Our new merchandise

We are currently offering new merchandising which you can pre-order until the 24th January and it will be delivered to our classes for collection from 4th February.

We are offering T-Shirts, Vest Tops, Tote & Shoe bags and even Hoodies.

The Tote Bags is 42 x 38cm with cotton handles and for the Shoe Bags, you could order a small on which is 25 x 30cm big or a medium on which is 20 x 45cm with a drawstring. In the small shoe bag fits one pair of shoes and the Tote and medium bags can hold two pairs of shoes or shoes with a dance kit and a bottle of water.
All bags cost £10.

Bags

Small Shoe Bag

Tote Bag

Medium Size Shoe Bag

T-Shirts

We are offering our T-Shirts for men and women, but our Vest Tops are currently only available for women. Both, the T-Shirts and the Vest Tops, cost £15.

Female T-Shirts

Male T-Shirts

Vest Tops

Hoodies

we are now offering Hoodies, which cost £35.

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Hoodie Front

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Hoodie back and T-Shirt

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Hoodie Back

For more information about the sizes and if you want to pre-order a product click on the link below.

Move of the Week: The Hitchhike

You will never be without a lift with the hitchhike move, a travelling step which uses the classic thumb signal for hitching a ride.

The footwork is a simple step behind, so your travelling backwards. Its good to start by stepping back and bouncing. You need have a small pulse in each step you take.

Once you are comfortable with the pulse, add the swivel to your footwork. Each time you step back lift the heels out and when you place the foot, bring the heels in to create the swivel motion.

Interestingly a few of our students said they learnt to swivel through practicing this move.

Once the feet are moving in the right direction you can add the arms. When you travel, the same arms as leg is moving. So when you bring you right foot back, lift your right arm over your shoulder. The arms are moving as if your wiping your back with a towel.

You can also stylise the move by gently tilting the head of each move.

Move of the Week: Learn the Skating Step

This week we are looking at skating, this move looks deceptively simple but there are a number of elements to the move.

Break down each part: the twist, the weight change and leg hitch and the arms.

Once the elements come together this dance move has a sunny happy feel with a little bit of coquettish twist. When the pointy finger switches, this is a little light bulb moment so add some flavour with a little whoop or just a cheeky face.

If this doesn't come together instantly don't worry, practice it in parts as it's a beautiful feeling once you get it.

Meet our new team

With so many new classes and teachers joining our team in 2019, we have put together five 30 second snapshot interviews so you can get to know our new team!

Peter - Southampton

We are delighted to welcome Peter to our teaching team who will be taking on our Southampton course from 8th Jan. Peter is an experienced dancer who will be getting the whole city swivelling next year. If you would like to join him just visit www.mycharlestondance.com/southampton

Helen - Eastbourne

From the 9th Jan you will be able to take part in one of courses in Eastbourne and Helen will be flying the flag for us in our new home at Leaf Hall Arts Centre. If you want to put a swivel in your steps in the new year just visit www.mycharlestondance.com/eastbourne

Jess - Lewes

Please welcome to the Charleston teaching team - Jess! Based in Brighton, Jess will be teaching our Lewes course next term and getting you shaking ya thing! If you would like to find out more about Lewes just visit www.mycharlestondance.com/lewes

Natasha - Brighton

Meet Natasha who will be supporting our Brighton teaching team and taking on Brighton Thursday morning course for our January term. to book on with Natasha visit www.mycharlestondance.com/brighton

Gail - Shoreham

Our new Shoreham course with Gail is already over half full! This is a brand new course on 7th Jan so if you want to give it a whirl book early to avoid disappointment www.mycharlestondance.com/shoreham

Series one: Move of the week

For the past 12 weeks we have been sharing with you our Move of Week as this series has now come to a close we have complied all the videos so you can keep practising your favourite moves. The videos are in order of release date and include everything from a basic Charleston to more unusual moves like Spank the Baby! Have fun practising!

The Charleston

Knocky Knees

Side to Side Variation

Flapper Walks

Squat Charleston

Apple Jacks

Shimmy

Charleston Kicks

Charleston Scarecrow

Bunny hops

Jazz Square

Spank the Baby

Tick Tocks

We have already started filming our next series of Move of Week but if you have any requests please leave a comment or drop us a message!

Dance Active 2018

Congratulations to our wonderful students who performed at Dance Active 2018. Here are both groups performances:

Sing Sing Sing

Goody Goody

Take a peak at what’s happening in 2019

Strictly Review: Stacey and Kevin

Strictly Come Dancing 2018 reached its semi-final last weekend where Stacey Dooley and her professional partner Kevin Clifton performed an authentic 1920s Charleston routine. This is the stand out Charleston for the series for so many reasons.

Let’s start with the music, this is the first tune of the year which is actually a proper Charleston track. The piece of music chosen was ‘Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue’ (one of my favourite jazz standards) originally released in 1925 so the music really complimented the routine in capturing the Hot Jazz vibe.

Moving onto the choreography, the storyline is of an on old couple reminiscing of when they used to go out dancing back in the Roaring 20s and we see a flashback to them in their heyday.

From 21 seconds we see heaps of Charleston content: Flapper Walks, Tick Tock, Swivel Walks, Birdie Flaps, Cake Walks and Charleston Kicks all before their first lift.

After the lift, Stacey performs a series of heel flicks on the off-beat, bunny hops and and two Charlestons. Although I love the sequence, her eyes and faces does drop for just one moment and I feel you can really see her concentrating but it’s just a split second.

After their second lift, they come into hold and do a series of kicks and skips which break into Truckin’ and the Spank the Baby move (Not sure why Darcy called it Smack the Pony… or Donkey for that matter) followed by another set of Charlestons and Pushes.

At 1 mins 8 they break into Kick Charlestons and a series of low kicks, followed by a hhimmy and a lift sequence. As soon as they come out of the lifts they perform a set of Suzy Qs and Helicopters (and they have their knees together!).

After their final lift, they run back to the armchairs and we come back to the present day. 

This routine really worked for me on so many levels as it really captured a 1920's flapper-style Charleston. It has also been the only routine of the whole series to use only classic 1920s steps. Although Faye and Giovanni had a great routine too, the traveling moves where not authentic whilst this routine was jam packed from start to finish.

I also love Stacey and Kevin’s partnership and that he threw so much into the routine (I believe we choreographed this one). He is a great teacher who really brings out the best in Stacey. She is a complete dance novice and her spirit really shines in this number. The pair of them together have great stage presence and bring plenty of entertainment to the show.

If they had a bit more time to work on the routine, I would only say that Stacey needs to keep her eyes up and relax her shoulders a little but natural slightly ungainly style fits this routine. However, She smashes the syncopation which is really hard for a beginners and trained dancers. She is also brilliant at doing the swivel which again is very hard to master as a novice.

Shirley: "What an absolutely superb way to open the show – I am absolutely speechless. Is there anything you can't do? Absolutely phenomenal." (Score: 10)

Bruno: "Come on! Talk about giving it welly! She burst into action like a sparkling firecracker. It was 100% authentic 1920's flapper-style Charleston." (Score: 10)

Craig: "Well, your left foot didn't do one little swivel. But I loved it, it was quirky and eccentric." (Score: 9)

Darcey: "Stacey you epitomise the naughty flapper. It was fabulous." (Score: 10)

Our Score: 10 

Move of the Week: Tick Tocks

This week we are teaching you Tick Tocks as our Move of the Week. A simple, but also very popular move in the Charleston.

Start off with your feet parallel. Keep your knees bent at all time and go really low.

If you want to travel to the right start by turning in your knees and feet and while turning out again slide a bit to your right side.
Turn your knees and feet in again, but this time while turning out lift your left foot off the floor. Make sure that you keep the position which you had on the floor and really flex your foot.

Then repeat the same to the left. Knees in and out, while moving to your left, but this time lift your right foot up.

Now to the arms. Hold them like a marionette and just mirror your knees and this is all you need to know for the Tick Tocks.

Strictly Review: Faye and Giovanni

Faye and her partner Giovanni Pernice scored their first perfect 40 last weekend for their quirky Charleston set to ’Lonely Goatherd’ from the ‘Sound Of Music’, which saw them transformed into a pair of puppets. The judges gave them top marks and Darcey said it was ‘Stunning to perfection’. So let’s take a closer peak at the choreography and if it deserved top marks.

We first see the pair after the curtains open on the puppet stage and they perform a sequence of isolated steps which included the puppets coming to life. There was a mini Tick-Tock on the spot and some flicks which were on the off-beat (which is Charleston perfection and quite rare to see on the show).

At 34 seconds, they break into basic Charleston, and flicks on both the right and left leg whist they untangle themselves from the puppet strings then flapper walks into the centre.

After covering the floor with some skipping (not sure why that move was picked, presume they felt it was in keeping of the theme) they come into a loose hold at 58 secs for a quick series of kicks, turns and lifts.

1:12 mins they come into two Scissor Kicks, a Birdy Flap (made iconic by Charleston Queen Jospehine Baker) followed by basic Charleston and Helicopter. I think Faye is the first celeb this series to do the helicopter correctly with her knees together. They quickly move into Charlie Chaplin legs and Trench Walks followed by another series of lifts.

At 1.30 they break into a nice turning sequence with the other extra dancers on stage followed by two high kicks from Faye and a series of Wings (which you would usually see in Tap).

The routine ends with another skipping and lift sequence which brings the pair back into the centre of the stage to finish with one more Charleston and a scarecrow pose.

The routine is very intricate and capture lots of Charleston characteristics including flexed feet and flat hands. They are also the only pair this season to clearly dance the off-beat and syncopation which is a key element of this genre. Although they were quite upright, which is a little strange for a Charleston, they were meant to be puppets and they kept in character throughout. It might have been nice to have seen some basic Charleston in hold but as a duet it was perfect.

The music worked really well too (although it was quite annoying and it’s amazing they managed to listen to that for a week!) Also well done to the singer who pulled that one out the bag.

The routine was choreographed by Jenny Thomas who did a fantastic job!

Judges Scores: 

Bruno: "Everybody was on their feet! That was the ultimate crowd-pleasing, show-stopping delight. Take it to Broadway, it will run forever! A theatrical masterpiece!" (Score: 10)

Craig: "I thought the goats were good darling, you weren't bad either. Well done." (Score: 10)

Darcey: "I thought it was extraordinary. There was a move to every beat of the music. Every moment you reflected the characters of the puppets. Stunning to perfection." (Score: 10)

Shirley: "You are a pure diamond. There wasn't a flaw in anything you did there." (Score: 10)

Our Score: 10 (and 10/10 for Giovanni’s outfit)

Move of the Week: Spank the Baby

For this week's Move of the Week, we are teaching you Spank the Baby. And I promise you, it's not as harsh as it sounds.

Begin with your feet together and then tap with your right foot to the side. Then bring your left foot in again.

While stepping together, bring your right foot up and hold it there. You can feel your body weight transferring onto the standing leg, which is, in this case, the left one.

Hold your arms like a teapot. While tapping to the side, push your arm in the direction you are travelling in.

When you are coming together pull your arm in as well and the other hand slaps on the bum of the standing leg.

It is exactly the same for travelling to the other side, so keep practising both sides, because in the end you will master tapping from side to side.