Dance style guide
Learn where different dance styles come from, what a class may feel like, and how strongly each one tends to emphasise technique, partnering, energy and rhythm.
Low, Medium and High describe broad tendencies, not entry requirements. A style can change considerably with the teacher, level, music and class format.
Mobility adaptability means how readily material may be adjusted; it is not a guarantee that a particular class will meet your needs. Check access and adaptations with the organiser before booking.
Technique & Stage
Ballet
A codified theatrical form that develops alignment, control, line and musical phrasing through a shared movement vocabulary.
- Technique: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Rhythm: Medium
Contemporary
A broad, evolving field combining technical training, expressive movement, floorwork, improvisation and choreographic exploration.
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
Jazz
An energetic family of stage and social techniques shaped by African American movement, jazz music and theatrical performance.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Tap
A percussive form in which metal-plated shoes turn footwork into layered rhythm and musical conversation.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
Musical Theatre
Story-led stage dance that combines character, musical timing and choreography drawn from jazz, ballet, tap and popular styles.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: Medium
Improvisation & Somatics
Improv
Movement created in the moment through attention, choice, sensation, space and relationships rather than fixed choreography.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Adaptability: High
- Rhythm: Low
Contact Improv
A partner-based improvisational practice exploring shared weight, touch, momentum, rolling and responsive movement.
- Partnering: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Adaptability: Medium
Somatic
Body-awareness practices that prioritise internal sensation, coordination, ease and exploratory learning over external shapes.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Adaptability: High
- Technique: Medium
Butoh
An experimental Japanese performance practice using imagery, transformation and intense attention to the body, often at unusual speeds.
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Adaptability: Medium
- Technique: Medium
Ecstatic Dance
A loosely facilitated social movement practice centred on free dancing, musical journeys and personal expression.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
5Rhythms
A facilitated movement practice following five named energetic qualities: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
Yoga/Pilates
A calendar category covering movement classes that build mobility, strength, breath awareness and controlled coordination.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Adaptability: High
- Technique: Medium
Street, Club & Commercial
Hip Hop
A broad social and performance category rooted in hip-hop culture, groove, freestyle, party dances and individual expression.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
House
A club dance known for continuous groove, quick footwork, jacking and a fluid relationship with house music.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Commercial
Performance choreography influenced by music videos, touring shows, pop concerts and multiple studio dance techniques.
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
Heels
A performance-focused studio style exploring posture, lines, musicality and confident movement, often in high-heeled shoes.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
Waacking
A disco-era club form recognised for rapid arm pathways, posing, musical interpretation and expressive individuality.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Vogue
A highly expressive form from ballroom culture using poses, lines, hand performance, catwalks, floorwork and competitive categories.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Popping/Locking
A combined calendar label for distinct funk styles built around muscular hits, illusion, rhythmic stops and animated groove.
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
- Technique: High
Krump
An intense freestyle form using grounded grooves, chest pops, stomps, jabs and character to communicate powerful emotion.
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
Dancehall
A Jamaican social dance culture with named steps, grounded groove, musical specificity and strong communal exchange.
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
K-pop
Choreography-led classes learning routines inspired by Korean popular-music performance and fan dance culture.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
Partner & Social
Salsa
A family of Afro-Latin partner dances organised around rhythmic stepping, turns, improvisation and social connection.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Bachata
A Dominican partner dance with a clear four-count pulse, close musical relationship and several modern social styles.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Ballroom & Latin
A codified family of partnered dances including waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, cha-cha-cha, rumba and jive.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
Argentine Tango
An improvised social partner dance built through walking, close listening, musical phrasing and a shared embrace.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Partnering: High
Lindy Hop/Swing
An African American jazz partner dance combining rhythmic bounce, improvisation, social connection and playful momentum.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Kizomba/Semba
Closely related Angolan social partner dances centred on grounded walking, rhythmic connection and musical dialogue.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Brazilian Zouk
A flowing Brazilian partner dance using elastic connection, turns, body movement and expressive interpretation of varied music.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Partnering: High
Forró
A family of Brazilian couple dances with compact travelling steps, rhythmic bounce and a warm social-floor tradition.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Modern Jive/Ceroc
An accessible modern partner-dance format using clear lead-and-follow patterns across a wide range of popular music.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
African & Caribbean
African Contemporary
Contemporary performance practices shaped by artists working across diverse African dance lineages, modern dance and present-day experience.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Afro Fusion/Afrobeats
An umbrella studio category combining contemporary African and diasporic social dances with choreography to Afrobeats and related music.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
Caribbean
A broad calendar category for movement from varied Caribbean social, carnival and popular-dance cultures.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
South Asian
Bollywood
Screen-inspired Indian dance combining storytelling, musical expression and changing influences from classical, folk and popular forms.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: Medium
Bhangra
A buoyant Punjabi dance tradition and modern popular form known for strong rhythm, lifted energy and expansive arm gestures.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
Kathak
A North Indian classical form combining intricate footwork, spins, rhythmic composition, gesture and storytelling.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
Bharatanatyam
A South Indian classical form integrating precise geometry, rhythmic footwork, gesture, expression and narrative.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Other South Asian
A discovery category for South Asian forms not separately listed, including Odissi, Kuchipudi and many regional practices.
- Rhythm: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Adaptability: Medium
World, Folk & Traditional
Flamenco
An Andalusian art bringing together dance, song, guitar, hand-clapping and deeply structured rhythmic cycles.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
Samba
A family of Afro-Brazilian music and dance practices ranging from social circles to carnival and stage forms.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
Capoeira
An Afro-Brazilian practice combining game, music, movement, ritual, strategy and community in a circle called the roda.
- Rhythm: High
- Technique: High
- Partnering: High
Belly Dance
An umbrella studio term for dances using detailed torso and hip articulation, often drawing on Middle Eastern and North African traditions.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
Dabke
A communal Levantine line dance using linked hands, strong stepping, stamps and shared rhythmic momentum.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Intensity: High
Ceilidh/Scottish Country Dance
Scottish group and couple dancing built from shared figures, travelling patterns and lively traditional music.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
English Country Dance
A social set-dance tradition using walking patterns, figures and partner changes to live or recorded music.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
Irish Céilí/Set Dance
Irish social group dancing organised in couples and formations, driven by reels, jigs, hornpipes and communal rhythm.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Contra Dance
A North American called social dance in long lines, using repeating figures and partner progression to energetic live music.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Partnering: High
Line Dance
Group dancing in rows without a fixed partner, using repeated step sequences to country, pop and many other musics.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Rhythm: High
- Adaptability: High
Folk/Traditional
A broad discovery category for community dance traditions whose histories, functions and techniques are culturally specific.
- Rhythm: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Adaptability: Medium
Movement & Performance
Physical Theatre
Performance training in which body, space, action and ensemble composition carry as much meaning as spoken text.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Adaptability: Medium
- Technique: Medium
Dance Theatre
A performance field combining choreography with dramatic image, character, voice, objects or narrative structure.
- Beginner friendly: Medium
- Adaptability: Medium
- Technique: Medium
Mime/Clown/Mask
A performance-training category using physical precision, play, character and visual storytelling with little or no text.
- Beginner friendly: High
- Adaptability: High
- Technique: Medium
Pole/Aerial
Apparatus-based movement combining strength, technique, flexibility, spins, climbs and performance in the air or on a pole.
- Technique: High
- Intensity: High
- Beginner friendly: Medium