*A Swing Toronto Production
Cross-Step Waltz Beginner Workshop
Sunday, January 12, 6:30pm – 9:10pm
Saturday Afternoon Waltz & Beginner Classes
Saturday, January 18, 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Viennese Waltz (Right-turning) Beginner Workshop
Saturday, January 25, 1:30pm – 4:10pm
Saturday Night Waltz & Beginner Classes
Saturday, February 1, 6:15pm – 10:20pm
Viennese Waltz (Left-turning) Beginner Workshop
Sunday, February 2, 6:30pm – 9:10pm
Saturday Afternoon Waltz & Beginner Classes
Saturday, March 15, 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Vaccination proof is no longer required. Masks optional.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No prior experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
Cross-step Waltz is the favourite Waltz style of many people. It is usually done to slower tempos than Viennese Waltz. Cross-step Waltz and traditional Viennese Waltz are our two favourite forms of Waltz.
You will learn the turning basic of Cross-step Waltz, which is the center of the dance. Plus quite a bit more.
We strongly encourage everyone to take this workshop more than once, to learn better, for practice and for fun. When you take it the second time it is just $15.
VENUE
Studio
Use Bloor St. entrance towards west side of building.
Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts
427 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7
SCHEDULE
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Workshop
6:30pm – 9:10pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular
$45
Full-time students with ID
$30
$15
You took this wkshp with us before
Pay at the door. Cash only.
$10
At the door for those who took the October/November seven week Viennese Waltz beginner course with us.
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No prior experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
TEACHERS
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
Use Bloor St. entrance towards west side of building
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Cross-step Waltz Beginner Lesson
2:00pm – 2:40pm
Viennese Waltz Beginner Lesson
2:40pm – 4:00pm
Dance Party (Music by DJ Simon)
4:15pm – 6:00pm
DETAILS
Come to the January Edition of our monthly Waltz Dance & Beginner Classes!
Learn Cross-step Waltz, the favourite Waltz style of many people, usually done to slower tempos, easy-to-learn.
Learn Traditional Viennese Waltz, easy-to-learn, popular since the early 19th century, done at all tempos from fast to slow, and perhaps the most romantic partner dance of all. This class has a different theme each time.
Come to Saturday Night Swing afterwards at the same venue.
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST INCLUDED.
Mother’s Day Special: Any Mom and their family can come to the lessons and dance for the price of two admissions to the lessons and dance!
$25
Regular Admission
$20
Full-Time Students with ID
$10
Dance only, 4:15pm to 6:10pm, pay at the door
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No prior experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
TEACHERS
DETAILS
Learn the Right Turning basic of traditional Viennese Waltz (rotating to your right as you travel with a partner)! Plus promenade, follower-backing, follower turns and more.
Traditional Viennese Waltz is easy-to-learn, fun, improvisational and playful. And maybe the most romantic partner dance of all. Popular since the early 19th century, it is done all around the world to medium, fast and slower tempos, to great music of the 21st, 20th and 19th centuries. In this workshop we will do classic and graceful 19th century Viennese Right Turning Rotary Waltz.
The Right Turning Basic, and the Left Turning Basic, are the central part of Viennese Waltz. We often do both in the same song. We will offer a Viennese Left Turning Beginner Workshop after January.
We strongly encourage everyone to take this workshop at least twice, to help you more thoroughly learn the Right Turning Basic, to brush up and to practice. It is just $15 once you’ve taken it with us once.
In the Viennese Waltz lessons before the Monthly Waltz Dance, we teach other things, complementing what we teach in the Viennese Waltz Right and Left Turning workshops.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Workshop
1:30pm – 4:10pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular Admission
$45
Full-time students with ID
$30
$15
You took this wkshp with us before. Pay at the door.
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
TEACHERS
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
Use Bloor St. entrance towards west side of building
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Cross-step Waltz Beginner Lesson
6:15pm – 7:00pm
Viennese Waltz Beginner Lesson
7:00pm – 8:20pm
Dance Party
8:30pm – 10:20pm
Come to Saturday Night Waltz, the February Edition of the monthly Waltz Dance!
Learn Cross-step Waltz, the favourite Waltz style of many people, usually done to slower tempos, easy-to-learn.
Learn Traditional Viennese Waltz, easy-to-learn, popular since the early 19th century, done at all tempos from fast to slow, and perhaps the most romantic partner dance of all. This class has a different theme each time.
Stay for the Dance!
DJ Simon Threlkeld
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST INCLUDED.
Mother’s Day Special: Any Mom and their family can come to the lessons and dance for the price of two admissions to the lessons and dance!
$25
Regular Admission
$20
Full-Time Students with ID
$10
Dance only, 4:15pm to 6:10pm
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
TEACHERS
Learn some of the best and most fun dancing ever!
Learn the Left Turning basic of traditional Viennese Waltz (rotating to your left as you travel with a partner)! Plus promenade, follower-backing, follower turns, transitions between right and left turning, and more.
The Right Turning Basic, and the Left Turning Basic, are the central part of Viennese Waltz. The heart and soul of the dance.
Traditional Viennese Waltz is easy-to-learn, fun, improvisational and playful. And maybe the most romantic partner dance of all.
Popular since the early 19th century, it is done all around the world to medium, fast and slower tempos, to great music of the 21st, 20th and 19th centuries.
We strongly encourage everyone to take this workshop at least twice, to learn more thoroughly, to brush up and to practice. After you take it once it is just $15 to take it again.
VENUE
Studio
Use Bloor St. entrance towards west side of building.
Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts, 427 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7
SCHEDULE
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Workshop
6:30pm – 9:10pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular Admission
$45
Full-Time Students with ID
$30
$15
You took this wkshop with us before. Pay at door. Cash only.
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
No prior experience or partner needed. Absolute beginners are welcome.
TEACHERS
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
Use Bloor St. entrance towards west side of building
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Polka Beginner Lesson
2:00pm – 3:00pm
Viennese Waltz Beginner Lesson
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Dance Party (Music by DJ Simon)
4:15pm – 6:00pm
DETAILS
Wearing green or anything Irish themed is encouraged.
Irish and Irish-themed Waltzes and Polkas will be played.
Learn Polka! It is fun, exuberant, and easy-to-learn. Will include some specifically Irish Polka things.
Learn Traditional Viennese Waltz! It is fun, easy-to-learn, popular since the early 19th century, done at all tempos from fast to slow, and perhaps the most romantic partner dance of all. This class has a different theme each time. Theme tba (different each time).
Stay for the Irish themed Waltz Dance Party that follows the lessons!
This is Waltz Toronto’s monthly Waltz Dance for March.
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST INCLUDED.
Mother’s Day Special: Any Mom and their family can come to the lessons and dance for the price of two admissions to the lessons and dance!
$25
Regular Admission
$20
Full-Time Students with ID
$10
Dance only after 4:15pm, pay at the door
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
Waltz, Polka, 1920’s Dances, Ragtime Dances, 19th Century Dances, Lindy Hop
Simon teaches and loves traditional Viennese Waltz, Cross-Step Waltz, Polka, 1920s dances, Ragtime dances, 19th century dances and Lindy Hop. He also teaches and loves lifts, drops, dips, floorials and Air Steps, and thinks this is some of the best and most fun stuff in dance.
Simon has been teaching dance for over 20 years, has taught many dance workshops and classes, has presented many Waltz dances and various Waltz and Vintage Dance workshop weekends, and has attended various Waltz and Vintage Dance workshop weekends and weeks in the USA. His favourite teacher for Waltz is Richard Powers, the renowned Stanford University historian and teacher of social dance.
Simon is the coordinator of Waltz Toronto and of Swing Toronto.
Waltz, Polka, 1920s Dances
Naum has been dancing since 1998, taught dance for three years in the 2000s, and started teaching again in late 2021. Dance is his main passion and hobby. He takes every opportunity to dance and take lessons, and likes sharing this passion and his dance skills with others. His favourite dances are Viennese Waltz, Balboa and Cumbia style Salsa.
Waltz, Polka, 1920s Dances
Katherine started dancing at a young age, starting with folkdance. At 18, she became fascinated with latin and ballroom. She started dancing Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing in the early 2000’s. Katherine and Frank, her partner at the time, organized the Toronto International Swing Dance Championships in 2008; later, she organized the 2011 TISDC. Argentine Tango became her main focus in 2012. Katherine has taught dance since her university days in various studios, public schools, at Swing Toronto, and privately. While mostly dancing Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop, and West Coast Swing over the last decade, there is no doubt in her mind that every single social dance has a spirit of its own that cannot be duplicated by any other dance. As such, she believes that the greater the array of dances one is capable of studying in one’s lifetime, the deeper, wider, and higher one’s spirit soars through movement and music.
We are happy to provide performances, workshops, courses and lessons for special events and for schools. We do Swing Era, Jazz Age (Great Gatsby, 1920s), Waltz, Ragtime Era, and Victorian Era social dance, and we do air steps, lifts and tricks for swing and other dancing.
Swing Toronto and Mostly Waltz are happy to provide dance performances, dance lessons, and dance animators for your special event! We are also happy to give workshops, classes and demos for schools. We have been doing this for many years.
Performances
We provide performances of Lindy Hop (classic swing dance) with air steps (acrobatics) and tricks, Blues Dance (with lifts and tricks), Viennese Waltz, Polka, Peabody and other dances. We have for many years provided performances for all kinds of special events, in major downtown hotels, at City Hall, at large community centers and banquet halls, and elsewhere, for corporations, charities, non-profit organizations, clubs and fundraisers.
Classes
We are happy to provide classes and courses in Lindy Hop (the classic swing dance of the Swing Era which is also done all around the world today), Charleston, Viennese Waltz, Cross-step Waltz, Air Steps and Tricks, Blues Dance, Polka, Ragtime Dancing (1910s), Jazz Age dances (1920s), Peabody, Balboa and Bal Trot, and Victorian Era Dance
Private Lessons
We are also happy to provide private lessons, including for wedding dances.
A Swing Toronto production!
At Waltz Toronto, formerly known as Mostly Waltz Toronto, we take pride in offering a welcoming atmosphere to everyone, from the most inexperienced novice to long time social dance enthusiasts. Our events are among the most established and terrifically fun dances in the city of Toronto, and many would agree that they’re among Toronto’s best kept secrets.
We also like and teach Polka, Ragtime Dancing, Blues Dance, Peabody, Schottische, and other partner dances.
Viennese Waltz is possibly the best, most fun, and most romantic partner dance ever, popular from the early 19th century onwards, and done to tempos from medium to fast. We teach and do traditional Viennese Waltz.
Cross-step Waltz is a new way of doing Waltz, and is the favourite Waltz style of many people. It is usually done to slower tempos than Viennese.
Good dance etiquette is important.
Waltz Toronto social dances are just that – social – and we are committed to maintaining a friendly, welcoming environment for everyone. Please be mindful of floorcraft, courtesy and etiquette.
Q. Do I need a partner?
A. No, there is no need to bring your own dance partner. The custom at social dances is to change partners for each song. In lessons dance partners rotate; this helps you to learn better by exposing you to many dance partners and gives you a chance to briefly meet other people.
Q. What is the average age of people at the dances?
A. We enjoy a varied group of attendees at our dance events. Though most of those who come are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, the age of our participants ranges from those in their late teens to retirement.
Q. Do we need to reserve tickets in advance?
A. There is no need to reserve or pay in advance for Saturday Night Swing nor any other Swing Toronto event, nor for any Toronto Waltz event in Toronto. Simply show up and pay at the door.
The only events for which advance registration is suggested are special event weekend workshops with internationally known teachers coming to teach in Toronto and teaching a full set of day-time workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
Q. What is the average age of people at the dances?
A. We enjoy a varied group of attendees at our dance events. Though most of those who come are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, the age of our participants ranges from those in their late teens to retirement.
Q. What can I expect at dances?
A. Dances may feature an outstanding line up of live bands, DJs, teachers and classes! The evening begins with dance classes open to everyone including absolute beginners.
Q. What should I wear?
A. Wear comfortable clothes that you can dance in. Casual to dressy attire is all fine. If the dance is described as a Ball most people will be dressed up.
Q. What kind of shoes should I wear?
A. Anything comfortable, whether dressy or casual, ideally with some glide under the sole under the balls of your feet. Wear shoes that are smooth enough under the front part of your foot to allow swiveling on a wooden floor – this can be a leather sole, or it could be a smooth or somewhat slidey rubber or plastic sole, or can even be tape put on the soles of otherwise very grippy shoes. Rubber heels are fine – the heel can be more grippy than the rest of the sole.
Q. Is there a code of behaviour or etiquette?
A. Yes. See Dance Etiquette for details. In particular, please treat everyone with courtesy and respect, be mindful of good floorcraft when dancing (avoid collisions, don’t “drive dangerously”), and do not wear perfume or cologne (as it bothers some people and makes a small minority of people unwell). Any kind of harassment of those who attend our events is not acceptable.
Q. Where can I take classes and workshops in Toronto?
A. At Waltz Toronto’s various courses and workshops! Also, once regular dances commence again, there will be beginner classes before each party! No prior experience is needed and there’s no need to bring your own dance partners. Quality instruction and a welcoming vibe. Please visit our website regularly for updates, or sign-up for our newsletter!
Q. Does Waltz Toronto provide dance performances, lessons and dance animators for special events?
A. Yes we do this all the time and have been doing so for many years. Ask us about your special event, we are happy to help. See Our Services for an outline of what we offer.
Q. What is Peabody?
A. Peabody is a fun hugely popular Swing Era and 1920s partner dance suited for tempos from medium speed to blazing fast. It travels and can be mixed with Lindy Hop and Charleston.