DANCE PARTIES

EVERYONE IS WELCOME

We extend a special welcome to everyone no matter their relationship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, (dis)ability, weight, faith, or profession.

LOCATION

All of our dance parties are held at:

1574 Walkley Rd, Ottawa

The studio is on the second floor, with parking and building entrance located at the back of the building.

SCHEDULE

Our social dance parties run almost every Saturday* with the current schedule as follows:

  • 7:45pm: Doors open
  • 8:00pm-8:45pm: WCS Basics Dropin and BONUS Specialty Dropin
  • 8:45pm-9:30pm: FREE Intro to West Coast Swing
  • 9:00pm-12:00am: Social dancing

Our West Coast Swing Intro Lesson is intended for people with no dance experience and will teach you enough to keep you dancing throughout the social. This free lesson is always a dropin. No registration or signup is required!

* Some exception dates will occur on weekends that coincide with holidays and special events. See calendar for details.

CALENDAR

Pricing

First Time Visitors: If it's your first time at Saturdays With The Underground, your admission is FREE!

General Admission: $15

General Admission + WCS Basics/BONUS Specialty Dropin: $20

The intro lesson is always free with admission no matter how many times you take it!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I don't know how to dance. Can I still come?

Yes! Every week, we offer an Introduction to West Coast Swing lesson (see Schedule above). This lesson assumes you have no experience.

What even is a "Social Dance"?

We provide a quality dance floor, some good music, and a friendly atmosphere where dancers of all experience levels gather to socialize and dance together.

Can I take the Intro lesson more than once?

Yes! The Intro to West Coast Swing lesson is the same every Saturday, and it's free with admission, so feel free to take it as many times as you want.

Do I need a partner?

No partner required. Lessons will rotate partners frequently and during the social, everyone dances with each other. If you come with someone and would prefer to dance with just them, that’s cool too!

What Kinds of Music Do You Play?

See our Music page for a bunch of playlists that should give you a sense of the variety of music we play.

On Saturdays, our DJs queue up the songs live and will usually take requests.

In terms of what genres of music we play, it's a mix of everything from Motown, blues, and funk to Top 40 pop, country, and hip-hop.

Is it only West Coast Swing?

Yes, but no? No, but yes? That's difficult to answer, because West Coast Swing is such a versatile dance style that you can dance it to most styles of music.

Almost every song played is one you can dance West Coast Swing to, but many of those same songs work well for Hustle and even other partner dance styles like Cha Cha, Zouk, East Coast Swing, and Foxtrot.

Throughout the night we'll usually also play a handful of dedicated songs for Country Two-Step, which is a dance whose music doesn't cross over among dances quite as easily.

Finally though, our DJs will usually accept requests, so if there's a song you've been dying to dance to, we can probably make it happen.