Ooh la la Dance Studio, Melbourne - Learn Professional Dance

The dances that make up the list of Dancesport are performed competitively at amateur and professional levels throughout the world. The name Dancesport was invented to help competitive ballroom dancing gain Olympic recognition. Ten international style ballroom dances – five Standard (Waltz, Quickstep, Tango, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz) and five Latin (Rumba, Samba, Cha-Cha, Jive, Paso Doble) are defined by the World Dance Council (WDC).

The WDC has world-wide membership of all countries taking part in ballroom competitions. It incorporates various groupings and former titles, such as the International Dancesport Federation (IDSF), and the World Dance and Dancesport Council. The WDC is the governing body for all international amateur and professional Dancesport. The physical demand of Dancesport has been the subject of scientific research.

This style of dance usually focuses on strong technique, posture and muscle tone. You can learn this genre as a social skill or be more serious and take up exams or even take up dancesport competitively.

Street Latin

Street Latin has it's origins in Latin America with influences from the Caribbean islands. Dances include Salsa, Mambo, Merengue, Bachata, Lambada all danced to sexy Latino music. The Street Latin dances are all about dips and hips and are designed to be danced on nightclub dance floors. They have a great relaxed style so you can get out on the dance floor and enjoy the music. And for a challenge there is always Argentine Tango that is very powerful with strong partnership involved.

One of the most popular styles of Street Latin dance is Salsa, there are many different styles of salsa that are taught across the world and it is an ever changing style. Originating in Cuba, there are now styles that include Cuban Salsa, Puerto Rican Salsa, LA Salsa and many more. Salsa is typically danced with a partner and has a much more relaxed dance position. The music is contagious and encourages you to move your whole body as you dance.

Merengue comes from the Dominican Republic and has a very easy two beat rhythm. It is danced in a close dance position and is ideal for crowded nightclub floors. The steps are danced on the spot or circling your partner and the music is the fastest of all the Latin dances. It a great dance for learning how to really get those hips moving.

The New Vogue dance style is an Australian form of sequence dancing that originated in the 1930s. Since then it has become an important part in the Australian ballroom scene, holding as much importance in social and competition dancing as Latin or International Standard dances.

There are a large number of New Vogue dances, although only handfuls are common. All New Vogue dances are based on a sequence of dance steps which are continually repeated, usually until the music ends. Due to the nature of the dances they are much easier to pick up by beginners.

New Vogue dances can be danced at different levels, with higher levels requiring more precise steps and the addition of arm and torso movements, in a nutshell making the dances easy to pick up but hard to master. New Vogue Dances are based on one of several sub categories, including Viennese Waltz Rhythm, Slow Foxtrot Rhythm, March Rhythm and Tango Rhythm.

Your Bridal Dance should be romantic and memorable celebrating your first dance as husband and wife. Traditionally most couples danced a Waltz, but as music has changed more and more couples are dancing lovely romantic Rumbas and sexy Salsas. Your wedding dance can be any dance you would like it be, to any music that you would like to use.

Your wedding dance is all about you, our instructors will cater to your needs. Many bridal parties will also learn to dance before a wedding and quite often the father of the bride will also have a dance choreographed with his daughter. We can even do entrance dances that have become popular through YouTube!

Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Prior to the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance? modern jazz dance emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance. Every individual style of jazz dance has roots traceable to one of these two distinct origins.

Jazz dancers often wear leather Jazz shoes to help them move smoothly when executing turns (e.g. pirouette ). Prior to dancing, dancers typically perform exercises in order to warm up and stretch muscles so as to prevent injuries. In addition, core strengthening exercises are often used for conditioning.

Modern Jazz dance is frequently influenced by other dance styles such as acro , ballet , contemporary , lyrical , and hip-hop . In turn, many other dance styles are influenced by Jazz dance. As in most forms of dance, technique is the foundation for all modern Jazz dance movement. In particular, Jazz dancers benefit from a sound working knowledge of ballet technique and, consequently, Jazz dance curriculum commonly includes ballet training.

Modern jazz dance encompasses various techniques, including:

Center control : the body's center is the focal point from which all movement emanates, thus making it possible to maintain balance while executing powerful movements.

Spotting : this enables dancers to maintain balance and control while executing turns such as Pirouettes, by reducing the dizzying effect of repeated rotating.

Modern Jazz dance use s most of the latest music for choreography and is seen in all current music videos. T his style of dance is very versatile and is subdivided into Lyrical Jazz, Broadway Jazz, Jazz Ballet and Jazz Funk.

Hip-hop dance refers to social or choreographed dance styles primarily danced to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. This includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking, and popping which were developed in the 1970s by Black and Latino Americans.

What separates hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dancers frequently engage in battles—formal or informal freestyle dance competitions. Informal freestyle sessions and battles are usually performed in a cipher, a circular dance space that forms naturally once the dancing begins. These three elements—freestyling, battles, and ciphers—are key components of hip-hop dance.

Parallel with the evolution of hip-hop music, hip-hop dancing evolved from breaking and the funk styles into different forms: moves such as the "running man" and the "cabbage patch" hit the mainstream and became fad dances. The dance industry in particular responded with studio/commercial hip-hop, sometimes called new style or LA style and jazz funk.

These styles were developed by technically trained dancers who wanted to create choreography for hip-hop music from the hip-hop dances they saw being performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is now practiced at both studios and outside spaces.

In contemporary dance classes, students learn to use their bodies in a variety of ways, and they focus on breathing, posture, and emotional state to establish a mind-body connection. Students may learn choreographed works, or they may be encouraged to improvise dance pieces. A contemporary dance composition may take the from of a personal narrative, an allegory, a commentary on society, or an integration of cultures, and it can feature a wide variety of dance techniques, reflecting the melting pot nature of contemporary dance.

Pioneers of contemporary dance include Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, Francois Delsarte, Emilie Jaques-Dalcroze, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Rudolph von Laban, Loie Fuller, Jose Limon and Marie Rambert. Dance techniques and movement philosophies employed in contemporary dance include: Contemporary ballet, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Contact Improvisation, Dance Improvisation, Feldenkrais method, Hawkins technique, Horton Technique, Humphrey-Weidman technique, Graham technique, Corporeal mime - Etienne Decroux technique, Pilates, Release Technique and Yoga.

Ballet is a formalised type of performance dance, which originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France, England and Russia as a concert dance form.

The early performances preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with most of the audience seated on tiers or galleries on three sides of the dancing floor. It has since become a highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary.

It is primarily performed with the accompaniment of classical music. It has been influential as a form of dance globally and is taught in ballet schools around the world, which use their own cultures and societies to inform the art. Ballet dance works (ballets) are choreographed and performed by trained artists, include mime and acting, and are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally vocal). It is a poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many other dance styles.

This type of dancing is very hard to achieve and takes much practice to master. It is best known in the form of Late Romantic Ballet Blanc, which preoccupies itself with the female dancer to the exclusion of almost all else, focusing on pointe work, flowing, precise acrobatic movements, and often presenting the dancers in the conventional short white French tutu. Later developments include expressionist ballet, Neoclassical ballet, and elements of Modern dance.

Bollywood dancing is a commercial name for modern Indian dancing. It's a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dancing such as Bhangra and sometimes has a Latino and Arabic influence or a Jazz/Hip-Hop influence. Bollywood has become very popular through the success of the Bollywood film industry and is a regular feature on So You think You Can Dance.

It's fun and very expressive and there's a lot of deep meaning behind the music in the films. You can actually express what the music means through the graceful movements of the body. There are also a lot of hand and head movements that are really good for coordination. Bollywood music is fast and fun so you smile while you get fit.

Belly dance is a Western-coined name for a traditional Middle Eastern dance, especially raqs sharq. It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli

The term "Belly dance" is a misnomer as all parts of the body are involved in the dance; the most featured body part in raqs sharqi being the hips. Belly dance takes many different forms depending on country and region, both in costume and dance style, and new styles have been invented in the West as its popularity has spread globally.

• Raqs sharqi is the style more familiar to Westerners, performed in restaurants and cabarets around the world. It is more commonly performed by female dancers but is also sometimes danced by men. It is a solo improvisational dance, although students often perform choreographed dances in a group.

• Raqs baladi is the folkloric style, danced socially by men and women of all ages in some Middle Eastern countries, usually at festive occasions such as weddings.

Perfect for dancing to live music and on small dance floors, Rock and Roll has been popular since the fifties with it's origins in Swing dancing from the forties. Rock and Roll can be danced to any fifties music as well as Rockabilly and lots of contemporary rock. There are three rhythms with Si ng le rhythm being the most popular. Men love this dance because they get to spin their partner all around the dance floor.

Also becoming popular is the West Coast Swing. Seen on US So You think You Can Dance and also on Dancing w ith the Stars, this dance is all about looking cool with lots of styling and rhythm changes. It can be danced to Blues or Country and is really a dance you can make your own.