I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up here. Where am I?

Congratulations, you've stumbled upon the University of Alberta Dance Club! We're a group of students, alumni, and staff who have been sharing our love of dance since 1957!

What? What do you do?

Well, for starters, we teach people to dance, and we hold various events throughout the year. People join for all kinds of reasons: to improve fitness, to socialize, to get ready for a wedding, to meet new people, or because they want to look like they know what they're doing next time they're at a fancy event. Or, they just, you know, like to dance.

Dance? I can't do that!

Sure you can! You're definitely not the first dancer to say that, but as with anything else, believing you can do it is the first step to success. We've got over 60 years of experience doing this — trust us, you'll make it out okay. We just need you to be able to count to 4 — we'll handle the rest.

... And I don't even have a partner!

That never stopped the best, now did it? In all seriousness, we find that dancing with many people when you start out helps you learn more quickly, because everyone dances differently, so you become more well-rounded and learn to work with differences. Of course, we won't force you to switch if you don't want to, but we highly recommend it!

Well, okay, maybe I'll try it. What should I do?

Great choice! To start, we recommend purchasing a membership. This will allow you to register in all of our classes and get you discounted rates to events and workshops. Memberships are good until August 31.

Once you've got your membership, you can go ahead and enrol in a class. We recommend starting at Level I. If you have any kind of previous dance experience, feel free to start at a higher level. As you move up the levels, we recommend re-taking the previous level as you tackle each new level, which helps a lot with retaining what you've learned.

Membership purchase and class registration can be done at our registration table, during our Open House Dance Party (see below), or at your first class. If you choose to register at your first class, please show up at least 15 minutes early so you can be ready to go when class starts.

We have a number of events coming up, some of which you may have seen on your way here. Our Open House Dance Party , which is a great place for any budding dancer to give this a shot, will be held on September 22, 2022 in Dinwoodie Lounge at 6:30 PM, which is on the second floor of SUB on the U of A campus.

What kind of dance are you going to make me do?

Well, we're not forcing anyone, of course. The main style of dance we teach is International Ballroom. Ever seen Dancing With the Stars? So You Think You Can Dance? There are ten dances in total, which are split into two categories — Standard and Latin:

Plus Salsa, by popular request, which isn't part of the international ballroom dances but offers a completely different style, which brings us to 11 total dances. For a brief description about each dance, take a look at this page.

This might sound like a lot, but we'll ease you in slowly — we don't cover six of the 11 dances throughout Level I.

We also hold some workshops outside of the world of international ballroom throughout the year, like Swing, Argentine Tango, Hustle, and such. Rest assured that if you start with us, you'll be able to jump into dancing anywhere in the world you happen to end up!

And what are you going to make me wear?

Can you stop making it sound like we're forcing you? Really, just wear whatever you want. We recommend something you can comfortably move around in, or you might have some trouble dancing. For classes, we're not picky — we'll leave this one up to you, as long as you're wearing clean indoor shoes; just don't wear flip flops or anything that comes off easily, since we don't want anyone to get hurt. We'd also recommend shoes that aren't too grippy, as a little bit of slip really helps those turns.

For socials and formal events, though, you'll probably feel less out of place if you dress up a little.

And are you going to make me stay in the same class I signed up for?

For the umpteenth time, we're not... You know what, nevermind. If you find that whichever night you originally signed up for won't work for you anymore, if you want to switch to another class of the same level just let us know and we should be able to work something out. Just remember that our classes don't always line up with each other - one class can be a week ahead of the other.

If you want to change to a higher level, again let us know, just keep in mind you will have to pay the difference in the class fees. If you want to change to a lower level, same thing, just keep in mind that we're unable to offer refunds for the difference.

And are you going to make me do anything else?

... Well, we'd like it if you have fun. You can also find more Q&As that we get frequently here. Thanks for visiting, and we hope to see you in class!