Learn 4 Months of Dance moves in just 3 days!

We have created the first ever JUNIOR Hip Hop Don’t Stop! 3 days of Urban Strides Street Dance with your favourite instructors. Each day you learn 2 BRAND NEW routines followed by performances at the end of the day. It is the only place you will want to spend your Easter.

Check out this video to see what you can expect.

After 3 exciting and inspirational days your child will have:

- Have met some new friends, had loads of fun and laughed…a lot!
- Learnt 4 months’ worth of moves in just 3 days
- Improved their fitness levels and feel fantastic
- Feel so confident you will see them be happy to freestyle in a circle
- Have a large vocabulary of BRAND NEW dance moves to impress their friends with
- Created 2 BRAND NEW performances in different styles every single day!

Is this course for my child?

Yes! We know that for your child to feel totally relaxed it is essential they work at their
own pace, so we have classes for every ability, whatever level your child is at we have
a class created just for them so they can feel confident they are acheiving.

Our philosophy is to ensure your children feel 100% at home. Real Street Dance culture is
about love, unity and respect and our fun-loving attitude runs through all of our instructors.
Our instructors are chosen not only for their phenomenal dance ability, but also for their
ability to share the dance knowledge and ensure your child has a great laugh whilst
doing it! (after all if it’s no fun why bother!!) Every class is limited to 25 max and has 2
class assistants to make sure your child gets the personal attention they deserve.

What does a typical day look like?:
Every day is different, different styles, different moves but the structure is the same:

1. Start with a group warm up, lots of fun and interaction
2. Morning Session – work with masterclass instructor on a specific style
3. Afternoon session – work with a different instructor on a different style
4. Showing – They get to show you what they learned at the end of every day

The day will last from 9.30 am till 4 pm

ACT FAST:

We are only offering 50 places for this event and the demand has already been high. Our Senior event always sells out quickly and expect the same here if you have any questions remember to pick up the phone and ask Alison on 08448 488825

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE:

Remember everything we do here at Urban Strides comes with a money back guarantee so if for whatever reason your child doesn’t love it after the morning session all they need to do is tell us by 1 PM and we will give you a full refund no questions asked.

I want to personally make sure you have nothing to lose.

What: 3 Days of fun filled Street dance delivered by the UK’s most qualified experts.
When: Tuesday April 10th – Thursday April 12th 2012 – 9.30 am – 3.45 pm each day. (parents due at 3pm for showing)
Where: Wycombe High School – Jct 4 on the M40

SPECIAL OFFER:

price: £207 – BOOK BEFORE 1ST APRIL AND RECEIVE THE COURSE FOR ONLY £157

1. Call Alison on 08448 488825 We can accept all major credit and debit cards over the phone
-OR-

2. Book online click HERE to book online today.

Good luck I hope you get in quick enough to reserve yourself a place.

Best wishes

Andy Instone

Yo fam,

Been getting back to my roots this week with Lockin. The style is so funky it makes my heart sing!

Lockin is one of the fundamentals in Street dance that people over look but it’s importance is the missing link in becoming an excellent Street Dancer. The social dances and grooves involved can be found in every style created and developed after Lockin ie: Poppin, Hip Hop and House. This is because it got huge exposure because of a show called “Soul train” which was a huge Saturday night TV show in the USA.

Every Saturday night millions upon millions would watch soulful performance by music artists and dancers alike. The most important part was the freedom of expression and the un-inhibited nature of the dancers.

Dancers all around the world could learn a heap from the dancers on the show because they danced like no one is watching and expressed freely something which is at the core of every excellent dancer irrespective of the style, they are feeling the music.

Three of the biggest points I teach are:

1. Have confidence

2. Bring energy

3. Get down

Soul and Funk music’s influence has been well documented, it inspired disco, hip hop, House and many others, listen to the words spoken at the beginning of the video and enjoy the dancing which comes later.

For me the freedom of expression and soulful connection with the music is the missing link.

Remember dance is 1st then technique

Watch and enjoy

Let me know what you think thoughts, philosophies and insights or just a comment is always welcome where we always celebrate the “soul” in “soul train”

Drop a comment in the box below,

Have a great weekend

Keep on dancing

Big Luv

Andy

Yes fam,

Hope your cool and you have had a good week. I have a confession to make, I do know though that if I’m going to make the confession this is where I’d like to do it. Amongst friends and people who understand and can support me. Here it goes….

I’m addicted to dancing….There I said it.

Having had a week off has been good in some ways…It’s given me more time to think about dancing rather than actually doing it…mmmm it doesn’t really work thinking about it I have to say.

So my poor neighbours are very excited to see me start class again as I don’t have to play the music so loud at home during my impromptu freestyles.

The style I’m teaching this term is Lockin. I love Lockin it holds a very special place in my heart as it was the first style I learnt. It is also extremely important as a Street Dancer to learn because it’s the style that came first and has influenced Poppin heavily, so if you want to be good at other styles like Poppin my advice is be good at Lockin first and you’ll find Poppin easier (which is why we teach Poppin the term after Lockin!)

Anywho I am creating my mixtape as we speak and it’s gonna be a corker! To wet your appetite and get you in the zone for Lockin I have dropped a vid I think you will really like.

This is a battle from the UK BBOY Champs 2006, and it was one of the best battles I have seen for a while to showcase funk and individuality, it’s a great demonstration of the importance of identity. Every dancer in the battle dances very differently watch the vid and let me know which pair you prefer.

So I want to hear what you think, hit me up in the box below let me know what foundations you recognised and what you loved about each crew.

By the way the Japanese crew the GoGo Brothers were taught by their father Tony Gogo who was an original locker (he also taught me, small world!)

Hit me up in the comment box below I’d love to hear what you think of the dancers.

Have a fab weekend

Big Luv

Andy

I am in the bboy zone, it’s official!

Having just taught bboying for the last few weeks my head is in top rock mode, I thought to help you guys out I would just drop a bit of knowledge about bboying you may not be aware of.

Bboying knowledge:

1. In the culture we call it breakin or bboying, we don’t call it break dance.

why?

Cos back in the day circa 1977- when Rockstaeady was formed there was a lot of media attention surrounding young people who were getting down. When asked by a journalist, “what is this called” the reply came “we’re breakin” the journalist attempting accurate grammar named it “Break Dance” and popular media picked up on it and it spread.

The reason we call it Breakin or B-boying is because the term “Break” meant to go off and release high intense energy. That’s why we don’t call it break dance. Also the people that created the dance call it breakin or bboying, as they pioneered it they should probably get the right to name it, not a journalist!

2.What is Top Rocking?

Top rocking is the name given to what dancers do on top before they get down to the floor. Top rock often has influences from Latin and tap dance, African dance and Charleston as well as social dances of the day: The spanish hustle and the Webo.

Although there are many BBOY specific foundation movements such as shuffles which are clearly recognisable as BBOY steps the rule goes as long as your rocking, you can pretty much drop what you want.

-Remember to keep rocking though! This where the funk, groove and soul of the dance is.

These are just 2 questions that I get asked a lot, if you have any others please don’t be afraid to ask the culture and history of this dance is deep and an inquisitive mind seeking further knowledge to increase the depth of your knowledge nearly always helps understand your intention behind the dance.

Because of the acrobatic nature of the dance a lot of people associate breakin with power moves ( spinning on your head!) or flips. The truth there is a whole art to the dance that is beautiful to watch and has an artistic merit to it.

Last November I travelled to Switzerland to train with Crazy Legs, Mr Wiggles and BBoy Ynot. Me and YNOT cut the fat over dinner and had a very in depth conversation about dance in it’s rawest earliest form and what makes a dope BBOY or street dancer for that matter.

We both agreed because of the organic nature of dance and music the more styles and flavas you learn the more it helps your dance.

Here is a clip of YNOT owning the beat in a Top Rock set which is so inside the music it’s a joy to watch.

He is definitely not your typical BBOY!

Here’s to luvin music and dancing your butt off.

Have a fab weekend

Big Luv

Andy

P.S. If you enjoyed the video drop a comment below and let me know what you thought x

Yes yes Peeps!

This week has been mad, loved being back in class having missed everyone so much whilst on tour (to view what we got up to on tour scroll down for the videos!)

Lots of exciting stuff all in the pipeline which unfortunately I can’t talk about just yet but rest assured as soon as I can I will, 2012 is looking to be an incredible year, new classes, new events new crews new everything!

Junior crew:

Well Sunday at the auditions was really impressive, you know I’m not easily impressed but I have to say I was deeply moved by the passion, commitment and performance ability of the dancers.

Having decided after much deliberation to start a junior crew I was so blown away by the turn out of dancers who wanted to be in the new Junior crew. I was also humbled by the attitudes of the parents which was open honest and excited about the future (my kind of people!)

Mel and Pete who will be heading up the junior crew I know are super excited about the standard and we are all really excited about what the junior crew are going to achieve. A big thank you to the parents who took time out of their Sunday to support their children (I’m sure Mr Cameron would wish there more parents as caring and supportive as you guys!)

Here is a few pics of the junior auditions:

A big thank you to everyone who came down and made the day such a special event, big congratulations on everyone who made it and also to everyone who didn’t make it. To audition for anything in life you have to be strong and have courage, two of the most important traits to becoming the success you want. As I said on the day those of you who weren’t successful this time – work hard, attend extra classes make it your goal to succeed next year and the likely hood is you will. Remember talent is a falsehood… real progress comes from daily application and focus. Talent is the ability to never ever give up.

Senior Crew:

So last year we only took on 3 dancers. We are specifically very tight on who we let in to either of a our crews. Being part of a performance crew is a big commitment and we make sure we don’t take tourists.

So given the uber high standards I thought we may only take on 1 or 2 additional dancers….how wrong I was.

The standard was a whole level up from last year, it seems when one person raises the bar everyone else has to raise their’s and that’s exactly what happened.

The standard was so high across the board it made decisions uber tough, at one point the panel (Me, Alison (company manager) Fi (assistant dance captain), Alex (dance captain) nearly had a stand up brawl!

Such was the standard it was not a clear cut decision at all. Making the cut at each stage became so difficult when we got down to the last 30 we looked and realised that anyone of the dancers deserve to be in the crew. So we added new choreo and had to test other things just to raise the bar and try and differentiate the slightest difference so we could make our decision.

In the end we took 8 new dancers many more than we thought but the standard and dedication was so high we couldn’t choose.

It seems the bar keeps being raised and the focus and dedication needed to be part of the official crew only gets higher with time.

I can safely say the future of the Urban Strides Crew is in safe hands, with this much immense talent coming through and staggering commitment focus dedication and energy it’s only going to get better and better and better!

Congratulations to everyone who came down we really appreciate your time and effort. Those of you who were unsuccessful keep going, remember – most people in the crew had to audition for 3 or 4 years before getting in, so if it’s something you want – focus on it, train more, do advanced and intermediate classes, practice outside of class and you too could be part of the crew.

If you came down to the auditions let us know what you thought of the day spread some leave on a friday and leave a comment in the box below.

Have a great weekend,

To infinity and beyond!

Big Luv

Andy