►The Masquerade Waltz!

Monday night lesson & dance

• Our big night! We've been going strong since 1999. A friendly, welcoming vibe and always a good turnout.
• Where? Lake City Community Center, 12531 28th Ave NE in Seattle; follow this link for more info, including a map.
• 6:30 pm class: All of our classes & workshops are drop-in: no need to register, commit, pay up front, or be concerned that you might miss a class you've paid for. Monday nights tend to be progressive, starting with the basics of a dance then going on. Jump in whenever you like, but if it's a new dance for you, or if you're a new dancer, try to get in on the first few classes for that dance. Sign up for my emails to get more details about upcoming classes.
• Beginning January 30: Viennese Waltz! Learn the original waltz, the lovely spinning dance they do at those balls in Vienna. A gloriously simple, utterly enchanting dance. We'll begin from the beginning, so this class is suitable for dancers at all levels, but if you're a newer dancer, be sure to get in on the first classes. We'll teach Viennese waltz for at least 3 weeks, possibly more. Read more about Viennese waltz; watch a demo video.
• 7:30 pm dance to a mix of about half waltzes & half other partner dances: swing, blues, cha-cha, foxtrot, salsa, one-step, tango etcetera. We're known for our outstanding music collection. We dance until about 10:30, sometimes later.
• How much? $15 for the class, $6 for the dance, $20 for both.

Thursday night workshop & practica

• 7 pm: an in-depth 90-minute workshop followed by a practica. Thursday workshops are smaller than the Monday classes, so there's lots of individual attention. After the workshop we have on music to practice to for an hour, sometimes longer. The practica mixes music specifically for the workshop material with music for other dances we teach & Waltz etcetera favorites; requests are welcome.
• February 2: Cha-cha-cha! Come learn some cool new cha-cha moves. Here's a demo to give you an idea of our styling, and the kind of moves we like to teach.
• Beginning February 9: 3-step Foxtrot: Waltzing to non-waltzes (3-week series). We just love the basic idea of waltz: traveling with your partner, turning left & right together, using 3 steps as a basic. 3-step foxtrot (3-step for short) lets us do that kind of dancing to non-waltz music. We used to just call it foxtrot, but what most dancers think of as foxtrot has 4 steps: slow, slow, quick-quick. That doesn't work for waltzing. We've been teaching this since 2000, but recently we've really expanded on it, developing many new moves and even different versions of the dance itself to suit different kinds of non-waltz music. Read more about this dance. This will be a series of 3 90-minute workshops plus practice time afterward, on February 9, 16 & 23. $50 for all 3 if you pay the first night, or $20 each on a drop-in basis.
• Where? Upstairs ballroom of Salmon Bay Eagles, 5216 20th Ave NW in Ballard; follow this link for more info, including a map. There's a full bar downstairs; you can get drinks (alcoholic or not) and bring them upstairs.
• There's also free live blues music in the bar downstairs on Thursdays, and there's a small dance floor down there that's just right for blues. We usually head down there after the practica.
• How much? $20 for the 90-min workshop + practica.

1^st & 3^rd Sunday afternoon lesson & tea dance

• Tea as in tea-time; tea dance is a traditional name for an afternoon dance. We play a mix similar to Monday's - half waltzes & half other dances.
• Where? Salmon Bay Eagles, 5216 20th Ave NW in Ballard; follow this link for more info, including a map.
• 1 pm class for February 5: TBA.
• 2 pm dance to a mix of about half waltzes & half other dances: swing, blues, cha-cha, foxtrot, salsa, one-step, tango etcetera. We're known for our outstanding music collection. The bar's open downstairs on Sunday afternoons; you can bring your drinks back upstairs with you. They might even have tea.
• How much? $15 for the class, $6 for the dance, $20 for both.

Other practical details:

• Do I need to bring a partner? No, most people come solo to both classes and dances. In our classes we rotate partners frequently. Rotating is optional, but can be very helpful in learning to dance.
• What do I wear? People mostly dress pretty casual at our dances, tho' a few will dress up. So dress however you like. You can see what people are wearing in the photos below. We request that you not wear fragrances or products with fragrance, as some people are sensitive.
• What's the program at your dances? We figure you come to dance, not watch, so we stick to partner dancing. No student performances, no instructor demos, no group dances to wait out. If we have announcements, we keep 'em brief.
• Get on my email list to get more details about our upcoming dances & classes, plus info on dances other folks are putting on, dances you might like if you like our dance. To subscribe, send me an email. To keep my emails out of the spam folder, add lunarpages.com to your safe list; that's the domain I send from (my webhost).
• Our classes are all pay-as-you-go; no need to sign up, pay in advance, or miss a class you've paid for. However, Monday classes and Thursday workshops often feature progressive series where we start out with the basics of a dance and go on from there, teaching a given dance for a number of weeks. On Sunday afternoons we teach one-shot classes.

Dancers at Waltz etcetera (more pix here)

Written by Zachariah Cassady