Isn't hiring a night-club a bit ambitious. It would be expensive and you'd need to secure a lot of people.

Would hiring a small hall, such as those used by Womens' Insititutes, or keep fit classes, be more practical.

I think an approach along the lines of Gareth Malone would be interesting. He seemed to be encouraging small groups to start up by themselves. You need an instructor, a suitable small venue, and a few friends, but not much more.

Do you really think there'd be any chance of that?
He's made his two TV programmes and will no doubt have moved on to something else.

I remember a friend's wife at a party, she was pregnant so not drinking alcohol. Others could not understand how she was up dancing all night and thought she must be 'on something'.

There's a night club near me who hire out their venue before they open in the evening or available in the afternoon. It might be a bit ambitious but I didn't fancy the "church hall" route! Anyway, I don't want to derail the thread.

I absolutely love ballroom the elegance of it and the skill of the trained dancers have taking instruction from qualified teachers that know what they are doing.

But I also understand the appeal of more casual social dancing and I am baffled when I read that it is not more popular . It is because classic ballroom is the type of dancing people want to do and there are not enough social venues to support it...and qualified instructors to teach it as a social dance? Social foxtrot? Social cha cha? Or is that just wrong.

I think social dancing is driven by the more casual socializing atmosphere and the kind of music you want to dance to. It needs a strong dance community to support it. A gathering place for both instructions and social dancing to practice what you have learned. It seems there is a strong ceroc community where you are. The fact that it can be danced to various types of music helps popularity. You need a good d.j. that understands the vibe of the room to play the right mix of music that will get people up on the floor.

I know that a west coast swing which is very popular in the States especially in the western states is a social dance similar to ceroc although I do think there is more footwork and structure. There is a learning curve and basic patterns that need to be mastered but the lead and follow aspect is what makes it so engaging. Mere mortals can learn and get better because there is always social dancing after lessons. The huge variety in music that it is able to be danced to helps it to be popular especially with younger people who want to dance to contemporary pop music - their music. You make the dance fit the music, not the music to fit the dance so you dance one way to Sinatra and another way to Pitbull and another way to Adele but it is the same dance. Even at pro comps hosted at hotel venues there is always late night social dancing and you often see the pros social dancing with amateurs of all levels and along with teaching workshops to improve your skills. The late night social dancing is extremely popular. I think all of that helps it to promote it as a dance to learn for social dancing.

I would guess the drawback to this type of dancing is it not considered "real" dancing alongside of the formalized difficult ballroom dances No dance skills or talent required for the swing dances so could not be taken seriously, only social fun. In west coast swing the follower does not mirror the leader steps. He has to play close attention to what she does with her lead and react to her as they try to interpret the music together. The partners need to have a dance conversation to play off of each other and that is what makes it challenging, similar to the Argentine tango in that way. I would imagine that is also the appeal of ceroc although I don't know if the follower mirrors the leader in ceroc.

Here is an easy and basic social WCS danced by a couple who was expecting a baby in less than a month, what it looks like danced in a small dance club. I am not sure how it compares to a social ceroc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BexVOi0w2Fk

Another social dance that is highly popular in the Southern states is a Carolina shag which is a cousin of west coast swing. It has definite pattern of footwork and styling but again it is not a high faluting fancy dance and probably would come under the category of a fun silly social dance. But it is fun and quite nostalgic as it is danced to 50s and 60s music. What I love about this dance is that you can witness older people doing this alongside of very young people in the very same club dancing to the very same music. Something you don't often see. Great seeing older people continue to dance the way they did when they were young and teach it to the juniors. It is danced on the beach boulevards and clubs of the Carolinas and Virginia, the Southern Atlantic States. They hold dance contests every year and it helps to keep the dance alive. The Carolina shag is one of the few dances that is a male centered dance. She holds the rhythm and he spins around her.

Older guy and his young wife dancing Carolina shag. Even if this dance is not perfection there is a charm about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sFpX2S0rXo

Old and young teaching a workshop together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7auZqYy6iI

And old fashioned dance contest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui3MOOev0uo

The problem with Jack's project is that he wanted to show - if only for one night only - what social dancing used to be like in big opulent ballrooms. Regrettably that is never going to happen again, if only because most of those wonderful ballrooms have long disappeared (there are still a few around - among those seen on tv are the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool & the Rivoli Ballroom in Lewisham)..

However, the popularity of social dancing is really still very very strong, but fair to say, it can depend on location. A lot of cities and town centres, for example, tend to cater for expensive night clubs, pubs, and the like, but it's different in the suburbs.

If I drew a circle of no more than 2 miles wide around my house I can name, within that circle, at least 8 different social dances, for ballroom and Latin, that are held regularly every single week. As well as these, there are dances run specifically for sequence and old time dancing, plus endless tea dances run in the afternoons. And the point is everyone of these dances is usually packed.... get there early or you won't get a seat!