Birmingham Balboa Festival 8th & 9th October 2011 – BOOKINGS NOW OPEN!

Birmingham Balboa Festival 2011 with Mel and Jo Calanglang

We’re very excited to announce Birmingham’s first ever weekend swing dance festival. The workshops are aimed at complete beginnersand improvers of Balboa and will be taught by Mel & Jo Calanglang, two of the UK’s finest exponents of this wonderful dance. For more information on Balboa visit our blog post here.

STOP PRESS:

With only a few days to go we’ve had a flurry of bookings from followers meaning there’s an imbalance.

This means we have now put a temporary hold on bookings for SINGLE FOLLOWERS ONLY.  If you are a follower booking without a lead partner your booking will be held on a waiting list.

If you are a follower booking as part of a couple, your booking will be accepted.

Single Leaders – Your followers need you! Book now so that we can even things up and let more followers attend!!

VENUE

The workshops will be held at The MAC in Birmingham in their Foyle Studio.

Address: Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
Map and directions

There is plenty of car parking on site. Alternatively The MAC is served by a number of buses from Birmingham City Centre including 1, 35, 45, 47, 62 and 63.

Ladies (and perhaps some gentlemen!) please note: Stiletto heels are not permitted in the Foyle Studio as they will mark the fantastic floor, regular heeled shoes are fine.

WORKSHOPS

The weekend will consist of eight hours of workshops; four each day.

Doors will open each day at 10.00am in time for a 10.30am prompt start. Lunch will be around 1pm for an hour* with short breaks in the morning and afternoon between classes. The classes will end around 4.00pm-4.30pm.

*Please note lunch will not be provided. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating for packed lunches, alternatively we will arrange for lunches to be pre-ordered at The MAC’s Bridges Cafe Bar.

EVENING DANCE (Entry included in workshop booking fee)

The evening dance will be Hot Ginger’s regular dance at The Loyal Caledonian Corks Club Ballroom, 225 Alcester Road South, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 6DT (10 minute drive from The MAC) which will start at 8.30pm and has a ‘Home Front Hop’ theme. However, this will be Hot Ginger with an extra twist of spice! We’ve booked the fantastic Top Shelf Jazz – Fine Purveyors of Filthy Swing to play a couple of sets throughout the evening. This will be a night to remember!

Check out their wicked licks here:

BOOKING

The weekend costs £40 per person for eight hours of dance classes and includes entry to Hot Ginger’s regular dance night on 8th October.

Bookings can be made through Paypal using the payment button below. You do not need an Paypal account to pay. Payment is totally secure and can be made using debit or credit cards or bank transfer.

If you would prefer to pay by more traditional bank transfer or cheque, or make a group booking, please contact us at: info@hotginger.org

UPDATE: You can now book for the entire weekend or for one day only; Saturday or Sunday. Whilst the entire weekend will be suitable for complete beginners, those beginners booking for one day only are recommended to book for the Saturday as the Sunday will be a continuation of the Saturday’s classes, and will therefore be harder for a complete beginner to join in. Prices for a single day booking are half that of the full weekend and also include entry to the Saturday night dance.

To book, please select your option from the relevant button below:

Bookings – Full Weekend

Bookings – Saturday Only

Bookings – Sunday Only

We look forward to seeing you all in October, if not before!

Share

3 Comments

sbadham, September 1st 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized

NEW! Balboa Classes Throughout August

As well as the Birmingham Balboa Festival in October, we’ve now put all the necessaries in place to be able to offer Balboa classes on every Tuesday evening throughout August.

Stephen and Kerstin will be teaching the basics of Balboa in a series of classes and hope to be able to move beyond the absolute basics that they teach in their free Balboa taster classes.  You’ll be able to learn a few more moves and look into some more detailed parts of this wonderful swing dance.

Classes will take place Upstairs at The Cross in Moseley, Birmingham (our usual venue) and will cost £4, payable on the door, for a 90 minute class.  Classes will begin at 7.30pm on August 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th and are suitable for complete beginners and improvers.

Click here to find out more and Balboa, the swing dance that rocks.

Share

4 Comments

sbadham, July 26th 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized

The Hula look…

It’s the Hot Ginger HAWAIIAN HULA PARTY NIGHT this Saturday and many of you will be wondering what to wear for such a night (we know, because you’ve been asking us).

Well, first of all, you don’t have to dress up. But if you like to…

Ladies, think Hollywood 40s beach wear, South Pacific, naughty nautical, a dash of tropical, flowers in your hair and garlands round your neck.

Guys, this is the one where you get to out-do the girls. Because what guy hasn’t got a bad taste Hawaiian shirt in his wardrobe?

If it’s anything like the last one, it’s going to be VERY HOT as well. See you there!

[ Watch our slide show below, but you might also want to take a look at this photo album over at Hepcats' Holiday from one of their previous Naughty Nautical nights. Lots of ideas in there... http://www.hepcatsholiday.com/page21.html ]


 

Share

No Comments

Andy Conway, July 13th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized

It’s your chance to Shag…

The sharp-eyed of you might have noticed that before this Saturday’s HOT GINGER we’re offering a change from our usual Balboa dance taster class…

Yes, this Saturday we’ve got special guests Dai and Sharon Roland coming all the way from Newport to give us an exciting taster class in COLLEGIATE SHAG.

Carry On jokes aside, this is a very energetic swing dance that emerged on the 1930s college swing dance scene. It’s a lot of fun, and a few of us from Hot Ginger were recently knocked out by some awesome Shag dancers at the recent Hepcats’ Holiday weekender.

The taster will most likely be at a sedate pace just to get you used to the basics. We don’t think it will be quite as full on as the video clips below!

So make sure you take this chance to learn the basic step so you can take it further at your leisure. We’re not sure, but this might well be the first ever Shag class in Birmingham! It’s certainly a very rare chance to have a go at this increasingly popular swing dance.

Get there for 7.30. The class is free and part of your Hot Ginger Hawaiian Hula Party Night ticket.

See you there!

 

Share

No Comments

Andy Conway, July 12th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Latest News!

Hot Ginger’s Hawaiian Hula Party Night – Take Two.

After the disappointment of having to cancel our last event on June 18th, we’re proud to announce that we’re now running our Hawaiian Hula Party Night on Saturday 16th July at The Cross in Moseley, Birmingham!

Click here to download our e-flyer which gives you £1 off the cost of entry.

 

Birmingham Balboa Festival 2011

We’ve also updated the booking options for the Birmingham Balboa Festival 2011.

You can now book for one of the days if you prefer. Tickets for one day will cost £20 per person (half that of the full weekend) and will include entry to Hot Ginger’s evening dance on the Saturday night.

Cheap at twice the price guvnor. Don’t delay, book today! We wouldn’t want anyone to miss out.

For full details click here.

Share

No Comments

sbadham, June 22nd 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized

Birmingham Balboa Festival – 8/9 October 2011

We’re getting really excited about our plans for an awesome event we’re planning for October featuring teachers Mel and Jo Calanglang from London.

Aimed at beginners and improvers the Birmingham Balboa Festival will be Birmingham’s first ever weekend swing dance workshop and will coincide with Hot Ginger’s regular swing dance event on Saturday 8th October.

We’re in the final stages of planning and are firming up our venue and a brilliant live band for the evening dance, but we can tell you that you will get to experience around 8 hours of classes over the weekend from two of the UK’s best Balboa dancers.

We’ll open bookings in May, so save the date!

In the meantime you can check out this video of Mel and Jo Calanglang at a recent event in Leeds.

Share

3 Comments

Andy Conway, April 25th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Bag yourself this Hot Ginger essential!

Yes, it’s our very first bit of Hot Ginger merchandise.

You too can be the proud owner of this deliciously vintage and gorgeously green Hot Ginger shopping bag!

Made from 5oz cotton, it is lightweight, foldable, reusable and biodegradable, and features a lovely Hot Ginger design to make every shopping day a Hot Ginger day.

You can also use it for your dance shoes!

To get your hands on this essential fashion accessory, you can buy one at the next Hot Ginger event for the princely sum of £4.50, or if you can’t wait and need it straight away, just click here now and we’ll send one in the post!


Share

No Comments

Andy Conway, April 14th 2011 | Tags:
Posted in Uncategorized

Learn Balboa in a day with Hot Ginger!

Hot Ginger are excited to announce Birmingham’s first ever one-day Balboa workshop!

Yes, as promised, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to get this exquisite swing dance up and running here in Birmingham, first with our free taster sessions at the last few Hot Ginger nights, and now with a full on one-day workshop.

Taught by Stephen Badham and Kerstin Treder at The Cross in Moseley, Birmingham on Saturday 12th March, the workshop day will coincide with our Prohibition Party.

So why not make a day of it? Learn the moves from 10 – 4pm, go home, take a break, get your Prohibition era costumes on and come back to hit the dance floor at 8pm and swing the night away!

The classes will run from 10am until 4pm with four one-hour classes throughout the day.  Attendees can chose between booking single workshops or all four at once.  To get the biggest benefit from the workshop it is recommended that all four classes are attended as there will be a natural progression throughout the day.  No former experience of Balboa is required.

The classes will consist of:

10.00am – 11.00am: Balboa Basics.  Learn the very basics what Balboa is and learn the steps to Pure Balboa.

11.30am – 12.30pm: Balboa Basics Plus.  Learn more about Pure Balboa and swing music and perfect the different styles of footwork.
Lunch (not provided, but available from The Cross in Moseley. We’ll take orders and pace them with the kitchen so that your food is ready for you)

1.30pm – 2.30pm: Bal Swing Basics.  Learn a simple Bal Swing step.

3.00pm – 4.00pm: Bal Swing Basics Plus.  Perfect your Bal Swing and learn a different Bal Swing move.

Classes will cost £5 each or £16 if all four are booked at once. And you can buy a Workshops + Prohibition Party all-in ticket for only £20! That’s a great saving on a fantastic full-on day of swing dance!*

Bookings can be made by Paypal, our Paypal address is info@hotginger.org.  Alternatively you can send a cheque, please email info@hotginger.org for details.  PLEASE ENSURE YOU INCLUDE THE NAMES OF ATTENDEES WHEN BOOKING.

Cost per person

PLEASE NOTE:  Because of space limitations places are limited to 20 couples.  To ensure even lead/follower numbers we ask that people try to book on as couples, although we will accept bookings from individuals.

All the best!

Stephen, Kerstin and Andy

[ * All attendees will be able to buy a special £4 ticket to the Prohibition Party on the day. ]

Share

No Comments

Andy Conway, February 18th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Hooray for Hollywood!

Well, we rolled out the red carpet for our first big 2011 bash and you really made it the greatest show on earth. There were over fifty of you in the free Balboa dance class early in the evening (run wonderfully by Stephen and Kerstin) and plenty of you were trying out the steps on the dance floor later on.

It turned into a cracking night with over 120 people piling in, dressed to the nines, and the swing swinging all the way till 1 a.m.

A big thank you has to go to our first ever live band, INTENT ON JAZZ, whose two sets had everyone dancing. We’ll definitely have them back to play for you at a future Hot Ginger night, but if you want to book the guys for your own party or event, give Roger a call on 07951 436 720 or email him. Everyone was buzzing about them, so they really put on a great show (and thanks to Lorna for scouting them out!).

A few of you were saying it was the best Hot Ginger ever, so the next nine dates for 2011 have a lot to live up to!

We’ll see you all for our Prohibition Party on 12 March… and stay tuned for news about a Balboa dance workshop on the same day. We’ll give you the details just as soon as we’ve got it all organised…

Share

1 Comment

Andy Conway, February 17th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized

Get your Hot Ginger 2011 year planner!

Yes, it’s here at last, a glorious new flyer listing the entire Hot Ginger itinerary for 2011. So you can put every single swingin’ date in your diary for the entire year and start planning those outfits!

Pete from Digit64 has done another sterling job on the design, this time using photos from previous Hot Ginger nights featuring some of you looking mighty swell.

As you can see, we’re putting on a few favourites from last year, so there will be a Prohibition Party in March and an Hawaiian Hula in June.

We’ve also got a couple of WW2 themed nights with our Blitz Ball in May and the Home Front Hop in October.

And we’re excited about the French swing night in July (anyone who listened to our French Swing Special on the radio will know what that’s all about) and a Weimar Berlin-themed night in September (just think Cabaret!).

Then we’ve got a Spring ball in April, and we close the year with our second birthday party and our Swingin’ Xmas bash.

And the whole thing kicks off on 12 February with our Hollywood Romance Party, featuring live swing by Intent On Jazz – our first ever live band! (there will definitely be more – just check the posters when they come out).

So that’s ten superb swing parties throughout 2011.

Remember that the flyer gets you £1 off the entry fee, so make sure you get one and bring it with you.

It’s available at the usual outlets throughout Moseley and Kings Heath and we’ve got events around the region taking stacks too, so you’ll find it in most swing outlets.

See you at all our parties!

Let’s make it a year to remember.

Share

No Comments

Andy Conway, January 22nd 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »