Balboa BEGINNER Block

Darn Hot Swing Dance Collective is proud to announce its fourth Introduction to Balboa 4 week course, running each Tuesday night in May 2026.

Balboa is a style of swing dance, best for dancing to fast jazz. From the dance halls of the 1930s Orange County California, the Balboa has evolved to be a rich and wonderfully nuanced partnered social dance. Its compact style makes it the go-to for when the band is hot, you're out on the town, and you've only got one square meter of space between tables to dance. Also the perfect thing for keeping your cool when the tempos get snappy! The connection, flow, energy and rich vocabulary of Balboa is notorious for creating real fanatics.

This course will suit those who have some experience with other partner dances like lindy hop or west coast swing and is friendly to beginners too. We'll be taking you through the basics of pure balboa (a closed partnered dance with an emphasis on footwork and connection) and bal-swing (an open partnered dance with a distinct look and feel, involving a lot of fun moves, spinning and energy exchange) over the course of four Tuesday nights in a small and focussed class.

Whether you’re completely new to balboa, or have done a few classes already and want to start putting it together into confident social dancing, this block will get you on the right track!

Your instructors, Kristin Guley and Raif Sarcich, are Balboa obsessives who love sharing this dance with others. They've been dancing for a decade or so, and have had the privilege of learning from some of the best teachers in Australia, Europe and the US. They look forward to bringing the best of their experience to help you get started in this beautiful and fun dance.