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!
May BoaSA:NTE
Our next Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon: Now Times Edition will be Sunday, May 5, 12:30pm-2:45pm at Salsa Y Control in Allston.
Join us from for practice and social dancing with DJs Katie Del Vecchio and Stan Yen. No registration required, cash and Venmo accepted at the door.
Upcoming Classes
Two new offerings for students who’ve had Fundamentals 1A & 1B (or equivalent) and want to get some new toys to play with! These classes will expect students to select a role for class – they will NOT be ELEF like our 1A/B classes.
April 30: Pure Balboa 2 — Variations and Stylings
Pure Bal class bringing some footwork variations that you can mix and match in your closed-position basics, as well as a couple of the more classic rhythm patterns. Pre-requisites: students must be familiar with both ‘uphold’ and ‘downhold’ basics. Register for April 30 Pure Balboa 2 — Variations & Styling
May 7 & 14: Bal-Swing 2 — Connection & Variations
Two-part mini series focused on Bal-Swing. We’ll expand on technique for lollies and tossouts, and work on using these skills to control direction and to lead/follow with different parts of the connection, which opens up a whole lot of fun variations! Pre-requisites: students must be comfortable with out-and-ins, lollies, and tossouts. Register for Bal-Swing 2 — Connection & Variations
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
