The Dance Shack

read moreImagine you see someone you've never met before, you take them (or get taken) out on to the floor, and rock their world! Everybody should be able to do that! And we're the best dance studio to teach you how because we specialize in teaching people who have never danced before! Parties, clubs, beach festivals, cruises, weddings, heck, even listening to music in the house, dancing makes everything better! Forget Dancing with the Stars, this is REAL dancing, that you can do to any music, any place, any time.

read moreThe Cha Cha Cha (we just call it Cha Cha) is a flirty dance with fast footwork using the famous count of 1-2 Cha Cha Cha! It's catchy rhythm makes it a favorite among dancers. Cha Cha is a dance developed to showcase what had been a variation of mambo. Mambo arose out of the combination of American jazz music and Cuban rumba rhythm and was danced on the off beat rather than the down beat of a measure of music. Some say that one of many steps in mambo was called the "chatch" and involved 3 quick steps preceded by two normal steps.

read moreHere at The Dance Shack, we teach through Private Lessons and Group Classes. We also have Social Dances (sometimes called dance socials or just socials), where you can practice your dancing with instructors nearby to help out! The fastest way to learn to dance is through Private Lessons. That's where you'll learn techniques like leading and following, timing, balance, and much more. Through Private Lessons you can be dancing in just a few weeks. The most common way that people learn is to take Private Lessons, and intersperse them with Group Classes.

read moreSalsa may be the most popular dance in Jacksonville! It can be danced in various clubs and restaurants almost any night of the week! Salsa will teach you to have good Control (balance while moving), is great exercise because of it's speed, and is good for meeting people because of it's popularity. Salsa tends to attract a younger crowd. The more advanced levels have challenging spins and turns that are fast-paced and fun! Cuba served as a mixing bowl for dances coming from various parts of the Caribbean and Latin America, and that each of those dances had roots in other places and cultures as well so that what eventually evolved into today's salsa can claim roots in African drumming and dance, French and English country dancing, Spanish flamenco, and the spirit and individual style of the Cuban, Haitian, Dominican and other peoples dancing it.

read moreBelow are the dances we teach. We group them the way you would most commonly use them were you to go out dancing at a venue. For instance if you went out to a local club on a Latin night you would dance Salsa, Bachata, and Merengue all night long. They play Cha-Cha occasionally so that's on the list. Brazilian Zouk (usually abbreviated to Zouk locally), is often tied in with the Latin dance scene, although it's not Latin per se. Same with Kizomba. At a local bar or any place with live music, you're going to be dancing what's on the Swing list, etc. BTW, just because a dance isn't on the list doesn't mean you can't dance it at a selected venue.