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Styles Dancesport
Dancesport
The style
Dancesport is the competitive face of Ballroom and Latin American dancing, as seen on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. You’ll learn the same ten dances covered by our Ballroom and Latin classes, but here the emphasis is placed on correct technique, attractive presentation and competitive choreography rather than social figures.
All our Dancesport classes teach the International style rather than the American steps.
For other dance styles we offer, please see:
Classes
We have a range of Dancesport classes, catering for everyone from complete beginners through to advanced competitors. You do not have to compete to attend the classes; they are aimed at anyone who wants to improve their standard of dancing. If you’re interested in taking medals tests, the classes can also help to prepare you for these, though medallist technique is not the main focus. Our Dancesport classes start by teaching good technique in the basic steps, and move on to more complicated choreography and styling at the higher levels.
The information in this section describes the kinds of classes we usually offer for Dancesport dancers. For more general details or the specifics for the current season, please see:
Starting Dancesport as a beginner or converting at a later stage
You can start Dancesport classes at any time, either as a beginner or after you have been dancing socially for some time. If you start Dancesport at a later stage than beginner, it is recommended that in order to “grow into” the style and have the opportunity to pick up finer points of technique which you might have missed, that you start by attending the class below the highest level you reached in the Ballroom and Latin classes. For example, a dancer taking Ballroom and Latin B classes would be best placed going to Dancesport A classes rather than the Dancesport B classes for the first term in order to get the most out of the style and class.
Dancesport Beginners/Improvers
Our Dancesport Beginners classes are suitable for those who have never danced before but would like to learn detailed technique from the start. You will learn the basic steps of the waltz, quickstep, cha cha cha and jive, with emphasis on learning to do it “properly” rather than purely socially. For complete beginners, we recommend taking these classes alongside the Ballroom Beginners Fast-track classes.
If you’ve completed a term of Ballroom Beginners classes and would like to start learning Dancesport, the Dancesport Beginners class is also suitable for you.
Dancesport Improvers is aimed at dancers who have completed a term of Dancesport Beginners. We recommend that you take the Ballroom Improvers Fast-track classes as well.
Dancesport A
For those comfortable with basic technique in waltz, quickstep, cha cha cha and jive, as taught in Dancesport Beginners and Dancesport Improvers, the next step is Dancesport A. From this level the provision is often split into Modern and Latin classes.
These classes continue to extend steps and technique in waltz, quickstep, cha cha cha and jive, and introduce the basic steps and technique of the other three dances in each discipline: tango, foxtrot and Viennese waltz for modern, and rumba, samba and paso doble for Latin.
Dancesport B
These classes move on to more advanced technique and popular competitive figures and groups in all ten dances. They are suited to dancers who are confident with the technique of the basic range of figures in each dance. This class will teach a broad range of figures in all dances, increasing the dancers’ repertoire of choreography and introducing more challenging movements and timing.
Dancesport B classes are recommended for those who have attended Dancesport A for 6–12 months.
Dancesport C
These are our most advanced classes. Each class covers advanced technique in all five dances of its discipline, with more challenging choreography and a focus on the more difficult figures in each dance.
Dancesport C classes are aimed squarely at our most experienced dancers. We recommend at least 1–2 years of experience at Dancesport B level before moving up, depending on how much you’re practising outside classes and whether you’re also taking regular private lessons. For many experienced dancers, it will be best to attend Dancesport C in their stronger discipline and Dancesport B in the weaker one, particularly for fairly experienced Dancesport Team members.
Workshops
We also organise occasional workshops with visiting teachers. These usually take place on a weekend afternoon, and often cover material more advanced than our weekly classes. We have been privileged to count among our guest teachers in recent years some of the top couples in the UK and several world professional finalists, including Matthew and Nicole Cutler, Chris Hawkins and Hazel Newberry, Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, Karen Hardy, and Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed.
Details of dates and topics for any forthcoming workshops can be found on our events diary. Most of our workshops are also open to non-members.
Practice sessions
For members who want some more time and space to practise their dancing, we offer two options.
Our “open” practice sessions usually last an hour, during which music for about four different dances will be played. Entry is cheap and there is no need to book in advance; just come along whenever it suits you.
Our “closed” practice sessions are aimed at more committed dancers who are willing to pay a little more in exchange for use of larger halls and the full range of music. Places are limited, and must be block booked in advance for an entire season. For more information, please contact closedsubs@cambridgedancers.org.
We sometimes also run practice sessions specifically for beginners, usually with some more experienced dancers around to help if you get stuck.
Details of all types of practice session are included on each season’s class timetable.
Private lessons
For members who need teaching beyond what our regular classes can offer, we also organise private lessons with many of our teachers at certain times of year. Most lessons take place on Sundays during the main competitive season, and most teachers book in either 45 or 60 minute slots. Private lessons do cost a lot more than our regular classes, with prices varying depending on length and teacher, so they aren’t for everyone. Of course, you do get the full attention of your teacher for just you and your partner during the lesson, so for competitive couples trying to improve as fast as possible they are pretty much essential.
Private lessons must be booked in advance, and are only available to established club members. For more details, please contact lessons-moderation@cambridgedancers.org.
We regret that we do not have the resources to provide private lessons to non-members, nor can we accept new members who only wish to take private lessons, for example in the run up to a wedding. However, there are other local teachers who can help these groups.
The team
CDC also supports a Dancesport Team made up of 16 student couples who represent Cambridge University at student competitions. There is also a Beginners Dancesport Team. Information about the team’s activities and how to join can be found on the Dancesport Team pages.
Competitions
We run two friendly competitions of our own each year: the Dancesport Team Reunion Match (usually in November, just before the main inter-university competition season starts) and Cuppers (usually around Easter time, and including the annual inter-college team match). These are open to all CDC members and include lots of open categories at levels from beginners to advanced as well as the main team match events.
For those willing to travel to the larger competitions, student members of CDC can enter the opens at most inter-university competitions even if they are not members of the Dancesport Team. We also have several non-student couples (and a few really keen students!) who enter amateur (“Sunday circuit”) competitions.
And of course, there is the annual Dancesport Varsity Match against the Other Place.
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