Basicz Street Dance for Beginners
For anyone interested in learning to dance to hip hop then this is definitely the place to go. Where a lot of dance classes are full of ‘cool’ and stylish people who stand around pouting and doing impressive stretches in front of the mirror, this is quite the opposite. This is a class full of very down to earth teachers, doctors, bankers, actors, lawyers who just want to have fun and learn to dance. The class now has a lot of regulars which might sound scary but they are some of the loveliest and open minded people you will come across and they always give a huge welcome new people coming to the class. The teacher is a guy called Brendan (his dance name is Syxx – I still need to work out my own dance name, maybe I should learn to dance a bit better first, or maybe they reward you with a call dance name when you’re good enough?) who is incredibly friendly, funny and encouraging. His ability to put the entire class at ease and also motivate them is amazing (his real work is head of English in a London comprehensive).
Brendan makes a big thing of making new people feel welcome, and unlike a lot of dance classes he always states at the beginning the theme of the class, what he hopes you will learn and also states what the challenges will be, which is always followed by a cheeky “No pressure” which gets a laugh, because who in any dance class doesn’t feel the pressure?! Having been taught by the legend that is Kendrick (h20 – another cool dance name) Sandy, who choreographed part of the Olympic ceremony and who runs Boy Blue, the top Hip Hop dance group in London at the moment, Brendan’s choreography is incredible. It has a very fine attention to musicality, feeling and expression, which he breaks down for you in the middle of the class.
What is so amazing is how he manages to get beginners in their first class to pick up the moves so fast that it looks as though they’ve been coming a while. What is also great is that although it’s a beginners class there is an emphasis on musical expression and thus taking people to a higher level than simply saying ‘right foot here.’ Brendan will tell you how the right foot steps there and where and why and how the feeling of the step comes from the music. The class will bring your musical understanding to the next level and you might even find your bad ass alter ego too! It’s an hour and a half so there’s lots of time to get the routine. What is also awesome is that Brendan has months where he will take song requests, do a routine in two parts in two weeks, go back to classics, and do songs he would not usually do – the best last year was Cold Play Viva la Vida and the routine was epic! On top of THAT, everyone is invited to hang out at for drinks and dinner afterwards. There is always at least four people, sometimes up to twelve who all hang out together after class and get to know each other. So the class is not just a class but a whole Friday evening. I can think of no better ways to end a week than to go to the class and hang out with the gang afterwards. It’s at Dance works in Bond street every Friday at 6pm.
Harry
