With Lindy Hop in our name, it’s natural that the lessons we give are centered around this mother of all swing dances. Besides that, we also offer lessons in styles that have influenced or were influenced by the Lindy Hop, each of them with their entirely own character and feeling!
Lindy Hop | Solo Jazz | Blues | Balboa | Slowbal
Lindy Hop
Even though Lindy Hop has its origins on the street, most people take lessons to kick-start their swing dance journey. At Lindy What? Lindy Hop! Nijmegen we offer Lindy Hop lessons in Nijmegen in different levels based on your experience and desired amount of challenge.
- You can register alone or with a partner!
- We work in lesson blocks of 7 classes.
- We offer 4 blocks per season.
- We offer B and C courses every block
- We offer A and A+ courses in alteration
- Next block to register for Fridays from November 1th till December 20th (no class at November 8th)
- Lindy A+ and Lindy B class:19:15-20:15; Lindy C class: 21:00-22:00
- Every level is the same price.
- €70 per person (7 classes of 60 minutes) or €45 with the One of Us discount!
- Check out our One of Us discount!
Vernacular Solo Jazz
If you thought Lindy Hop was fun, you haven’t tried solo jazz yet! 😉 Many of you will know the Shim Sham, might have learned the Tranky Doo or even tried the Big Apple. Routines danced for many years world wide. But there is way more to it! Diving into the jazz steps, rhythms and ways to use your body on your own you’ll discover the freedom solo jazz gives you. Improvising on the dance floor, just reacting to the music you hear.
The term ‘vernacular’ means ‘a language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a particular region’. This sets it apart from modern jazz and ballet jazz dance, and is the origin of those typical named movements you see in Lindy Hop solo choreographies, like the Fall of the Log, and the Suzie-Q.
The lessons will be set up in such a way that you can join both as a pure beginner, and if you have experience, making it an all level course!
- Solo Jazz is taught by professional teacher Renske!
- Suitable for all levels from absolute beginner to experienced
- Next block to register for: TBA
- A block will be 8 lessons of 60 minutes per lesson
- €70 per person (8 classes of 60 minutes)
Solo & Partnered Blues (separate classes!)
Blues is an easy going dance full of groove, improvisation and musicality. Originated in the African American culture, it all started in the juke joints dancing the night away. The blues music is rich in its diversity. Going from the Delta & Mississippi Blues, to Chicago blues into the jazzy New Orleans Blues, there are many blues idioms to be discovered along with it!
In our blues lessons, professional teacher Renske will teach you the basics of blues dancing in terms of movement, rhythm and timing, and connecting to the music, yourself, and your partner.
We offer partnered blues and solo blues classes.
There are two levels of partnered blues classes: a beginners level, for those who have never danced blues before, and an intermediate level, for those who already have some blues dancing experience.
The solo blues class is an all level class. Renske will make sure the lessons will be both accessible to beginners as well as challenging for more experienced blues dancers. The solo class is scheduled in between the partnered blues classes, so it’s easy for everyone to combine a partnered blues course
with the solo blues course!
- Blues is taught by professional teacher Renske!
- Solo: You can register solo!
- Partnered: You can register alone or with a partner!
- This block will be 5 lessons of 75 minutes per solo lesson (20:15-21:30)
- This block will be 5 lessons of 60 minutes per partner lesson (Beginner:19:15-20:15; Intermediate:21:30-22:30)
- Next block to register for: Tuesdays 15,29 October, 12,26 November, and 10 December(so every other week / ‘om de week’).
- Classes will be given at the Titus Brandsma Wijkcentrum, a 10 minute walk from Nijmegen station.
- €60,- per person for Solo classes
- €50,- per person for Partnered classes
- €100,- per person for Solo & Partnered classes
Balboa classes
Balboa is a partnered swing dance that originated in the 1930s in Southern California, particularly in the beachside resort named Balboa.
Back in the day, crowded dance halls often had strict rules which prohibited the Charleston and other exuberant dances, so a dance which required very little space naturally evolved. Nowadays, this subtle, close position dance is known as Pure Balboa. Meanwhile, in L.A., some adventurous dancers were using more open connections to introduce spins, turns, dips, tricks, and even air steps into their dancing. This style is now known as Bal-swing. A second generation of dancers fused these two styles together, and thus modern Balboa was born, a dance capable of both great finesse and great excitement. The choice is yours.
In these classes you will learn a combination of Pure Balboa and Bal-swing.
Balboa, with its economy of movement, is very well suited to moderate or fast music, but it can be danced to all tempos.
- Taught by Natasja & Mark!
- We offer a class for Beginners, and Beginners+ for those who know the basics of Balboa
- Lessons will be on:
- The six Wednesdays from 11th of September until 16th of October, at the sports hall at Florence Nightingalestraat 3
- Beginners from 19:15 to 20:30
- Beginners+ from 20:30 to 21:45
- Costs are €60,- for Beginners or Beginners+, €100,- for both classes
Slow Bal workshops
Some call it the love baby of Balboa and slow jazz, others describe it as a dance on its own. What we do know for sure is that Slow Bal is a very playful and elegant dance that has a lovely relaxed flow to it. Danced with a partner in a close connection, it allows for subtle playfulness with rhythms, the music and with your partner!
Everyone leads, everyone follows!
De Slow Bal lessen zijn ELEF lessen: everybody leads, everybody follows. Het leuke hieraan is dat je dus beide rollen leert en daardoor ook een betere danser wordt. Je leert namelijk begrijpen wat de andere rol nodig heeft en daarop kun je je aanpassen. Je wordt ook flexibelere in het dansen.
Op socials kun je er natuurlijk voor kiezen om alleen in je favoriete rol te dansen, maar wat het mooie is van beide rollen beheersen, is dat je met iedereen kan dansen! Daarmee ontmoet je ook meer mensen, en dat is ook weer leuk. En tijdens een dansje switchen van rol is ook ontzettend leuk, en daar gaan we tijdens de lessen ook zeker aandacht aan besteden.
Deirdre schrijft over leiden: “Wat ik het leukste vind aan leiden is dat ik er veel meer mijn muzikaliteit in kwijt kan. Ik kan makkelijker en vaker mijn eigen creativiteit in het dansje verwerken.”
Joost schrijft over volgen: “Wat ik heerlijk vind aan volgen is dat het me meer in mijn lichaam brengt. Het is ontspannen omdat ik echt uit mijn hoofd moet en in mijn lijf moet voelen wat de leider leidt.”
- Taught by Deirdre and Joost from Slowfeet Rotterdam!
- A series of workshops on 26th of October, 24 of November, 1st of December and 15th of December
- Workshop from 13:00 – 15:30 (2,5 hours dancing with a short break in the middle)
- Location: Amanné
- €30,- per workshop.
It’s possible to join the individual workshops, although we do advice you to join them all! Also for absolute beginners it is not advisable to miss the first two workshops!