session Schedule box above to find out when the next session begins. Note there are no classes on Bank Holiday Mondays (hence some Monday sessions may run for more than 6 weeks if one or more Bank Holidays fall in the middle of the session).

Level 1 (Beginners): Learn the basics of Lindy Hop. In this course, we lay the foundations for you, teaching you the essential elements of Lindy, enabling you to hit the floor dancing.

• Mondays at NDA Temple Bar from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Level 2 (Improvers): Now that you know the basics, start building your Lindy repertoire with new moves that build on the basics learned in the Level 1 class. There are 4 different 6-week Level 2 sessions - A, B, C, and D (24 weeks in total) - taught on a rotating basis, and they can be taken in any order.

• Mondays at NDA Temple Bar from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

East Coast Swing

Route 66 at the Turk's Head in Dublin on Wednesday nights includes a lesson in East Coast Swing, which is a much-simplified form of Swing dancing from around the 1950s (the early Rock 'n' Roll era). As such, it's a great way to introduce beginners to Swing dancing. Each week, we teach the basic step, then we teach a couple of different moves (with enough different moves for about 10 weeks of classes), so new people can start any night, and returning people can continue to learn new moves.

Route 66 also includes a "Beyond the Basics" class at 7 p.m. for those who have been attending the Beginners class for a while and now want to take their dancing up to the next level.

For more information about Route 66, check out our What's On page.

Other Classes

Mondays

Jessica Peel-Yates runs a night called The Hep Cat Club every Monday at the Grand Social. The improvers Swing class (Lindy Hop) is on from 7 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. The beginners Swing class (Lindy Hop) is on from 8 p.m. to 8.45 p.m. This is followed by DJed social dancing. It's €8 for the class, which includes entry into the club after.

Tuesdays

Jessica runs a 10 week course at the Garda Club on Harrington Street. For more information on this class, please go to her website www.dublindy.com/dublin-classes.

Fridays

On the Fourth Friday of every month, a 3 hour session will be held in Central Dublin. Each month, a different aspect of dancing will be explored, including Blues, Lindy choreography, Balboa and maybe some cool dips and tricks! For more information, please go to www.dublindy.com/dublin-classes.