Every year, we have our biggest night of dancing at the Phoenix Dance Studio World of DanceChampionship with a cash prize for first place of $1000.
Entry is open to anyone taking lessons at Phoenix, even if you’re only taking those lessons to win the World of Dance Championship. Beginners to advanced dancers are all welcome to try, but entry is limited to just fifteen places and entry closes on 13th June 2015.
So, what’s involved? What do you actually have to do to win $1000?
During our Salsa & Bachata Dance Party on 13th July we will match up each entrant with one of fifteen dance styles selected at random. Then they have the next five weeks to perfect a uniquely choreographed routine in that style and perform it on the evening of the championship. Don’t be nervous about entering, challenge yourselves and you’ll be amazed what you can achieve in a short period of time.
This is how we like to warm up on a cold winter night with some hot music and dancing straight from Latin America. Join us this June for a playlist set to get your feet tapping and your pulse racing… and I haven’t even mentioned the dancing yet! We are licensed, so bring your friends and have a drink with us.
Salsa dancing is extremely popular in Melbourne and all around the globe and has been for decades. It’s just such a great way to party! Music that won’t let you sit still. Strong latin rhythms. Sexy body movement. Fast spins. Plenty of hip shaking. Bachata is a more recent arrival on the scene but it is making a strong showing these days and looks like it will be around for a while so we are now including it in our general classes. Done well, this dance fills a gap that’s been missing in the Salsa set with a chance to slow things down and get a bit romantic.
Remember that we have a FREE group class running during May, 5:30pm Fridays especially for beginners in Salsa & Bachata. So get along and learn some skills that you can show off on the dance floor.
The feedback for the live music that we had at our last dance function has been incredibly positive, but we didn’t get much opportunity to use our street latin styles. So, for our Salsa & Bachata Dance Party we will redress the balance, and be leaning heavily towards our street latin styles. No medals this time just a great evening of dancing and socialising.
During the Salsa & Bachata Dance Party we will be holding the dance styles draw for the entrants for our World of Dance Championship 2015. If you want to be involved then please get in touch or talk with your instructor right away so that you don’t miss out on the biggest dance event of the year…
As always, we’ve got lots of different dance styles for you to learn. Don’t limit yourself to a single dance, get along to as many classes as you can to learn a range of them that will allow you to dance all night, wherever you are.
Tuesday Group Class
Tuesday at 7pm is always Salsa with Adriano. Come along and put together a sweet little combo of moves while learning how to lead and follow properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZbVYd4Dmk
Wednesday Group Class
On Wednesday at 7pm Tom will be working on Viennese Waltz. Just a few, fairly simple foot patterns, but prepare to get very, very dizzy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9mWmSKPDwo
Thursday Group Class
Thursday at 7pm you will be developing your Jive technique with Maryna by learning some simple patterns that will allow you to work on you movement and styling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qxRy5M9K0s
Friday Group Class
We’ve got a new Salsa & Bachata class running on Friday evenings at 5:30pm. It’s a FREE class special designed for beginners. Everybody is welcome to come in and have a dance straight after work to kick start the weekend.
Saturday Group Class
On Saturday morning at 11:30 Tom will be teaching Salsa. This month he will be focusing on using some Cross Body variations.
Phoenix Dance Studio will be running a free Salsa & Bachata class every Friday in May.
Starting on 1st May at 5:30pm and then running right through the rest of the month, this is the perfect way to either get started on Salsa & Bachata or, if you’re already familiar with these styles, get yourself warmed up for a big Friday night out dancing by revising the simpler steps and combinations.
This class is open to everyone, whether you are already taking lessons at Phoenix or have never been to our studio before, come on in and try out the free class in two of the hottest dance styles going.
At Phoenix Dance Studio we have quite a lot of people come in for lessons especially for their wedding dance. That first special twirl around the floor as husband and wife is something that they want to be remembered for all the right reasons (they looked fantastic) as opposed to all the wrong reasons (they both ended up flat on their backs on the dance floor). From the feedback we get and the recommendations we receive, I think that we’ve done a good job of helping them to look their best as they dance on such a special day.
As couples come in, they are often concerned about their choice of music.
“Is this too weird?”, “Is everyone else using this one?”, “Is this what you’re meant to have at a wedding?” and “Can you dance to this?”
We always say to choose the music that they like and that means something to them, not to worry about other peoples musical tastes and, as we are experienced dance instructors, there isn’t much that you can’t dance to. Some tracks might be more challenging than others, but we can get you dancing to pretty much anything.
I’m sure that I’m not shocking anyone by saying that, usually, the big romantic song of the moment will be chosen by every second couple coming in to the studio for a month or so, until the next big one. For example, when Tom started teaching it was almost always Celine Dion with “My Heart Will Go On” and on, and on, and on. The lady that taught him to dance remembered with a shudder how many times she had heard “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston.
There are some great songs that are brought in by couples maybe once or twice a year though, that never go out of style. Here are a few of them.
So, what was your choice of wedding music? Did everything go according to plan with your dance? Did someone from Phoenix Dance Studio help you with it? Let us know in comments below.
If you’re looking for more information about a wedding dance and what Phoenix Dance Studio can do to help you with it, just click here.
What a night! It’s great to see a dance show and be swept away by the experience and not be analysing the dancing or choreography, Milonga is just the show to do that.
There have been a number of Tango dance performances come through Melbourne in the last couple of years and while the dancing is almost always of an exceptional standard some of the productions lack imagination in their staging. I was excited to see Sandler’s Wells, a renowned dance company with a contemporary director and choreography bhdjslabhjlbh creating a tango performance, and I wasn’t disappointed. Milonga includes seventeen performers, ten Tango dancers from Argentina, two Contemporary dancers and 5 musicians.
The staging was clean but immersing. Video imaging and cut outs were used to fill out the crowds and walk you through the streets of Argentina giving it a strong connection to its cultural context as well as being visually exciting. The music was excellent including both some old favourites and new repertoire all performed by a tight band who played with passion and poignancy. Costuming was simple, elegant and well designed to fit the individual look of each couple dancing.
Tango at its best, the dancing was at once original and authentic, innovative and paid homage to its roots, cohesive, with good unison but displaying the individual quality and expertise of each couple. This is the most I have enjoyed a dance show in years!
This little write up may not be of much help to the Melbournians as we went to see it on the second last night of a very short run at the Arts Centre, but if you happen to see it advertised for another city that you are likely to be near, then beg, borrow or steal a ticket and get yourself along.
Our first dance party & medal night of 2105 is coming up soon and tickets are already on sale for the event.
This is going to be a great night. Lots of dancing to live music, a few student showcase performances and of course, the brave souls who are going for their medal exams. Make sure that you’re there to cheer on your friends, have a glass of wine on us, get up on the dance floor and try out everything that you’ve been learning and just generally have a great time!
At Phoenix Dance Studio, we try to open up a world of dance and music for you, so this event we are going to have a little bit of a Parisian flavour to the night with a wonderful duo playing music for you throughout the evening.
Don’t forget, if you are going for a medal exam, the progress checks are on Saturday 18th April at 2pm.
As always, we’ve got lots of different dance styles for you to learn. Don’t limit yourself to a single dance, get along to as many classes as you can to learn a range of them that will allow you to dance all night, wherever you are.
Don’t forget about our new Latin Shines group class every Tuesday at 7:45pm with Maryna.
Tuesday Group Class
Tuesday at 7pm is always Salsa with Adriano. Come along and put together a sweet little combo of moves while learning how to lead and follow properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZbVYd4Dmk
Wednesday Group Class
On Wednesday at 7pm Tom will be working on Quickstep. Focusing on the the V6 and the Fishtail and how to move around the floor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7PJPMLWN3M
Thursday Group Class
Thursday at 7pm you will be developing your Rumba technique with Maryna by learning some simple patterns that will allow you to work on you movement and styling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWvOh5VR_a8
Saturday Group Class
On Saturday morning at 11:30 Tom will be teaching Argentine Tango. This month he will be focusing on using the Ocho.
Earlier this year Phoenix Dance Studio ran a Salsa Crash Course. It was a big hit and we were asked if we would run a similar course again.
Well, here it is!
Samba Crash Course will run from Monday 30th through to Thursday 2nd April every evening at 5:30pm.This is perfect for beginners or for experienced dancers who haven’t gotten around to Samba yet.
The idea with the Samba Crash Course is that, by coming to class each successive evening, at the end of the course you will have a good understanding of all the basic steps and movements for Samba.
So, if you’re new to Samba or know somebody who has always said that they want to get dancing but don’t know how it start, this is course is just the thing.
Discounts available for booking early and for students.
To find out a little bit more about Samba, click here.
It took a wee while but here it is at last. Footage from the first of the two flashmobs performed on Bridge Road on Sunday 1st March.
Thanks to everyone who came to practice on the Saturday mornings throughout February and then got up and danced their way down the street! You were all awesome guys!
