Kyiv offers plenty of opportunities to learn all kinds of dance, from basic-level Latin rumba and American swing to contemporary dancing. Some studios develop classical styles, inviting slow waltz and passionate tango. Others open their halls as dance houses.
Release Dance Complex
5 Kruhlouniversytetska St.
Price: Hr 1,200 for an unlimited month pass
Release Dance school counts six studios under one roof in the city center.
Two of them were launched by the judges of “Everybody Dances,” a Ukrainian version of TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.” Vlad Yama hosts the ballroom dancing studio and British choreographer Sisco Gomez hoes the hip-hop studio. But the celebrity coaches give only private lessons.
Hip-hop, contemporary, oriental dancing and rhythmic gymnastics are the most popular styles, especially among children, who are the school’s main target audience.
Some 85 percent of students are children under 14. But the school offers classes for adults too.
Arthur Murray Dance Studio
10 Liuteranska St.
Price: Hr 300 for a trial lesson
A local branch of the international dance school chain with 280 studios, Arthur Murray opened in 2011 in Kyiv. It was created in 1912 in the U.S. by dance instructor Arthur Murray, a Ukrainian Jew by origin.
Murray simplified an approach to learning, making ballroom dancing more social, according to the Kyiv studio director Olga Struk.
“At the beginning, the main goal is to make them able to survive on the dancing floor at a party,” she says.
The school offers many classes for partner dances, including waltz, foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha-cha, tango, samba, swing, salsa, bachata, merengue, Argentine tango, bolero, and hustle.
Murray’s students range in age from 14 to 60 years. Those without dancing partners can come and learn with the school coaches as partners.
Kyiv Swing Dance Club
4A Klovskiy Uzviz St.
Price: Hr 400 for eight lessons
The jazz-and-swing atmosphere of the American 1920s – 1940s era is found in the Kyiv Swing Dance Club. The school teaches partner dances boogie-woogie, Lindy hop, Balboa and acrobatic. It also hosts various dancing workshops and outdoor parties to practice the skills.
The club has three dance halls. Learning begins from the very basic level. But swing is an exhausting dance, so be prepared to sweat.
Students are required to wear comfortable flat shoes or sneakers, and any casual clothing. For women, tutors kindly ask to bring a partner; most of the students are women.
Belly dance at Shelkoviy Put
19 Desnianska St.
Price: Hr 430 – 450 for eight lessons
Those who want to dance like in a sultan’s harem or a Bollywood movie should try oriental dancing, commonly known as belly dance.
Dance school Shelkoviy Put (Silk Road) offers classes in Arabian folk and Indian dancing, classical belly dance and sacred dance.
The school’s art director Kseniya Suslova says that classical Indian dance Odissi is gaining popularity and sneaking the first place from the belly dance, which used to be the students’ favorite.
The best wear is leggings or other slim pants that show one’s legs, flat sports shoes or just socks, and a short top that leaves the belly open.
Dance Center MyWay
3 Oleksandra Dovzhenka St.
Price: Hr 395 – 635 for eight lessons
MyWay offers 45 dance styles. It teaches everything from twerking to Latin social salsa. But the main focus is hip-hop, krump and underground dances.
MyWay offers a summer camp with intensive training and a school for kids. The students are encouraged to be competitive.
“It is important that students don’t just learn choreography in evening classes, but also participate in the dance battles,” the school’s CEO Anhelina Kovtun says.
See the Kyiv Post’s interactive map below.
