Dancing for grown ups

I started this blog for friends looking for adult classes in Singapore. You can see my posts on dancing for grown ups here. There are now studios in just about every shopping mall in Singapore, and an amazing explosion of hip hop, cultural dance forms, social dance, erotic dance, body work and whatever else you can name.  I have given up trying to capture it all.  This is a list of people and groups I know do some great dancing!

Ballet and Contemporary:

Attitude Performing Arts
Ballet, Pilates, Fitness for the young and young at heart founded by Donato Ferrer.

Alaine's contemp dance classes

Contemp classes at Dance on Us by Alaine Handa from New York

Cheng Ballet
Ballet classes by ex-SDT dancers Cheng Hsienfa and Tan Yaling.

City Ballet Academy
Ballet courses by another ex-SDT posse headed by principals Xia Hai Ying and Jacek Bres.

Dance on Us
A studio space at Claymore with a variety of classes by independent teachers, from ballet to belly.

Dance Arts Singapore
One of the oldest multi-disciplinary schools in Singapore. Offerings in Ballet, Jazz, Hip hop, Salsa, Yoga and Pilates

Danz People
A street dance studio that also offers classes in jazz and contemporary.

Five Lines
Classes for teens and adults by Ezekiel Oliveira.

Maya Dance Theatre
Masterclasses organised by Maya Dance Theatre.

Open and Master Classes at Frontier Danceland
Classes taught by company artists.

Moving Arts
School by dancers Wong Wai Yee, Ricky Sim, guest faculty. For children and adults in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance.

O School
Street dance at *scape Orchard.

Singapore Dance Theatre
Adult classes in ballet and pilates by SDT company members.

Open Class at T.H.E Dance Company

Open classes taught by company members. Web details here a bit patchy but email their admin for full schedule. Professionals can enquire about the second company programme.


Improvisation:

Contact Improvisation - Singapore Community
Contact Improv Southeast Asia - Contact improvisation connections and events around the region
Dance Improvisations Singapore

Professional Contemporary Dance Companies in Singapore

The Arts Fission Company
CHOWK
Dance Nucleus
Frontier Danceland

The Kaizen MD
The Human Expressions Company (T.H.E Dance Company)
Maya Dance Theatre

Odyssey Dance Theatre
P71SMA
Raw Moves 
Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre
Soul Signature

Strangeweather Movement
Singapore Interdependent Dance


Professional Dance Training 

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Lasalle

School of the Arts



 


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi!
Do you know of any tap classes for adults in Singapore? Tks - Jo

sze said...

Hi Jo! I've never taken tap classes myself but I see that there's some adult tap at Dance Arts.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jo,

I understand Stepping Out Studios in City Square Mall have adults tap classes.

Unknown said...

Hi Sze,
I recently moved here and currently looking for dancing classes during daytime, as I don't start University until July.

I'm looking for any kind of jazz or modern dance, and am about to go nuts as everything I find online is offered in the evenings.

Are you able to please give me some advice?
Thank you / Jennie

sama said...

Thanks so much, this is very helpful! Moving to Singapore soon and this will save me weeks searching :)

sze said...

Hi Jennie, I'm not so updated because I"m not in Singapore right now. But you could enquire at Dance on Us, Jitterbugs, some of the gyms, or about the professional classes at some of the dance companies like Frontier. Dance class timings do tend to be skewed though because of the working adult clientele and the fact that most professionals are teaching in primary and secondary schools in the daytime. Good luck!

Unknown said...

Hi Sze
I would like to take a fun dance class - i love dancing socially but have never been trained or taken a class. was thinking about something like street dance. What would you suggest? Like you said there are so many dance studios - its hard to decide what to take and with whom.
Thanks

sze said...

Hi Shilpi! For a start, it's good to be clear about some things that you're interested in - for example it sounds like you're looking for a style where you learn dance combinations to be done solo to music, as opposed to partnered dances or improvisation. And perhaps not something as formal as ballet, contemporary or flamenco (random examples!)? Just as you said, street dance covers many things and there are so many studios and styles and teachers.I haven't done much street dance in Singapore for a while myself, but if I was looking to try out a new class or style I might do some youtube surfing and find out what I like - looks like some common styles being taught in Singapore studios at the moment are hip hop, kpop, street jazz, lyrical jazz, bollywood... (Some of my friends figured out which popular styles they were interested in from watching So You Think You Can Dance!) Once you've found a studio that lists a class of that style, I think the most important part is a teacher that will suit you. There's often videos on their website of classes or dance combinations given by that teacher to give you an idea of what to expect. Or you can check the teacher's name on youtube! I'd look out for teachers who are approachable and fun, but also pay attention to basic safety and alignment. Most studios will offer trial class offers or walk-in prices where you can try one class before you decide whether you want to commit to more.

Good luck, and enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sze! Thank you for writing this post, it's been really helpful (: Just wondering if you could recommend any good Russian ballet studios here in Singapore? I'm an adult looking to start beginner classes, and I've checked out the websites of a few schools here but still not sure which is best. Although I'm just starting out, I do hope to do this quite seriously so I'd be looking for a school with good teachers that can give good training (: Thanks and I'm looking forward to your advice!

sze said...

Hi! I'm afraid I haven't taken any of these classes myself for a long time! The best advice I can offer is to go and either watch or try classes and see which teacher suits you best - each of us has a different learning style! From those classes I've listed, Elena/Little Dance Academy and Mei Yi/Russian Ballet both have strong backgrounds, while Kin Wee/Ballet51 incorporates Vaganova.

Unknown said...

Hi Sze!
My friend and I wants to take hip hop classes. She lives at Bedok while I live at Buona Vista. Can you recommend us some classes? We can either take together somewhere in between like Bugis or separately near our own places. Thank you !

sze said...

Hi Ying Yue, I'm afraid I'm not so clued in on hip hop classes these days. You can check out some of the studios I've listed, or just take a quick google for adult hip hop classes. There are studios all over Singapore these days!

Anonymous said...

Most of the studios offering 'beginner' classes for a particular dance style basically means they'll just be teaching choreography. This is of no help for people like me who has no background in dancing and someone who CANNOT dance at all. I want to learn how to dance so maybe there is a studio/ school out there that can help teach the basics first, techniques, how to move etc before going into an elaborate choreography? Help please, maybe you can suggest a place?

sze said...

Back to basics! Yes that's so important and few amateur studio dancers have the patience for it. For what you're interested in, I'd opt for an instructor with a formal training background (e.g. conservatory-style training like NAFA, Lasalle, SOTA or overseas) in contemporary dance, ballet or jazz. There's actually a lot of us around who are obsessed with technique! I haven't been in those classes myself for a long time and there are definitely many more of them, but I know for a start that beginner contemporary classes with Lee Mun Wai, Raw Moves and T.H.E Dance Company will have that emphasis incorporated in the combinations/choreography.

If you're interested in the foundations of improvised movement, there are monthly Sunday classes with the Contact Improvisation community - see Facebook group link above.

Alaine said...

There's a tap class by an awesome teacher on Thursday evenings at Dance On Us studios. Her name is Alicia Loo and you can contact Dance On Us to get her info!
After that class there's a tap group that jams together for about an hour starting around 8 (int/adv)