Balboa
An elegant swing dance born in the cramped halls of 1930s Southern California
Elegant and deceptively simple-looking, Balboa is a dance of subtle weight shifts and a quiet, intimate connection. It loves fast tempos, and dancers adore the feeling when the whole conversation happens just between two bodies — small from the outside, endlessly rich within. Modern Balboa is made up of two dances – Pure Bal and Bal-Swing, both of which emerged between 1920 and 1940 in California, USA.
Pure Bal is danced in a close embrace, staying in one spot. The dance arose when a dance club banned partners from dancing in open position and moving around the room, so as to fit as many people as possible onto the dance floor.
Bal-Swing, meanwhile, grew out of the Charleston and has more freedom. Although the dances existed in the same region, the communities were separate. Older dancers mostly danced Pure Bal, while the young danced Bal-Swing. It was only in 1961, when big bands began playing at Disneyland, that California dancers started gathering in one place and over time became friends, learning from one another. This is how Balboa came to be – a blend of Pure Bal and Bal-Swing.