Dancehall classes in London are split between adults and children: Danceworks in Mayfair runs a women-only beginner class on Thursday evenings, and UpTop Dance School teaches street dance and dancehall to children from age 4 in Kilburn and other parts of north and south London.
Dancehall is a Jamaican social dance that grew up with dancehall music in Kingston in the late 1970s and 1980s. The name comes from the dance halls and sound system parties where the music was played, and the dance has always been led by the dancers on the floor, with new moves arriving from Jamaica every year and being named after the people who made them.
The style is low and grounded, with bent knees and a lot of isolation of the hips, ribs and shoulders. The wine (a rolling movement of the hips and waist) is the foundation, and popular moves such as the Bogle and the Dutty Wine are built on top of it. Many classes teach "old, middle and new school" steps so you can see how the vocabulary has changed over the decades.
Dancehall is a community dance first and a performance style second. It lives in parties, street dances and cypher-style circles, and a good class teaches the cultural context and the music (riddims) as well as the steps.
Dancehall and reggaeton are close cousins and get confused, but the rhythm, the language and the movement are different.
Use the map below to find studios near you, or filter by area and audience to jump straight to our curated list of the best-rated Dancehall studios in London further down the page.
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Wining and grounded movement train the hips, waist and abdominals, and teach you to move one part of the body at a time.
Staying low and bouncing to the riddim keeps your heart rate up for the whole hour, and the legs get a workout without any drills.
Danceworks describes its class as about "female empowerment" and "igniting our bodies", and many students come for the confidence it builds.
You learn to feel the bass and the drum pattern of a riddim and to let the music lead your movement.
Because every move has a story, classes teach where steps come from and how they are used on the dancefloor in Jamaica and in London.
UpTop Dance School says it teaches street dance and dancehall for ages 4 and up, with a Mini class for 4 to 5 year olds and a youth company.
Danceworks lists its Thursday Female Dancehall class at beginner level, and it has run a six-week Introduction to Female Dancehall course.
The Danceworks class is for women only and for ages 18 and over, taught by Shelaine Prince, Co-Artistic Director of Ignition Dance Company.
UpTop Dance School teaches street dance and dancehall from age 4, from its Mini 4 to 5 class up to its youth company.
Hip hop, afrobeats and heels dancers take dancehall to add grounded movement and groove to their style.
People who go to Caribbean, afrobeats and dancehall nights take a class to feel more at ease on the dancefloor.
The low stance and continuous movement make a strong workout for the legs and core without feeling like a gym class.
London has one of the largest Jamaican and Caribbean communities outside the Caribbean, and dancehall is part of its nightlife, but regular classes are limited. In the West End, Danceworks in Mayfair (near Bond Street) runs a Female Dancehall class on Thursdays from 8pm to 9pm, taught by Shelaine Prince.
For children, UpTop Dance School teaches street dance and dancehall for ages 4 and up. Its Kilburn listing is on Charteris Road, near Kilburn High Road, and its timetable also lists locations in Tottenham and Camberwell. See the West London and Central London guides for more studios, and our afrobeats, hip hop and reggaeton pages for classes that sit close to dancehall.
There are two formats. Danceworks runs a drop-in Female Dancehall class at £14 on Thursdays from 8pm to 9pm for beginners (checked October 2026), and has run a six-week Introduction to Female Dancehall course at £99 on Tuesday evenings, so check Danceworks for the current course dates. UpTop Dance School runs weekly term-time classes: a two-week trial costs £25, a once-weekly place costs £149 per term and twice weekly £199 (checked October 2026).
For a first visit, the Danceworks class is the easiest way in for adult women, and UpTop is the choice for children. Mixed adult dancehall classes are rare in our directory, so also check the timetables of big drop-in venues such as Pineapple Dance Studios, which publishes its weekly timetable on an app. For one-to-one coaching ask about private dance lessons.
Wear clothes you can move in freely, such as leggings or joggers, and bring water. Trainers with a flat sole or bare feet are common, so ask the studio what it prefers.
Some women wear heels for dancehall, but you do not need them. Keep your first class simple and flat, and add heels later if your teacher recommends it.
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