Charleston Hen Party Dance Class Cheltenham
Flying knees, flapping fringe and the happiest dance ever invented: one teacher, your whole party, one routine — £190 for ninety minutes, venue cost added, everything on one written quote (sixty minutes, if you must, is £165 plus venue).
A hundred years old and still the life of the party
No dance in history has a better joy-to-difficulty ratio. The Charleston looks like chaos, breaks down into four friendly counts, and rewards enthusiasm over precision so generously that a hen party dance class in this style flatters everyone from the bride’s netball team to her nan. When twelve sets of knees finally swivel in unison, the noise the room makes is worth the fee on its own.
Your teacher knows the period moves inside out — the basic, the swivel, the scarecrow, the bees’ knees — and the routine itself is invented in the room, cut to the group actually stood there. Never danced before? The Charleston genuinely doesn’t care; it predates the idea that dancing should be taken seriously.
And here’s the local bonus other towns can’t offer: you’ll be doing the jazz age in a town that already dresses the part. Cheltenham’s Regency terraces, Montpellier’s statue-lined walk, the Pittville Pump Room’s columns — a hen do dance class here comes with a backdrop most twenties-themed parties have to hire a set designer for.
From standing still to full flapper
Bounce before brains
A springy warm-up to hot jazz — the twenties bounce goes into the knees before anyone has time to overthink it.
The basic, then the swivel
Four counts forward, four counts back, then the heel-twist that makes the whole thing suddenly look real.
Kicks and character
Scarecrow arms, cheeky faces and flying kicks — each with a gentler version taught right alongside.
The kick line forms
Everyone side by side for one filmed, fringe-flying finale — the photo that ends up framed.
What the single quote settles
A period-fluent proyour choreographer teaches real twenties vocabulary, not a generic wedding-disco shuffle
inOne price, every henthe group pays £190 for the ninety or £165 for a shorter sixty — only the venue’s hire cost goes on top
flatThe room, arrangedwe hold the hall booking and quote its charge inside the same written figure from the start
inThe kick-line footagefinale filmed on your phones under direction — the group’s to keep, share or suppress
yoursThe Charleston is a knees-first dance, and knees appreciate a slower build. Ninety minutes lets the swivel settle before the flying kicks join it, gives anyone on the gentler version a breather or two, and means the kick line forms with some bounce still left in it for the camera.
Outside the fee, on purpose: fringe dresses, beads, headbands and gloves. The twenties wardrobe is the group’s own quest — and turning up in gym kit changes nothing about how much fun the class is.
Our hall or yours — you choose
Tommy Taylors Lane, GL50 4RN
One of the venues we offer is the hall we hire on Tommy Taylors Lane, on the Pittville side of Cheltenham. It has a proper dance floor, room for a big group to spread out, parking nearby and the town-centre bars a short taxi away. We book it for your slot, and its hire goes onto your written quote as the venue cost.
Already got somewhere? We’ll come to you
A hotel function room, a hired house with a big lounge, a village hall, a marquee with a solid floor — if there’s space for everyone to move and a socket for the speaker, the teacher travels to you anywhere around Cheltenham. The class fee stays the same flat figure, and whatever your venue charges stays between you and them.
Charleston kicks and swivels want a smooth, uncarpeted floor if your place can offer one.
Not sure which option suits? Tell us where the group is staying when you enquire and we’ll suggest the easier one.
Five stompers to get your list kicking
The Charlestonthe 1923 original — the reason your grandmother’s grandmother misbehaved
the originalA Little Party Never Killed Nobodythe Gatsby-soundtrack banger built for hen parties specifically
Gatsby glamBang Bangelectro-swing swagger — twenties knees at modern tempo
electro-swingPuttin’ on the Ritzelegant, strutting and secretly simple to choreograph around
the strutSing, Sing, Singthat drum intro — irresistible for a big group in full flight
big drumsThese five are here to jog the memory, nothing more — your list can be any five songs, from genuine 1920s shellac to this year’s chart. Post-booking, we’ll ask for that top five in order of preference, and the teacher choreographs to one of them before your knees ever arrive. No list sent? The teacher pulls a Charleston record of their own.
The twenties, staged in Regency Cheltenham
Do the class at two or three in the afternoon, while the knees are willing. Before it, brunch in Montpellier and a slow drift past the caryatids with everyone guessing what a swivel is; after it, showers, beads, and dinner somewhere the fringe can catch the candlelight. Hens travel in from Cirencester, Evesham and Gloucester easily — the hired hall sits just north of the centre, a short cab from wherever you’re staying.
Flat shoes or low heels are the honest advice — the Charleston lives in the balls of the feet. Of all the hen party ideas in the group vote, this dance hen party wins the photo album — and beats any other hen party activity for grins per minute.
Flappers, filing their reports
Ten of us in fringe we’d panic-ordered midweek, kicking like it was 1926. The teacher got the swivel into every pair of knees inside twenty minutes, including my mum’s.
We walked past the Regency columns on the way in feeling silly, and strutted past them on the way out feeling like the town was finally dressed correctly for us.
One quote, hall included, and not a single follow-up invoice. After three weeks of herding this group, being handed one number felt like a spa treatment.
Sixty-three years old, zero jazz history, and I did the full kick line at the finale. My knees complained on Sunday but my ego hasn’t stopped celebrating.
The bees’ knees, explained properly
How quickly does the basic step click? +
Faster than any other theme we teach — most groups have the forward-and-back basic inside ten minutes, because it’s really just walking with opinions. The swivel takes a little longer and arrives with a room-wide cheer when it does.
Fringe, beads and headbands — whose department are they? +
Entirely yours, and happily so. We don’t supply dresses, beads or feathered headbands; the group sources its own twenties wardrobe, which becomes a fortnight of glorious group-chat commerce. Ordinary clothes dance exactly as well.
What if our group spans three generations? +
The Charleston was made for that — it’s the rare theme where the older generation may have the edge, and every kick has a low-impact version taught alongside the flashy one. Mixed parties from 19 to 70 finish the same routine together.
Does Cheltenham actually suit a twenties theme? +
Uncannily well. The town’s Regency terraces and Montpellier’s caryatid-lined walk were built a century before the jazz age, but they share its whole philosophy — dressing up, showing off, promenading. Your photos will look art-directed without trying.
Who decides the music for our Charleston class? +
You do, if you want to. After booking, send your top five songs in order of preference — twenties stompers, modern electro-swing crossovers or anything else you fancy — and the teacher choreographs to one of them in advance of the class. The titles on this page are only ideas. If you’d rather not choose, send nothing and the teacher selects the Charleston song.
How far ahead should a summer date book? +
Two to three months keeps things calm; more if your weekend collides with a festival or a race meeting, when Cheltenham’s rooms are suddenly everybody’s idea. Enquire with a rough date — even ‘some Saturday in July’ — and we’ll hold the thread from there.