Dancehall

Dancehall is a dance and music style that emerged in Kingston, Jamaica, in the late 1970s, and today is one of the most influential styles on popular dance culture worldwide. The style developed in the dance halls of Kingston's working-class communities, around sound systems, DJs, and dance gatherings that became a central part of Jamaican identity.

What's the Difference Between Hip-Hop and Dancehall?

The main difference is the rhythm. Dancehall is at a much faster tempo and includes reggae within it. Much of what is found in hip-hop originally came from dancehall, simply at a slower pace. Dancehall places emphasis on energy and fun, while hip-hop focuses more on technique.

Dancehall is a type of Caribbean music, usually from Jamaica, based on reggae. You can easily identify a dancehall song by the singer's Jamaican accent. Hip-hop, on the other hand, is accompanied by a different bass beat and an American style, but its roots, interestingly, also come from the Jamaican community: DJ Kool Herc, an immigrant from Kingston, brought the sound-system method and the breakbeat to the Bronx in the 1970s.

Female Dancehall

Female Dancehall is the feminine branch within dancehall culture, emphasizing sensual, soft, and flowing movements alongside power and acrobatics. A class that invites every woman to explore her feminine expression through dance.

Female Dancehall is a branch that grew within Jamaican dancehall culture, offering a movement style with a unique identity: sensual, energetic, strong, and free. It combines wining movements in the waist and pelvis, isolations, jiggling, and sometimes acrobatic tricks, alongside work on feminine expression, self-confidence, and presence.

In dancehall culture, feminine dance is not only a style but also a statement.

What You Learn in Class

We'll learn the classic and popular dancehall steps, including Bogle, Whining, Butterfly, Sticky Wine, Needle Eye, and more, and build rhythmic combinations with them. We'll work on isolations, on releasing the pelvis, chest, and back, on the Jamaican rhythm, and on listening to the body and the inner beat.

Dancehall doesn't require the "perfect execution" of movement academia. It requires presence, energy, and surrender to the rhythm, and everyone finds in it their own movement identity and personal expression.

The class suits anyone who loves to move, regardless of level or prior experience.

Come with sneakers.