Welcome!
Because we are in no way done with the pandemic yet, despite appearances to the contrary, we at Boston Balboa are still taking the dance community’s safety seriously. We’re doing our best staying on top of the latest news, research, and data, and having observed several other events’ successes and failures, we believe that we can reduce the risk sufficiently to resume hosting in-person events. We are traveling for dance ourselves again, masking up to keep ourselves and our family and friends healthy. We hope to see lots and lots of you around town, dancing Bal!
April One-Day Crash Course
Join July and Stan on Saturday, April 13, 1:00pm-6:00pm at the Dance Complex in Cambridge for our first Crash Course of 2024!
Crash Course Details and Registration
April BoaSA:NTE
Our next Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon: Now Times Edition will be Sunday, April 7, 12:00pm-3:15pm at Salsa Y Control in Allston. Join us for a toss-out clinic in the first hour, working on technique and fun variations, then stay for practice and social dancing!
Register for BoaSA (walk-ins welcome too)
April Series Classes
We are offering our 4-week advancing-beginner class series at the Dance Complex (studio 5):
Balboa Fundamentals 1b (More Balboa Fundamentals)
For everyone who wants to keep building – or revisit – their Balboa fundamentals, this is a four week series that will add more vocabulary and connection techniques for Balboa, and get you out on the floor dancing Bal socially. Figures of both Pure Balboa (closed position) and Bal-Swing (open position) will be covered. This class is suitable for anyone who’s taken Fundamentals 1a or its equivalent.
Keep Dancing Safely & Support Our Community
Please do pay attention to evolving recommendations for best practices, as the situation continues to change quickly and we want all of you safe and healthy. We recommend tracking the science through a trusted source such as Your Local Epidemiologist, as the CDC may not always offer the kind of information you as a dancer need to know.
We still also hope you will direct your dancing energy toward solo movement training and your dollars, if you have any to spare, toward the professional instructors and musicians who need your support to pay their bills.
Most of all, we want you to keep dancing, and we want to help support the instructors and musicians whose livelihoods are most threatened by dance cancellations. Here are some things you can do:
– schedule a private lesson, by video
– pre-purchase a private lesson for use in the future
– buy albums, t-shirts, or other swag from bands
– make a donation outright to a teacher/musician/organization
– work on your solo jazz
– do video analysis of your own dancing (you know, the thing you’ve been putting off for years?)
– really dig into some of those clips of original dancers
– strength train
– Couch to 5K (builds core strength and endurance to support your fast dancing!)
Swing Jazz is an African-American Art Form
Balboa, as a vernacular swing dance, is indebted to the African-American roots and culture of Swing Jazz and Swing dancing. We encourage everyone to explore the history of this dance, the dancers that created it in Southern California, and the music and musicians that made it possible.
Boston Balboa stands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police brutality. In support of the movement, members of the Boston Balboa team have independently donated to Black Lives Matter and to community bail bonds, and we encourage you to do the same.
Our lists are by no means exhaustive, but if you need a place to start, here we present some places you can donate, as well as educational anti-racism resources we are using ourselves to learn more about this important civil rights movement.
Donate/Support
- Black Lives Matter
- The Bail Project
- a list of Black-owned restaurants in New England (Boston Balboa loves to eat as much as we love to dance!)
Anti-Racism Resources
Love and Support,
Boston Balboa