spotlight

• Ballroom Mix Party at 8 p.m.
beginner Hustle class at 7 p.m.!

• Beginner Salsa has moved to 6 p.m. on Mondays

• The St. Louis Star Ball is this weekend (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)! Don't forget to wish everyone from Studio B competing good luck as they head for the Arch.

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WEBSITE UPDATES:
• March Calendar

Studio B in the PRESS:

Check us out in:
• VOX Magazine
•Inside Columbia 
January 2010, pg.116
November 2009 Archive Issue, pg. 67 
•Columbia Daily Tribune
•The Missourian

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spotlight classes:

• Hip Hop! progressive group class

• Flamenco progressive group class
*Registration required for this class

• Zumba Latin dance aerobics class
Wednesdays at 6 pm

 

club dances

Club Dances: These are dances that are performed in a less formal setting from competitions and danced for the sheer enjoyment of it. These dances can be any of the competition dances but also include the Hustle, Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Salsa, Bachata, Merengue and more!

Argentine Tango: Argentine Tango is a partnered social dance from Buenos Ares, Argentina. It is different from the Ballroom Tango in it's posture, movements and intention -- in Argentine Tango there is no standard way of dancing -- emphasis is on improvisation and each dancer carries within themselves a particular way of dancing it. There rarely are competitions. Argentine Tango gives a person a chance to express themselves uniquely, and encourages creativity with the music.



Merengue: First danced in the Dominican Republic by Rafael Trujillo, the Merengue is danced with a two-step in a closed hold using intricate turns and pretzel motions. Couples can move in forward and backward, side to side or in circles. In American social dance purposes, it uses the same exaggerated Cuban motion of Cha Cha, Rumba, Mambo and Salsa.





Salsa: The Salsa name comes from the Spanish word for sauce, a spicy one containing a multitude of flavors. Danced on the 1 beat instead of the 2 beat like Mambo is, it uses the forward and back basic similar to Mambo.
Salsa styling incorporates fancy leg work, arm work, body movement, spins, body isolations, shoulder shimmies and rolls, and even hand styling.
Batchata: The dance is a four-step beat achieved with a walking Cuban hip motion, and a unique “pop”. The dance is performed both in open position and in closed position depending on the setting and mood of the partners. Similar to Merengue, dips are not original to the dance and turns are done infrequently. The male leads the female with subtle communication using pushing and pulling on the hands to guide the direction in which to move or to hint on upcoming turns. The female may also provide communication using her left hand to indicate whether she is comfortable or not dancing in a closed position.

Lindy Hop: Lindy Hop is an African American vernacular dance that evolved in New York City in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was an organic fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development, but was predominantly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston. Lindy hop co-evolved with jazz music and is a member of the swing dance family. It is frequently described as a jazz or street dance.
In its development lindy hop combined elements of both solo and partner dancing by using the movements and improvisation of African dances along with the formal 8-count structure of European partner dances. This is most clearly illustrated in lindy's basic step, the swing out. In this step's open position each dancer improvises alone, and in its closed position men and women dance together — a practice usually forbidden in African dances.
Revived in the 1980s by European and American dance historians, lindy hop is now popular today throughout the developed world.

Jitterbug: Not to be confused with Jive, Lindy, East and West Coast Swing, the Jitterbug is very much its own dance. Danced in “single time” the Jitterbug is a predecessor to the Jive and East Coast Swing.
Danced in the 1940’s during World War II by the GI’s, the Jitterbug is danced to swing music and Rock N Roll Music with three steps. A Step forward, a back step and a rock step to complete the basic step.




Hustle: Based on older dances such as the mambo, the Hustle originated in Hispanic communities in New York City and Florida in the 1970s. This was originally a line dance with a Salsa-like foot rhythm, that after some fusion with swing and eventual shortening of the count to "&1 2 3", became the present "New York" Hustle.
The couple dance form of hustle is usually called New York Hustle or Latin Hustle. It has some resemblance to, and steps in common with, swing and salsa dancing. As in the Latin dances, couples tend to move within a "spot" on the dance floor.
Basic steps for the Hustle include the Left 180 degree turn, Side breaks and sliding doors.

If you have any immediate questions, please E-mail us or give us a call at 573.441.2220