Frequently Asked Questions

Shoes are the most important thing to consider when dancing – but clothes are essential!

Dancing requires any shoe with a smooth sole that will stay on your foot when raising your heel. Girls: a court shoe with a heel is suitable, Guys: a brogue for you. Flip flops, mules or sandals are not advisable. Your shoes also need a smooth sole, like leather, to be able to turn and glide across the floor like Fred and Ginger! Trainers or rubber-soled shoes will stick to the floor and damage your knees in the long run.

As for clothes, wear anything comfortable that allows freedom of movement. Within Tracie’s Latin Club, the classes are quite smart-casual – some people wear jeans and others glam it up. So it’s entirely what you feel most comfortable in.

If you have a partner fantastic, but for those who don’t, we cater for solo dancers in all our dance classes and we have loads of fun while dancing together.

Our normal classes are for those aged over 18 years and there is no upper age limit …. if you can walk you can dance, it’s as simple as that. If you have children who are interested in learning, then please do contact us – as it is something we would love to provide.

TLC encourages a warm and friendly dance scene and we have a broad spectrum of people, so take a chance and enjoy the dance!

All dance courses for beginners have to be booked in advance as we have limited spaces. For more experienced dancers you can book in advance to obtain the discount, or pay the full price on the door – preferably by card but we do take cash

Yes indeed we do!

All of our classes for Absolute Beginners cater for people with no previous dance experience – where we assume you know absolutely nothing!

Our dance classes are all designed to guide you towards having confidence on the dance floor, and we will literally take you step by step in that process. We are renowned for our warm and friendly vibe and giving you lots of TLC! So take the chance and dance – it’s a Total Life Changer!

To decide between Bachata, Ballroom, Salsa, Argentine Tango & Latin, depends on your own character and musical preference. Many of our dancers dance more than one style so you don’t have to restrict yourself to one!

All forms of dance can be a long-term, life changing and addictive experience! So here’s a little clip of our dance club in action at West Quay, demonstrating all genres. You could always book a course in each style and then decide from there – just a thought!

In general, as people learn at different rates, there is no fixed rule for how long you should attend a particular level, so your teacher will advise you when you are ready to progress. For most people, our Level 1 courses for Absolute Beginners will prepare you to progress to Level 2 at the end of the course (although Ballroom & Latin courses are different because of changing to a different style). If you feel you would like more time at a particular level you are welcome to repeat a course or to remain at any level for as long as you would like.

Some people are keen to progress quickly and learn as many new moves as possible! It is fantastic to be that enthusiastic, but do remember to ensure that you learn to lead and follow moves well before progressing to harder moves. Tracie always says that it is the quality of moves you learn rather than the quantity, and this will really set you apart from the rest. Keeping the rhythm, focussing on lead/follow technique and respecting each other’s ability and balance will make you the King or Queen on the dance floor!

Practise, practise, practise!  As with most things in life, the more you practise, the more you will improve! Attending more than once a week will really help you retain the moves and you will feel more comfortable when it comes to social dancing after the lessons have finished – which is the real test whether you can lead or follow, especially when dancing with a partner who has not done the same class as you.

The Classes pages gives the structure of progression for each style of dance.

Most of our dancers are addicted because they love to dance in a friendly environment, where they get lots of ‘TLC’ and huge helpings of fun and laughter – this is GUARANTEED! Our teachers take pride in their teaching with the aim of getting everyone to dance – so come along and join us.

Strictly no! (Apart from the adhoc fancy dress competition!)

We believe that medal examinations and competitions would encourage dancers to follow a more choreographed set of moves, rather than dance with improvisation and spontaneity with the music. Although we teach routines in our classes, we encourage the leaders to put individual moves into their dance at any point in time, therefore no two dances will ever be the same. This makes the dance very dynamic, improvised, energised and lots of fun!

We only close for Christmas (for 2 or 3 weeks, depending on how the calendar falls) and for Monday Bank Holidays, so you can enjoy your classes all year round!

The studio can be hired out for dance classes, rehearsals, events, yoga, drama or music/concerts etc.

Unfortunately, it is not available to hire for private parties/weddings.

Please see the Venue Hire page for more information.

Weekly salsa classes are run by Salsa Southampton. Their main classes are Cross-Body style, but they do offer classes in various other genres of salsa, including On2. Please see their website for details.c

Our social party Salsa Caliente classes are Cross Body style, however when the DJ starts to play, our dancers will be dancing all styles of Salsa, Cuban, Mambo on2, Son etc
We also host some Cuban parties by other promoters, who may offer Cuban classes – please see individual event details.

Olga runs Cuban Rueda classes on Saturdays in Hedge End.

The onsite car park is for ladies only please (see pink area on map below). Additional parking has been arranged by Tracie opposite the venue in Kwik Fit and Simply Bathrooms.   We are only allowed to park round the corner in Indigo Print car park in Cambridge Road on Friday or Saturday nights when they do not have a night shift working at their printing factory.

Please note that the stone wall in the Kwik Fit car park, beside the pavement, is reserved for the Bed company and we cannot use this area.

Parking on the roads is for 2 hours at any time.

With very little parking available, please park next to each other in line and sensibly so that we can all maximise the space.

Yes!  Tracie teaches Ballroom and all things Latin for The Joy Club every Thursday 11am – midday and we have so much fun.  Every class caters for those with absolutely no dance experience as well as those with more experience.  There are always easy and more challenging options in the routines to suit every level. Anyone can join the club if they are retired, or semi-retired and live in the UK.

If you wanted to join Tracie, you can either join the Joy Club for FREE and pay £5 for each Thursday session, OR there’s a FREE month trial for the Premium membership giving you unlimited access to all their classes, including Tracie’s class, every Thursday.  Should you wish to continue it’s only £5 per month & you can cancel anytime.

Full details and joining instructions are here

The list of dances we cover is quite extensive: Waltz / Rumba / Cha Cha / Swing Jive / Ballroom Tango / Viennese Waltz / Salsa / Charleston / Burlesque / Paso Doble / Kizomba / Samba / Bachata Tango

Don’t worry if you haven’t got a slippery ‘dance’ floor, as Tracie choreographs all her routines for people on carpet, but if you do have lino/laminate flooring that will be a bonus.
Do join us – we have a  FAB.U.LOUS  time.

We know that Zoom isn’t everyone’s favourite, and we would all prefer to learn in-person at the studio, however we have listed a few top tips when using Zoom, to give you the best experience possible.   Click here for these instructions