Blues Classes - Blüesli

Classes are back on Wednesday 23.09.2026

Learn to dance blues! Blues dances are a family of dances originated in Afro-American communities at the beginning of the 20th century. Like the music, the dances are diverse and soulful.

Classes will be taught in English (German translation available).

Register here

Registrations are open. Please use the Google Form to register.

Your learning journey

We offer blues dance classes every Wednesday evening, and advanced trainings on an ad-hoc basis. No matter your level, we have something for you!

Intro Series

This is the place to discover blues dancing, or brush up your basics! We have two intro series – Intro to Jookin’ and Intro to Ballroomin’.
Attend both (in any order) to get an overview of the two main families of blues dancing. No prerequisites or partner needed!
In this class, we will focus on the fundamentals of different kinds of blues dancing, from the basic steps, to various forms of connections (open, close and close embrace) and simple moves.
During a typical class, we first warm up our body, then explore a topic dancing solo, before we move to partnered Blues dancing. In the class, you can practice both leader and follower role.
Whether you have never danced blues before, or you want to drill down on your basics, you are welcome to join!

Prerequisites: none!

Where and when: Wednesdays, 19:45 – 20:45 at Backstage Studio, Zürich

Start: 23rd September 2026 (Intro to Jookin’) for 4 classes

Price: 15.- CHF (trial class); 80.- CHF (regular) / 70.- CHF (reduced*) for 4 classes

Teachers: Marion and Jonas
Replacements: Bianca, Limi, Roland and Adrien

If you take a trial class and then sign up for the series, the 15.- CHF will be deducted from the price.

Class Schedule Basic / Intro series (click to expand)

23.09.2026 19:45 Intro to Jookin’ Start/ Trial
30.09.2026 19:45 Intro to Jookin’
07.10.2026 19:45 Intro to Jookin’
14.10.2026 19:45 Intro to Jookin’

Note: Class topics can be changed depending on the teachers and students.

Experienced Classes

Join these classes after having attended our two intro series, or if you already had 6+ months of blues dance classes. Here, we’ll deep dive into the different styles of blues dancing and level up your basics and techniques with more fun variations and ways to express music.
If you do not know which class to choose, please reach out to us!
It is also possible to join both classes if you want to refresh your basics.

Prerequisites: you’ve taken both Intro to Jookin’ and Intro to Ballroomin’ series, or have danced blues for 6+ months

Where and when: Wednesdays, 20:50 – 21:50 at Backstage Studio, Zürich

Start: anytime!

Price: 25.- CHF (regular) / 20.- CHF (reduced*) for Drop-ins; 80.- CHF (regular) /70.- CHF (reduced*) for 4 classes

Teachers: Limi
Replacements: Bianca, Roland and Adrien

Class Schedule Experienced / Challenge (click to expand)

23.09.2026 19:45 Blues Challenge Jookin’
30.09.2026 19:45 Blues Challenge Jookin’
07.10.2026 19:45 Blues Challenge Jookin’
14.10.2026 19:45 Blues Challenge Jookin’

Note: Class topics can be changed depending on the teachers and students. Missing your favourite topic? Let us know!

Advanced Training

You have been dancing blues for more than 3 years, and/or attended multiple international festivals at advanced levels? You’re ready to fine tune your dancing, take up a challenge and nerd about blues? Then these small group privates are for you.

Prerequisites: you’ve danced blues for 3+ years and/or attended multiple international festivals at advanced level

Where and when: Zürich – dates and times agreed with participants

Start: anytime!

Price: 45.- CHF for each 1,5 session (max 6 participants)

*Reduced price (student, retired, international visitor, independent artist or other reasons)

Location

Search for “Backstage Studio” on google maps. For more details, check this website

FAQs

Do I have to register with a partner?

No, no need to register with a partner! During the classes, we switch partners (and, if you want, role as well), so that you can learn to adapt and dance with different people, as in a real social.

Can I start anytime?

For our Intro Series, keep an eye on our start dates!
For Experienced Classes, yes, you can start anytime! Just register and tell us when you want to join for your first class.

Do I need to have any dance experience?

For our intro series, not at all! Even if you think you have two left feet, you are more than welcome to join 🙂

What should I wear?

Comfortable clothes – t-shirt, jeans, sweatpants, leggings, dress, whatever you prefer! We won’t be doing any backflips or splits, no worries 🙂 As for shoes, you can wear dance shoes, if you have them (e.g., swing dance shoes; we don’t recommend heels higher than ~4 cm). Sneakers are also perfectly fine!

Where exactly is the studio?

The studio is easily reachable from Hardplatz or Hardbrücke. The entrance is on a delivery ramp, the stairs are on the righthand side.

How do I register to a class?

Follow the link to Google Form. Select the class(es) for which you want to participate. If you plan to join only one class in the future, please let us know the date and class in the comment section.

When is the next workshop?

Find our next workshops on this page https://bluesli.ch/category/workshops/
We organise 4-6 workshops per year with international teachers

What is Ballroomin’ Blues?

Ballroomin’ blues comes from the ballrooms during the swing area. When the big bands slowed it down to play a song that could be waltzed or foxtrotted, the dancers came up with their own style of dance based on a fusion of swing, vernacular jazz, and ballroom dance movement. Due to the having more space in ballrooms, this style of blues tends to travel more with elegant lines and momentum based movements.

What is Jookin’ Blues?

Jookin’ refers to a group of blues dances originating in African American communities in the Mississippi Delta. Its name comes from the fact that it was danced in “juke joints”, the type of bars that early blues musicians played in.
Due to the limited space in such bars, and reflecting the music danced there, jookin’ evolved as a dance primarily done on the spot, with sharper and more punctuated movements.

What is Latin Blues?

Latin Blues was created by the influence of Latin music and their rhythms to existing Blues. Examples include the Afro-Cuban Habanera rhythm. Jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton called this addition of Habanera rhythm to Blues “Spanish Tinge”.