How to dance tutorial for beginners

Easy online dance tutorials to help you master new moves — no matter your experience level

For exercise, Friday night fun at home, or to prepare for your eventual return to the floor!

(Credit: iStock/Getty Images)

American modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham once said, "Dance is the hidden language of the soul."

It's one of the most basic forms of human expression. Dance comes so naturally to us humans, in fact, that infants start rhythmically moving to music before they even learn how to walk. In adults, research has found that rhythmic movements and free flow can enhance happiness. Amateur dancing has also been reported to have a positive influence on self-esteem and social relations and to be a significant coping strategy for daily stress and difficult times.

So if you find yourself regularly bopping along to songs or attempting every new TikTok dance, take it up a notch and let your body guide you into new forms of expression. With so many online dance classes available, it's easy to explore different kinds and find your favourites. We've rounded up tutorials for 10 styles of dance to get you started — as well as some paid classes if you'd like to connect with others and get live instruction.

Before you begin, a few safety tips to consider: ensure you have enough clutter-free space so you can move around without bumping into anything or tripping; wear appropriate footwear for your flooring, especially if your floors are slippery; and lastly, as with all forms of exercise, ensure you warm up first and go at your own pace to prevent injury.

Pop choreography

We've all been there: watching pop stars in music videos and wishing we had their moves — and now you can. Pop choreography isn't a style of dance per se — in fact it incorporates many of the ones you'll find in the list below — but it's a fantastic way to jump into movement and be re-enlivened by your favourite songs, old and new. Mihran Kirakosian's YouTube channel has dozens of easy-to-follow tutorials to choose from. Get started on a kid-friendly Ariana Grande dance or a JT throwback, dance along with the Biebs to DJ Khaled's Popstar (intermediate level), or master classic moves like the moonwalk and body wave.

Hip hop

Hip-hop dance emerged out of the larger hip-hop culture created by Black Americans in New York in the late 1970s. From the Humpty Dance to the dougie, there are countless hip-hop moves to weave into your dance sesh, whether you're following along to a choreographed routine or freestyling to the latest (or old-school) tracks. Get a sense of the moves you'd like to try with this compilation of 50 plus hip-hop foundation dance steps — or jump right into it with a full class like this tutorial by dance instructor Vincent Vianen to Justin Bieber's "Peaches. "

Elevate your skills: for hip-hop dance classes at your fingertips, paid subscription sites like Steezy or Dance Tutorials TV provide a catalogue of recorded sessions that include breakdowns of individual steps, choreo to classic Lauryn Hill, and so much more.

Breaking

Breaking, or breakdancing, is a style of dance created by Black and Latin Americans that originated from the streets of the Bronx in the late '60s and early '70s and developed out of the hip-hop movement. If you've ever witnessed a break battle, you won't soon forget the mesmerizing, energetic spectacle, so it's no wonder this dance style has become popular worldwide — the International Olympic Committee has even approved it as a sport in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

While we're counting down to that, there's time to perfect some break moves. Bonita Saldaña, aka Bgirl Bonita, starts beginners with the toprock before getting into the floor-work that's typical of breaking, like the spin down, six-step and baby freeze. It's fun for kids to do too!

Ballet

Dancer and choreographer Auti Kamal, aka Miss Auti, introduces newbies to ballet through basic moves, including foot positions, pliés, jumps and turns (complete with a separate instructional on how to properly spot so you don't get dizzy). Her dance tutorials are a beginner's dream: with her positive energy and an approach that's easy to follow and well-paced, her years of experience teaching people of all ages really shines through.

Elevate your skills: for those looking for more serious instruction, the National Ballet of Canada offers premium ballet classes with top-tier instructors. Learn more about their online beginner workshop here.

Jazz

If you're unfamiliar with jazz dance, think about the moves featured in many Broadway musicals, particularly the hip rolls and jazz hands popularized by famed choreographer Bob Fosse. This style of movement is rooted in Black American social dances, the artistic expression of enslaved people, and vaudeville. It was later influenced by ballet, so you'll often find both styles taught by the same instructors or company. Miss Auti offers a great beginner jazz class, but if you'd like to start with Broadway-style instruction, try the 48-minute step-by-step beginner tutorial for Chicago's All That Jazz number.

Elevate your skills: Harbour Dance Centre, based in Vancouver, offers plenty of jazz classes from cabaret jazz to jazz funk. Try one of their live daily online classes through their app.

Swing

A type of jazz social dance, swing definitely deserves its own category given its many different variations and styles, such as the Lindy hop, East Coast swing and Charleston, to name a select few. There's nothing quite like watching this fast-paced partnered dance in action. Swing dancing is typically done with a partner, but if you're dancing solo, you can still try out the footwork and brush up on your technique with iLindy's basic tutorials.

Salsa and bachata

Grab a partner and tune into the rhythm of salsa — a partnered Latin American dance with footwork that's fun to practice solo as a beginner as well.

The Bachata Dance Academy also offers tutorials on bachata, a style of Latin American dance originating from the Dominican Republic. Get started by learning bachata footwork here or if you have a dance partner ready to go, these beginner tutorials make for a fun activity.

Elevate your skills: Toronto's Steps Dance Studio teaches both salsa and bachata. Attend a live class or access their dance-on-demand library of recorded classes.

Dancehall

Dancehall is a style of both music and dance originating from Jamaica which is energetic, freeing and upbeat. Need some inspiration? Check out this compilation of dancehall moves to get you motivated, before diving into a tutorial by Jenny JC, a Toronto dancer who has been featured in Rihanna and Sean Paul music videos, among others. She'll show you how to tick tock your hips, wine and go through a beginner dancehall routine.

Elevate your skills: the Underground Dance Centre based in Toronto offers recorded dancehall classes, among other styles, with a monthly subscription.

Irish dance

Irish dancing has a long history: the Irish jig originates as far back as the 1600s. Fast-forward a few centuries later, and this dance style has become globally popular thanks in part to the phenomenon of Riverdance. There's a lot of jumping in Irish dancing, so be prepared for a workout — and a ton of fun! You'll be amazed at the fast footwork of dancer Tyler Schwartz as he teaches various Irish dance tricks and steps.

Elevate your skills: check out Joy of Dance Centre, based in Toronto, which offers virtual Irish step-dance classes taught by Mark B, who finished in the Top 20 at the World Irish Dancing Championship.

Bollywood dance

Bollywood dance is named after, you guessed it, Bollywood films, where the elaborate choreography is often featured. In the movies, whose popularity took off in India in the 1930s, actors sometimes sing or lip-synch to songs while dancing in a style that combines various forms of Indian classical and folk dance, involving specific hand gestures, facial expressions and foot movements. Over time, the form has evolved to incorporate Western dance moves as well.

Try this wonderfully fun and expressive style of dance with beginner tutorials for party moves and basic steps before moving on to paid classes.

Elevate your skills: Bollywood Dance School Canada offers 12-session online Bollywood dance programs for kids and adult beginners.

Janet Ho is a writer and hobby artist. You can follow her at @janetonpaper.

Hip Hop Dance Moves For Beginners

Learn how to dance hip hop with our hip hop moves. They are perfect for those of you who want to get into hip hop dancing and learn some basic steps. These hip hop dance moves are some of the most popular moves out there and could be used to dance at parties, clubs and any other events.

Hip Hop Dance Tutorial #1: Start With Learning The Basic Rhythm

Hip Hop Dance Tutorial #2: The 2 Step Basic Move (From 5X Hip Hop Course)

Many more moves below this video

More FREE Beginner Hip Hop dance moves

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Get Sean's Hip Hop Course:

5X Hip Hip Course For Beginner
Learn basic hip hop moves with 25 step by step video lessons. This course is broken down into 5 modules that focus on different types of moves: Footwork, Upper Body, Waving, Step Touch and Iconic Moves. You will love this 2+ hours of detailed instruction for beginners.

These beginner hip hop dance moves on this page are easy to learn because they teach you one move at a time - as opposed to long, complicated routines.

This way you can use them individually or combine them with other steps however you feel. We recommend that you first pay attention to the footwork and timing of the step and then add your own styling to it only after. These hip hop dance videos are general hip hop steps that are good for adults and kids. They could be used with popular hip hop music in any situation.

Remember that Hip Hop is all about isolating the different body parts so make sure that you understand what body part moves first and in what sequence. Once you mastered these moves you can also check out other related Hip Hop styles like the free style dance lessons, how to break dance, how to dance to dubstep and popping dance moves.

If you are looking to learn other dance styles check out Online dance lessons.

TIPS: How to dance Hip Hop Better

1. It's all about attitude - Remember that Hip Hop dancing is all about "selling" the performance. Commit to each movement and be confident about everything you do.

2. Learn the basics first - the better your basics are, the better you will be able to execute the more intermediate and advanced Hip Hop moves. So don't jump the gun, instead master the fundamentals.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice - You need to hone down your skills as often as possible. Make sure to practice before every class and at your spare time in between classes. The key is to get the steps into your muscle memory.

Interested in other styles?

Click below:
How to hip hop dance online
How to Ballroom dance videos
Ballet dance moves
How to dance in a club
Learntodance.com homepage

Dancing - Video lessons - Watch online video lessons for beginners for free!

Here is a large collection of free video dance lessons. Dance is a kind of art in which a certain artistic image is created through rhythmic plastic movements and changes in the positions of the human body. Dance art is one of the oldest manifestations of folk art. The dance is performed in a certain style, has such qualities as grace, elegance, beauty, is usually accompanied by music or rhythmic sounds, aims to tell a story, express feelings, etc. This section contains video dance lessons of almost all directions, video lessons of modern dances, street dances, dance training for girls, boys and children. Learning to dance online will be useful for both beginners and more experienced dancers. Some of the video tutorials on our website come with additional learning materials that you can download. You can always watch all online lessons from this collection for free. Good luck to you!

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Basic Elements of Oriental Dance

This online lesson explains how to correctly perform the basic elements of oriental or belly dance. The magic of oriental dance has always attracted the attention of women and men. Belly dance is based on bright and charming femininity. This is a very interesting and informative video lesson during which you will learn a small dance piece in an oriental style that you can use while dancing at home, giving pleasure to yourself and your loved ones. At the beginning of the lesson...

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How to dance Lezginka. Part 11. Combination Four

This online lesson tells you how to dance the wonderful energetic Lezginka dance. This is the eleventh video dedicated to the study of Lezginka from Asker Eneev. Here he will show you one small but very clear dance sequence. It begins with the left leg, which must first be bent at the knee, and then straightened and put forward on the heel. On the next count, a jump is made, the legs are brought together in the castle, while the main weight is concentrated on the left leg, and the right one is on . ..

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Lezginka training. Part 1. Chechen move

Here is how to learn to dance Lezginka - Chechen move. If you want to dance clearly and hard, then from you, i.e. guys are required to burn their eyes and burn their souls when performing this dance. The author of the lesson Asker Eneev will show you the movements in a mirror version, i.e. his left leg will perform the actions that the right should actually perform. Thus, it will be more convenient for you to study Lezginka. So let's get started. Put your hands on your belt, keep your back ...

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Learning the Tectonic dance. Part 5

Video lesson “Learning the Tectonic dance. Part 5" is devoted to the question of how to dance the Tectonic dance correctly. This online lesson is the final one in this course. The author will demonstrate how to perform all the movements learned in the previous four lessons by putting them together. First, he will do them in a slightly slower pace, so that you remember what you did in the previous lessons. After that, you can enjoy watching the entire dance at a real pace. And many of you will already be able to...

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How to Learn to Slow Waltz, Tutorial for Beginners

The video "How to Learn to Slow Waltz, Tutorial for Beginners" is about how to dance the waltz. This is one of the most popular dances, largely due to the ease of its performance. The waltz is often danced at various holidays and celebrations. This is a very beautiful dance, which is performed in pairs, a man and a woman. Almost no wedding is complete without a wedding waltz performed by the bride and groom. In order to learn how to perform this dance, you must ...

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Hip-Hop Dance Connection

The Hip-Hop Dance Connection lesson is about how to perform a Hip-Hop dance sequence by learning one interesting hip-hop connection as an example. The author of the lesson is Anastasia Burdienko. She will first show you each element separately at a slow pace, and at the end of this video lesson you will see the performance of the entire dance to the music at a working pace. Music used during the lesson: LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out. So let's get started. Let's take a look first...

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Break dance training. Gelik

This online lesson tells how to learn how to dance Breakdance, namely, we will consider the technique of performing an element called Gelik. You have probably already heard about this movement, and now it's time to learn how to perform it. What do you need to know for this? The first thing you must learn is to stand on your hands in a position in which the arm has an approximately right angle at the elbow, the hand is directed to the side. It is necessary that the elbow is clearly under the stomach. So...

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Lezginka.

Part 5. Pinwheel

This video tutorial tells how to learn how to perform a beautiful Caucasian dance Lezginka. The author of the lesson Asker Eneev will tell and show you how to make the so-called Pinwheel. To learn how to perform this element is in an open space, or if you are at home, then for safety reasons, stay away from sharp corners and hard objects so as not to get injured if you suddenly fall during training. Let's start by doing pirouettes (turns). Spin...

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Sexy RnB training. Part 1

This video is about how to learn to dance Sexy RnB. The author of the lesson, Anna Vinchuk, who is a dance teacher of this direction, will demonstrate to you the technique of performing each movement separately at a slow pace so that you can repeat and remember all the elements of this dance. Then you will see how to perform Sexy RnB in fast, i.e. working pace. The Sexy RnB style incorporates various elements from other dances. These are Raga, oriental dances, Afro and elementary...

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Break dance. King tattoo. Part 2

This online tutorial is about how to dance King Tattoo. Let's take a look at the basic hand positions. There are quite a lot of them, and in order not to look at each of the positions, try to think over, draw a certain matrix in front of your body, according to which you will make movements with your hands. There are a lot of options for these matrices. Now we will analyze one of the options. The first position is a regular angle. Then you turn this angle in the plane to the right and left, and the second option ...

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If you have high-quality video lessons that are not on our site, then you can add them to our collection. To do this, you need to upload them to a video hosting (for example, YouTube) and add the video code to the form for adding lessons. The ability to add your own content is only available to registered users.

How to learn to dance: video lessons for those who are not afraid to try

January 28, 2017LikbezSport and fitness

If you decide to learn how to dance, don't delay. Just repeat after the instructors the basic movements of modern, street, ballroom and social dances.

Iya Zorina

Author of Lifehacker, athlete, CCM

Answers to the main questions

Is it difficult to learn to dance?

It's really no more difficult than anything you're new to. Dance directions are very different from each other. Even if you have mastered one of them, it will be unusual for you to do the other.

However, all dances are connected with the ability to control one's body. And if this is not new to you (for example, you were engaged in martial arts, gymnastics, swimming, and even more so dancing), it will be easier for you to adapt to new movements than a beginner who is not friendly with his body.

Even if you have a fairly wooden body, you should not despair. The secret of success is constant practice.

Learning to dance from video lessons is more difficult than from courses. If your body is flexible and obedient, you can still do something similar to the movements of the instructor from the video. If not, you can quickly become disillusioned with dancing: the difference between what is shown in the video and what you will see in the mirror will be too strong.

Still worth a try. At least in order to determine the appropriate direction.

How many times a week do you dance?

Muscles may initially ache after exercise. But, unlike strength training or running, the body does not require a recovery period.

Therefore, you can safely practice dancing all the time. One of my teachers said to dance 25 hours a day. In any case, the more you dance, the more noticeable the progress.

How to learn to dance modern dances

From this direction we have chosen three types that can often be found in the schedules of fitness clubs and dance schools. And the first - plastic and insanely beautiful contemporary.

Contemporary

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Contemporary combines elements of modern jazz, yoga and martial arts, seasoned with improvisation and attention to breathing. This is freedom and plasticity - the natural beauty of movement.

Here is a clip with a contemporary combination. Give it a try, just be sure to warm up and stretch well before you teach.

And here is the second part:

By the way, about the warm-up. In the video below - a full lesson with a warm-up, stretching and analysis of the combination. In English, but everything is clear and without translation.

If you don’t have time to repeat or consider how some movement is done, set the speed to 0. 25.

If you like combinations but can't repeat them yet, here are some more videos of routine contemporary lessons.

You will most likely have to do the same at the dance school before you can perform beautiful combinations.

Strip plastic

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Many people confuse pole exercises and strip plastic. The second is just a sensual dance that can be performed without a pole.

Doing strip plastic, you will not stand at the barre and pull the toe. Everything here is based on the natural sexuality of the female body. Of course, many teachers diversify strip plastic with elements of contemporary or modern, Latin American dances and other areas, but it all depends on the teacher.

How beautiful your dance will look again depends on how well you know how to control your body, how mobile your joints are and how stretched your muscles and tendons are.

In the video below there is an analysis of the combination. Not too simple, but very sensual and beautiful. And you don't have to move on the floor, so your knees don't get hurt.

And here is a playlist with strip plastic lessons from different dance schools. There are both individual movements and combinations.

And one more, simpler combination. Try it if the first one doesn't work.

Belly dance (bellydance)

·júbilo·haku·/Flickr.com

This is a sensual and beautiful dance that, among other things, helps to develop plasticity and even get rid of some health problems.

There are a lot of belly dance lessons on YouTube. Below are some of them.

The basic movements are explained here very clearly:

And the second part:

Below is a playlist with five lessons for beginners from another teacher.

How to learn to dance street dancing

Hip-hop

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Hip-hop has only been around for about 50 years. But during this time, many trends and styles have appeared, with different elements, plasticity, and special features.

In addition, modern hip-hop is often complemented by movements from other dance styles, which provides even richer vocabulary and original combinations.

But before you come up with your own combinations, you need to master the basics. In the playlist below you will find basic moves, steps and many combinations. They explain everything in an accessible way. If you can't make it, slow down the video speed.

The following big playlist videos explain the concepts of inertia, manipulation and isolation in hip-hop. There's also a story about improvisation, battle behavior if you're up for it, and a few variations of ground hip-hop moves (on the floor) to diversify your combinations.

Breakdance

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Breakdance consists of different elements: tricks and power movements on the floor, waves, fixations, and also changes in the levels at which the dance is performed.

Here on this channel there is training in different styles: Waving, King Tut, Robot, - analysis of the technique of power elements and basic movements at different levels.

Below is a video detailing the 6 steps element from Footwork.

And here you can see how the "turtle" is performed.

Here is a voluminous playlist, in which there are quite a lot of breakdance elements with a detailed analysis of the technique of dance and strength elements.

Twerk

Lauren Wood/Flickr.com

Sexy dance in which you need to actively work the buttocks, hips, stomach and arms. In this playlist you will find several lessons with analysis of twerk movements.

How to learn to dance ballroom dancing

Waltz

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At least once in your life you will surely need a waltz. Moreover, it is not so difficult to dance it at an amateur level.

Here are four good lessons that will teach you how to hold your hands and do the basic waltz steps in pairs or individually.

How to learn to dance social dances

Social dances are not designed for competition, but for communication between partners and enjoyment. Improvisation is welcome here, through which the dancer can express himself, his feelings and emotions.

Bachata

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This dance comes from the Dominican Republic. He is very sensual and sometimes erotic. The basis of bachata is four steps with an emphasis on the last one. In the dance, there are rotations and throws of the partner, small lifts.

Despite the fact that bachata is a pair dance, solo combinations can also be taught. For example, if you don't have a partner yet.

In the video below - an overview of the main steps. Where to transfer body weight, how to hold hands, how to focus - everything is told in the most detailed way.

And here is a variation of bachata from the same teacher.

Below is a playlist for those who want to dance bachata together. These are Dominican bachata lessons from the Imagine dance school.