Beginner Workshop Series

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 Top Tips

• No partner or dance experience required so invite your friends! You’ll rotate between various partners during the class. You can choose to lead or follow, whatever you prefer.
• The two days will be run independent of each other to allow for more people to attend for their first time. But attending both will help you feel more successful when social dancing!
• Wear comfortable clothing (pants are recommended over shorts or skirts). Consider bringing an extra shirt, or change of clothes (and deodorant) as you may want to freshen up. Some attendees will dress up a bit fancier to watch the Saturday evening show/routine competitions, but its not required. 
• The best type of shoes are leather- or suede-soled shoes. Dancing in socks works too! Avoid rubber soled shoes if you can. You can test out your shoes by sliding in them on your kitchen floor, and if they don’t squeak and/or grab the floor, then they’re likely perfect. 
• Bring some snacks, and a water bottle to stay hydrated! There will be a water station nearby, but you may want to bring electrolytes with you.
• Check out our various Facebook events and groups (Friday Beginner Series; Saturday Beginner Series; Boogie by the Bay 2025; Group to help find hotel roommates and carpool rides) 
• Follow us on Partiful and share the links with your friends! (Friday Beginner Series; Saturday Beginner Series)

What is West Coast Swing?

What’s happening Saturday afternoon and evening?

Jack & Jill competitions
Competitors are randomly assigned a partner, and dance to a random song selected by the DJ. Their dancing is improvised. “Prelims” is the preliminary round, with judges identifying who they want to see in the next rounds (Semi-finals, and Finals). There are different skill divisions, from Newcomer -> Novice -> Intermediate -> Advanced -> All-Star -> Champion.

Switch-It-Up Jack & Jill
This is a special competition at Boogie by the Bay for people who are comfortable dancing both roles. Competitors sign up as an individual and are assigned to “Group A” or “Group B”. During the dances, they will be expected to switch roles (both leading and following) frequently, and are randomly assigned new partners for each song during the Prelim round.

Dinner Break
Boogie by the Bay event attendees with a weekend pass have access to a dinner buffet. If you’re sticking around to check out the evening performances, this is a great time to check out the food options in downtown Burlingame (15-30min walk), or the Hotel’s restaurant. (Check out more food suggestions here.)

Routine Performances / Competitions
These are routines that have been choreographed to a specific song, with a pre-selected partner. There are different divisions or categories:

• Pro-Am – One partner is considered the “Pro” (professional – they teach lessons/classes), while the other person is the “Am” (amateur – taking lessons from the Pro they are dancing with)
• Rising Star – The partnership is relatively new to performing choreographed routines and neither partner meets the threshold to be pushed into the Showcase or Classic divisions
• Showcase & Classic – These divisions are for more experienced routine performers, or those who are no longer eligible for the Rising Star division (eg. if either partner performs / “has points” in the highest Jack & Jill division of “Champions”)
  • Showcase routines include lifts, aerials, and other acrobatic or partner weight-support moves as well as lead/follow moves.
  • Classic routines include traditional lead/follow moves and an “on the ground” approach to the dance. Lifts and aerials are not allowed.

Switch-it-up Jack & Jill Finals
This is the last round of the contest that began earlier in the day. Instead of being randomly assigned a new partner every song, these dancers will be partnered and judged together for the Finals round.

Late Night Dance
Your opportunity to dance with a lot of different people all night! Most people will change partners each song. You can ask anyone to dance, and they can ask you! You can say Yes, No, or Maybe later! It’s also helpful to ask if they’re leading or following, especially if you’re only comfortable dancing in one of those roles.