Spring-Summer dancing at a glance

5th April Social dancing / Practice session, Lewes

12th April Youth Dance Show, Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead

17th April Entertaining the Senior Citizens at Milton Grange, Eastbourne

17th April Fitsteps Launch, Lewes

24th April Ballroom & Latin Beginners Class and Social dancing, The Inn on the Park, Golden Cross

27th April ISTD Medal Tests, Patcham

3rd May Danehill/West Hoathly Adult Improvers Class - Summer Term commences

5th May Bank Holiday, although Ballet classes will run as normal

11th May ISTD Ballroom dancing Competition, Brighton & Hove

17th May Dress Rehearsals for School Show

8th June ISTD Ballroom dancing Competition for kids, Brighton & Hove

28th June Cologne dance festival

21st June ARBTA Dancing Exams, Patcham

5th July School Show at Michael Hall Theatre

"First Dance" : Wedding dance lessons with your local dance school!

If you're getting married this year, why not surprise your guests by learning to dance for the wedding? Charleston, Jive, Salsa, Swing, Disco... you name it, we can help you create a "First Dance" that you'll remember forever.

At East Sussex Dance we've taught those with "two left feet" as well as ex-professional dancers so rest assured that whatever your previous experience, we can get you dancing on your big day.

It doesn't just have to be the Bride and Groom either; Mother and Father of the Bride, Best Man and Bridesmaids could learn with you, and we can even organise a WEDDING FLASH MOB!

Our professional dance teachers work tirelessly to ensure that your dance is unique, taking into account your musical tastes, previous experience (if any!) and any other special requests from you.

When and Where are the Dance Lessons?

Our dance teachers operate mainly at our centres in Brighton, Lewes and Danehill but we can also provide lessons in other venues across East Sussex.

If space allows, we can even provide dancing lessons in your own home.

Wedding dance lessons can be booked at a time to suit you; our dance teachers are available to teach during the day, in the evening and at weekends so we can always find a mutually convenient time.

How Much Does it Cost?

Private lessons start at £24 for 45 minutes, and discounts are available when you buy a block of lessons.

The number of lessons required really depends on how ambitious your dance is, combined with how much time you're able to put aside for practice at home. Some couples find that 3 or 4 lessons is enough, whereas others like to book a block of 10 lessons.

Did you know... you can now buy ESD Gift Vouchers?! A private lesson with one of our professional coaches makes the perfect engagement present and an original gift for anniversaries and birthdays.

"Alex is a fantastic teacher! She choreographed an amazing routine for our wedding dance and taught us it at a pace we were very comfortable with!  It all paid off on the big day!" - James & Rachael

"I had a plan from a very young age of my first wedding dance and that was Dirty Dancing “Time of my Life”, unfortunately my husband didn’t have the same ideas as me and actually could not think of anything worse!!! I went to Alex and Marcus at East Sussex Dance and they solved the problem!! Marcus was my dance partner and performed my dream dance with me on the evening of the wedding wearing a mask of my husband!! It was an amazing experience, I could not dance at all and had regular secret lessons at East Sussex Dance and they taught me in a way that was fun and I really enjoyed myself! The dance was spot on to the original (Apart from the lift in which I needed 4 men to carry me!!). My guests loved it and most of all it made my wedding day! They are amazing and I would recommend them to any one looking for an amazing first dance at their wedding." - Steph (married 2013)

"We’d just like to say that we both really enjoyed the lessons with Marcus and found him friendly, encouraging, enthusiastic and patient. We loved the routine he planned for us – the song choice was not easy to choreograph a routine to as it was a little obscure, but Marcus managed to put something together that included it, plus made other suggestions so that we ended up with two songs and lots of dance styles – something we never would have been able to do without his expert help. A huge thank you for helping to make our wedding special for us and a little different." Susannah and Alex, 2013

East Sussex Dance is a dance school based in Brighton and Lewes. We offer dance classes and private lessons across the county of East Sussex. 

Follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and YouTube or visit www.eastsussexdance.com for more information about our services.

March Update : Ballroom and Jive dancing events

The Story of Glenn Miller

On Sunday 2nd March, Marcus and Alex were accompanied by Peter (student at our Lewes dance classes) and Chloe (student at our Brighton dance classes) to the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing to perform as guest dancers for The Story of Glenn Miller.

In the dressing rooms

The theatre was an impressive venue with traditional decor, and was a nice warm haven compared to the howling wind outside! Once the band had warmed up we were then ready for a quick rehearsal on stage before finding our dressing rooms.

First on were Alex and Peter dancing the Quick Rhythm to "American Patrol". They even threw in a few Charleston and Lindy hop moves to showcase some of the major dance styles from the early 20th Century.

In the second half were Chloe and Marcus, dancing to "A String of Pearls". The choreoraphy started with American Smooth Foxtrot, going into the Ballroom Jive, which complimented the Big Band sound really well.

Finally Marcus and Alex performed a professional, high energy Jive routine to "People like you and Me" which only seemed to get faster as it went on!

The live band were amazing and seemed to give our dancing a real boost; no recorded track or digital media could beat it. A big Thank you to the Astor Big Band for inviting us - we look forward to dancing with you again!

The Team - about to go on!

Sussex "Got To Dance"

The very next day, Marcus was Jiving again at the Sussex "Got to Dance" competition with Jo Dearden, ESD student and president of the Ballroom and Latin dance society at the University of Sussex.

The variety and quality of the dance acts was amazing. There were great contemporary and street dance groups, super cool swing and salsa dance groups, some truly amazing break dancers and, something I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing, the Asian dance styles whose music and dancing we could have listened to and watched all day.

Because of the high standard of competitors, we went on with the attitude that we may only dance this once and after the speed, energy and attack we threw into the jive I admit I was glad we didn't have to muster a repeat performance!

In fact, it was so high energy that one of our students from the university dance class came up to me at the end and said ‘I hope our jive doesn’t get as fast as that!’

In all, it has been a very successful week showcasing our dancers' talent at East Sussex Dance and we only have a week before our next performance at the "Sussex Live" show on Friday 14th March.

Then its back to teaching our weekly dance classes until April when we have another show to do at Chequer Mead on 12th April, entertaining Senior Citizens on 17th April as well as school medal tests on 27th April. Phew!

None of these events would be possible without the talent of the wonderful students at East Sussex Dance.

You can view all 3 dance performances at the Glenn Miller show as well as the high energy jive from Sussex Got to Dance on our YouTube page.

Visit www.eastsussexdance.com for more news about our toddler, childrens, teenagers and adult dance classes, competitions, exams and shows across Brighton, Lewes and East Sussex and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook