Overview
Balboa
Balboa is the swing dance that evolved in Southern California while Lindy Hop emerged in Harlem, New York. It is often danced in close embrace (pure-Bal) at fast tempos, but it is also great for dancing to medium tempo Jazz. Bal-Swing is a version of Balboa that is danced in open embrace with turns and flashy moves.
Daytime lessons will focus on Bal-Swing, meaning no close embrace, accessible footwork patterns, and fun expressive shapes. Please have some familiarity with partner dancing, including slows, quicks, turns.
Workshop attendees will be able to apply what they learned in lessons at the evening dance with live music from the Burque Jazz Bandits, who play Django Jazz, which is great for Balboa!
Who?
- Instructors: Emma Underhill & Josh Pritts
- Band: Burque Jazz Bandits
What?
- Daytime swing dance workshop focusing on Bal-Swing
- Evening social dance with live music
$55 full-day pass OR $20 per each lesson, $20 for dance a la carte
Where?
The Paradiso, 903 Early St, Santa Fe, NM 87501
When?
Saturday, May 31st
- 1:00 PM- 4:30 PM, Bal-Swing workshop lessons
- 6:45 PM- 7:30 PM, beginner-friendly lessons
- 7:30 PM-10:00 PM, live music from the Burque Jazz Bandits
Detailed Schedule
Instructors
Emma & Josh
Emma & Josh started teaching Balboa together with the Santa Fe Balboa Club in 2023. They co-founded the Santa Fe Swing Dance Society (SFSDS) in 2024 with Silke & Bandi. They teach regularly at Monday Night Swing and Wednesday Level-Up Lessons, and they are the lead organizers for Breaking Balboa: Swing and Blues Workshop Weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Emma Underhill
With a background in performing arts and various movement practices, Emma draws on her experience in tap dance, figure skating, gymnastics, yoga, music performance and ethnomusicology to inform her swing dancing and teaching. After studying vocal performance with a heavy focus on jazz for most of her adolescence and young adulthood, she fell in love with Balboa for its capacity to express precise rhythmic patterns through footwork and embody nuanced musicality concepts with partners.
Emma teaches regularly, loves to learn and practice new dance styles, and feels that most days are incomplete without at least a little dancing! She organizes weekly classes and seasonal dance workshops here in Santa Fe, frequently attends swing dance festivals out-of-state, and has recently placed in national Pro-Am, Mix & Match, and Fast Foot Balboa competitions. As a teacher, her goal is to help students find joy, confidence, creative expression, and connection to community through movement.
Josh Pritts
Josh started swing dancing as a 2019 new year’s resolution focusing on Lindy Hop and West Coast. He got into Balboa in 2021 before attending Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout and afterwards he encouraged Aaron & Yuliya, who lived in Albuquerque, to bring Balboa classes to Santa Fe and to start the Balboa Racoons performance team. In 2023 before returning to the Land of Enchantment, he regularly attended BalHaus and studied under Tor & Karissa and Jeff & Mimi while living in the San Francisco bay area.
Josh has been passionate about Balboa for years and he regularly attends weekend festivals like: California Balboa Classic, Hot Rhythm Holiday, Bad AZ Balboa, Sendai Balboa Weekend, Balorado, Great Lakes Balboa Escape, Hot Jazz Jamboree, and more. At Hot Jazz Jamboree 2024, he was a finalist in the Open Balboa Mix & Match contest. He likes finding simple ways to teach seemingly complicated things.
Evening Dance with Live Music
We are offering a beginner-friendly 6-count swing dance lesson from 6:45 PM to 7:30 PM. There will be an evening social dance at The Paradiso starting at 7:30 PM with live music from the Burque Jazz Bandits.
Based out of Albuquerque, NM, the Bandits bring fun danceable music inspired by 1920s-40s swing jazz, with toe-tapping rhythms, sizzling instrumentals, and passionate vocals. Formed in the local swing dance community, their shared love of jazz brought the Bandits together. Visit their website for more information.
The Paradiso is one of Santa Fe’s most elegant music lounges and performance spaces, and one of the largest dance floors in town. The offer non-alcoholic drinks and herbal aphrodisiacs and botanicals. For more information, their website.
Santa Fe Swing 