The Dance Shack/Dances
About our dances!
We classify the dances by the way you'll generally use them. If you go out on a Latin night, you'll do our Latin dances. If you go to a top 40 club, oldies bar, or country-western hangout, you'll dance our Swing dances. At ballroom-related venues you'll dance our ballroom dances.
All of the dances are actually closely related. Knowing one dance helps the other dances. We suggest starting with one, but as you get better, try the other dances. You'll meet different people, experience different atmospheres, and see your skill level increase tremendously!
Latin
Our Latin division consists of:
Salsa
Extremely popular in Jacksonville, the Salsa has many nightclubs that have a Salsa Night. Click HERE to read more about Salsa!Bachata
Sensual and deceptively easy, Bachata has gotten very popular locally.
Merengue
The simple Merengue can be learned quickly and is a lot of fun.
Cha Cha
This fun, flirty dance is experiencing a resurgence of popularity! Similar to Salsa the Cha Cha is more versatile, and can be danced to Latin Rock, Pop, and Country!Swing
Swing dancing is a term that we use to refer to the dances you can do to music like pop, rock, and most of the Top 40 songs you hear on the radio today.
East Coast Swing
There are three speeds of EC swing that we teach: Single, Double, and Triple-time swing. Knowing these will let you dance to any speed of swing song that comes on, whether it's a slow blues tune or punk rock.
Hustle
We're NOT talkin' John Travolta and 1970's. Hustle (aka Club Swing) is one of the most versatile dances there is! It goes to about 80% of fast music, no matter what the genre; Pop, Rock, Country, Oldies, Top 40, and even disco :) It is also one of the easiest dances to do! The spins and turns make it exciting to dance, and to watch, but the footwork is so easy, ANYONE can learn it!
Ballroom
Ballroom is a catch-all term for any dance that you can do with a partner in your arms. So you'll see plenty of Latin and Swing dances taught in our ballroom classes.
Foxtrot, Tango, Waltz, Rumba, and Samba can be danced to many different songs in a variety of settings.
