Welcome!
If you landed here you've heard about our amazing Absolute Beginners Jive Course, including a free trial class. Look through the content below to find out what to expect.
Absolute Beginners SwingJive Course
The Absolute Beginners SwingJive Course is designed for you if you have never done any jive or swing dance before. In fact, most new starters have never done any kind of dance class at all. These courses are a perfect starting point for a weekly adult, evening partner dance class and they lead into an exciting, fun and sociable new world.
Limited Places in Venues... or Learn Online!
To maximize your enjoyment we limit the number of places depending on the size of the hall. Our 'Fixed Partner' courses are designed so that you stay with your partner throughout. Our 'Partner Rotation' courses feature partner rotation throughout, so you can book on your own, with a partner, or with friends. Venue-based learning is supported by free online, on-demand access to the same course at our online school. If venue-based learning doesn't suit you, then join our online school to learn exactly the same content at any time, anywhere in the world!
See What Others Had To Say...
"Hi, Just wanted to say how much my husband and I enjoyed our first dance session last night and what a fun night we had and to thank you." Kind Regards, Angela, Farnham
"They made the course fun and gave lots of encouragement. We thought the method of teaching, concentrating on and perfecting one move at a time, worked." (Anita & Mike, Farnborough)
“The best thing I ever did was to learn to swing jive, I just love it. Thank you for all the great courses, keep up the good work.” Denise, Fareham
See What You Can Learn on The Free Trial...
Whether you attend one of our venue based classes, or trial online, you should be able to dance the following moves by the end of our free trial class:
Open To All Adult Ages and Levels of Fitness
As long as you can walk you should be able to take part. The beauty of this style of dancing is that you can push yourself to whatever energy level you are comfortable with. Dancing is a great form of exercise, you'll be having so much fun that you won't notice all those calories you are burning!
Get a Head Start!
If you would like to get a head start before attending a trial, you can take our online free trial, which contains the same content, or even book a private lesson first before your trial class, either in-person or online!
Who Typically Attends Venue-Based Classes?
Our 'Fixed Partner' courses are popular with couples keen to share a hobby, spend quality time together and rebuild a social life, often at the end of the child-rearing years. We also welcome many couples preparing for wedding receptions, other celebrations and holidays.
Pairings include parent/offspring, sibling/sibling, friend/friend pairings as well as couples who are life partners.
Our 'Partner Rotation' courses are popular with individuals, couples and groups of friends who are looking to get active while expanding their social circle.
These are adult-only classes, so all participants must be at least 18. There is no upper limit.
What to Expect on Free Trial Day
Arrive just before the advertised start time for your lesson so the teachers can greet you. Groups are typically between 12 and 30 people, everybody is an absolute beginner so everybody will be experiencing similar nerves and excitement. Once it's time to start we do a gentle warm-up and teach a couple of simple moves which you can dance on a loop. Before the end of the session, the teachers will demonstrate all the moves coming up on the course.
See What You Can Learn on The Full 10-Week Course...
Beyond Absolute Beginners
Once you've completed the Absolute Beginner SwingJive Course, you'll be able to follow on to the natural continuation course, either Intermediate Yellow or Intermediate Green, which can be taken in either order.
Teachers will demonstrate moves for the continuation course, or you can view them on this link. There is a series of 9 x 10-week courses, progressing along a pathway that you can follow, explained on this link.
Swingeasy, our weekly PAYG class and dance format, is a great sociable alternative too.
Beyond these courses, you can find new challenges via workshops and mini-courses, and have fun at our live band events. Swinging Balls are open to all. Our celebrated Swinging Balls have been running for over 20 years. They have built a splendid reputation, attracting the UK's finest jive and swing bands along with huge attendances.
You can visit our home page for more info about lots more classes and events.
You'll Love The Music
You'll recognise most of the music we play. At the beginner level we use big songs from big artists of the swing and rock'n'roll eras of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
As you progress to higher levels we'll introduce you to more amazing music for dancing, some you may not have heard before! This includes original music from current jive, swing and rock'n'roll bands and less well-known retro music too.
Check out some of the typical music we use on this Spotify playlist! There are are more playlists on this link.
Have Any Queries? Send Us a Message!
Terms & Conditions
By booking a course we understand that you accept our terms and conditions, which can be viewed on this link. Terms and conditions cover issues such as payments and refunds, class sizes, arranging dance partners and health and safety.