Private ballroom and partner-dance lessons in my Mount Pleasant studio in Vancouver, for individuals and couples.
Come on your own or with a partner. Start from scratch, return to dancing you once loved, or take your dancing somewhere new.
Move • Connect • Come Alive.
Learn for yourself, dance socially, explore a style you have always wanted to try, or go further into dancing you already know.
Lessons develop from your starting point and what draws you to dance. We might work with foundations and technique, listen more closely to the music, build lead and follow, develop partner connection, or shape movement into choreography and expression.
Create a first dance that feels like the two of you—from relaxed shared movement to fuller choreography shaped around your song, with transitions, musical details, dips, lifts, tricks and highlights.
Walk in for your first dance lesson, return after years away, arrive with one dance in mind, or follow the feeling that you would love to dance.
For experienced dancers, the work can move deeper into technique, musicality, lead and follow, expression, choreography, or a particular area you want to develop.
You do not need to bring a partner. Private lessons are for one or two people.
55 minutes
One or two people
Private studio in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver
55 minutes for one or two people — $50 + GST.
Ongoing private lessons and package options are available if you choose to continue; details are shared before you commit.
Packages never expire, are transferable and are non-refundable. Cancellations require 36 hours’ notice.
Teaching dance, for me, is a very alive process. I pay attention to the student in front of me, to what is happening in the motion, to the music, and—when two people are dancing—to what is happening between them.
Different students find movement through different doorways. A clear explanation brings one movement into focus. Another needs to see its shape, feel it in the body, hear its relationship with the music, repeat it, make it smaller, exaggerate it, or approach it from a new angle.
At times, the work becomes precise: where the weight is, how the timing fits the music, where a movement begins, how a transition connects, or how one partner communicates with the other. At other times, the movement is beginning to settle. Another explanation could pull the student back into analysis, so I allow the body room to integrate the movement.
A step that feels easy on its own changes when music, a partner, a transition or a longer combination enters. I keep watching, listening and adjusting as the dance develops.
I have been teaching since around 2000, and every student still interests me because I never know exactly how their dancing and learning will unfold. That living process continues to drive, inspire and transform me as a teacher.
Ballroom and partner dancing opens a wide world to explore.
Ballroom dances include Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango and Viennese Waltz. Latin and rhythm dances include Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Salsa, Bachata and Mambo. Swing, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Hustle, Argentine Tango, Blues, Fusion, Bolero and other partner dances open still more possibilities.
Each dance brings its own relationship between movement, rhythm and connection. Music adds another landscape: the pulse underneath it, a pause, a rise in energy, a new instrument, or a change that invites the body to answer differently.
With a partner, the dance becomes a conversation through timing, invitation, listening and response. As the movements grow more familiar, personality, play, confidence, musicality and expression have more room to appear.
The new DBoyerDance studio is now open in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver. Lessons are scheduled one at a time, with the dance floor at the centre and room to concentrate, laugh, try again, and keep moving when the dance begins to flow.
Daylight makes the room bright and open. In the evening, purple and pink light brings warmth, depth and a more intimate atmosphere.
5 W 4th Ave, Unit 214, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1G2.
I started dancing when I was 10. Dance has moved through my life ever since: training, social dancing, performance, competition and teaching.
What still fascinates me is how steps become movement, movement meets music, and two people begin responding to one another. That curiosity is still alive in the way I teach.
Compare seven possible starting points and see which dance sparks your interest.
Discover how rhythm develops through listening, movement and repetition.
Begin with the steady pulse, let the body join the music and use a simple pattern as home base.
Read How to Dance Naturally With Music, Without Overthinking
Tell me what draws you to dance and where you would like to begin.