Category Archives: News

Quick summary of what’s coming up in the near and slightly less near future, see below for more detail on each:

• Baby Soda at BSC this Friday, May 18 (tomorrow night!)
• Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon, May 20
• Just two more needed for 2nd group discount for All Balboa Weekend
• Hot Club of Cowtown plays BSC in July!
• TinkerBal! (What?) Save the date!

Friday, May 18th — Baby Soda plays at Boston Swing Central!

We kinda love this band from NY — they sometimes have a more charlston-y feel, but it’s still great music for Balboa, especially when they start cookin’. Hope to see you there!

Sunday, May 20th — Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon!
This Sunday! We’ll once again have a beginner lesson starting at 3:30pm with open practice time starting at 4:30pm and DJ’d music kicking in around 5.

June 7-11 — All Balboa Weekend group discount
We still need just 2 more people to commit to attending ABW to get another discount. If you haven’t already registered or you already registered and haven’t told me you want to be part of the group, shoot me an email and we’ll get this thing done! You’ll save a bit more than $20 each for you and 8 other people!

Thursday, July 26th — The Hot Club of Cowtown at Boston Swing Central

In recent years, we’ve only been able to catch the Hot Club of Cowtown in venues without much of a dance floor and we’ve had to make do in small corners or on concrete. Well, the folks at Boston Swing Central have managed to catch them on the northeast leg of their upcoming summer tour for a special Thursday night dance. (Props to our own David Fisher for getting the ball rolling on this!) Let’s try to help pack the joint so we can get more of these special treats! Tell all your friends, even the ones who might not dance but love the music. They sound like a cross between Django Reinhardt and Bob Wills – hot!

October 13-14 — TinkerBal!

Save the date!

TinkerBal is a small-group Balboa workshop designed to support personalized learning. This weekend is a chance to really delve into the details of your Balboa. Note that we will be capping registration to keep groups small and to maintain lead-follow balance.

Our instructors are four of the world’s best: David Rehm, Teni Lopez-Cardenas, Bobby White, and Kate Hedin. Class content will be tailored by the instructors to the needs of each group.

Registration should open sometime in mid-June. Check out the website for more details!

Hope to see you soon, dancing Bal!

Here’s the low-down for May:

Thursday, May 3rd (TOMORROW!) — Balboa at the Stomp!

Saturday, May 12th — Balboa Crash Course!
We’re having another Balboa Crash Course where we’ll cover the basic figures and connection of Balboa in one afternoon. It’ll be a great opportunity to get your friends who keep saying they don’t know how to dance Balboa to learn the basics so they can social dance when that great Bal song comes on. MAKE THEM COME!

Sunday, May 20th — Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon!
We’ll once again have a beginner lesson starting at 3:30pm with open practice time starting at 4:30pm and DJ’d music kicking in around 5.

Other points of interest:

• We need just 2 more people to commit to attending All Balboa Weekend (June 7-11) to get another discount. If you haven’t already registered or already registered and haven’t told me you want to be part of the group, shoot me an email and we’ll get you on the list!
• Empire City Swing is a new event being held in New York City the first weekend of June and includes a Balboa track with Mickey Fortanasce and Kelly Arsenault! A great opportunity to get some awesome Balboa instruction only a few hours away!

Hope to see you soon, dancing Bal!

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Thursday April 12 is this month’s Balboa at the Stomp. Are you sad because you thought you missed the Stomp last week? Well, good news, you didn’t miss it after all! (And yes, we’re still going to The Chilly Cow beforehand.

Also, this Sunday (April 15) is Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon!
We’re continuing to hold an introductory lesson at 3:30pm with the general practice running from 4:30pm-7:00pm. Note that this month, we’re going to try something a little different and dedicate the half hour from 4:30 to 5 explicitly for practice. We encourage you to show up during this time to work together in groups (or alone) and practice moves or technique or whatever is on your mind. We’ll start up the music sometime before the end of this practice period. See the website page for more details.

Finally, just some news on the group discount for All Balboa Weekend — we got our 9! (I’ll start distributing out the savings for the magical 9th registration when I get the cash in hand). If you haven’t registered yet — no worries! I’m pretty sure we can get another group of 9 — at the moment, we need just 4 more people to get another free pass. (The value of which will be distributed to the other 8.) Let me know if you’re planning on going or have already registered and I’ll put you on the list.

(Incidentally, if you’re a beginner — don’t be intimidated by the idea of going to such a large Balboa-focused event! It’s actually one of the best opportunities to really get the dance into your body. And the beginner track is offered at a discount! ABW really is not to be missed — seriously, check it out!)

So many opportunities to dance and learn Balboa this coming month! Let me count the ways:

1. Balboa at the Stomp – Thursday, March 1
   Our monthly free Balboa dance is this Thursday from 9pm-11pm at the Episcopal Church of Our Savior at 21 Marathon Street, Arlington MA. Join us at the Chilly Cow (just a few blocks down Mass Ave) for frozen custard around 8/8:30!

2. Balboa classes at Providence Swings! (5 Thursdays, starting March 1)
   Providence Swings will be offering 2 classes this month on Thursday nights: Balboa Basics A for beginner/intermediate dancers and a Balboa Performance Class for more experienced (intermediate+) Balboa dancers, both starting at 8.

3. Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon – March 18
   Our monthly practice session at the Crosby Whistle Stop in Charlestown — with an introductory Balboa lesson at 3:30pm and the regular practice running from 4:30pm-7pm. (We’re itching to practice all the stuff we picked up at RMBB!)

4. Balboa workshops with Nelle and Javi – Sunday, March 18 in NYC
   Nelle Cherry and Javier Johnson will be teaching a one-day Balboa workshop series for intermediate and advanced Balboa dancers at Dance Manhattan in NY.

5. Boston Tea Party – March 22 – 25
   A great local event with West Coast, Lindy Hop and Balboa with amazing instructors, competitions and social dances!

6. Balboa Rendezvous – March 31 – April 1 in San Diego and Newport Beach, CA
   World-class international instructors, awesome bands, and an opportunity to meet the some of the few remaining original masters and to dance in the historic Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach!

   Hope to see you soon, dancing Bal!