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Tuesday 7pm - 10pm Thursday 7pm - 10pm

The Breakaway - Swing Dancing in Oakland

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The Breakaway - Swing Dancing in Oakland

Oakland's very own swing dancing venue in downtown Oakland every Thursday. Drop-in beginner class and social dancing every Thursday night.

Progressive class series begin at the start of each month. Live band once a month! See our website for more details: breakawayswing.com

05/31/2026

We celebrated World Lindy Hop Day (i.e. Frankie Manning's birthday) this month with a class on Classic Lindy Hop Moves! Here's a recap of Bryan and Kacey showing some of what they taught!

Want to learn Lindy Hop? Join us in Oakland every Thursday night! Preregistration for June classes is open at our link in bio!

05/26/2026

It’s almost June, which means it’s time to register for June classes! Sign up with the link in bio! Here’s what’s on offer this month:

Beginner: Let the Music Groove You with Max and Kevin
Rhythm is a key part of what makes Lindy Hop the dance that it is! Syncing up with your partner to the beat of the music is the first thing you’ll do in every dance. In this class you’ll learn important 8 count Lindy Hop patterns like the Lindy Circle, all while practicing the skills you need for identifying, matching, syncopating, and playing around with the beat of the music.
(Max’s headshot provided by Jerry Almonte)

Intermediate: Tandem Charleston with Irina and Paul
Tandem Charleston is one of the most eye-catching patterns in Lindy Hop, which is probably why you see it so often in competitions and performances! With one partner in front of the other, it looks totally different than almost any other position in Lindy Hop! Come learn the ins and outs of tandem, how to smoothly transition to it, and some fun moves and variations that come out of it!

Intermediate Elective: A Different Intro to Balboa with Annie and Tom
This is the second month of our Beginner Balboa classes, which will cover different material than last month, so you can join regardless of whether or not you took last month’s class! Balboa is a swing dance that originated in Southern California in the 1920s and enjoyed huge popularity during the 1930s and 1940s. Because it emphasizes rhythmic weight shifts, subtle movements, and closed-position partnering, Balboa is ideal for very fast tempos (around 180 to 300 beats per minute). As a dance, balboa is frequently integrated with lindy hop, with dancers sometimes even switching back and forth within one song!
(Annie’s photo provided by Paulo Sentio)

Advanced Topics: Triple Steps and Step Steps with Amanda and Calvin
In this class, we’ll break existing patterns and explore new ones to help us learn about how to lead and follow different kinds of footwork, and how we can use those skills to make our dancing more comfortable, interesting, and musical!

05/07/2026

Happy first week of May! There’s still time to sign up for classes this month! Sign up online or at the door!

Beginner: Kick Steppin’ to the Beat w/Alex and Stas
It’s time to learn some Charleston! If you’ve seen people kicking their way across the dance floor, you’re probably familiar with some of these energetic moves! Aside from learning Charleston moves, you’ll also focus on good footwork, so that you know how to stay balanced while moving confidently across the floor. Then learn some fancy steps that will help you express your own personal shine when you’re dancing with others! No partner and no experience necessary.

Intermediate: Classic Moves w/Kacey and Bryan
Lindy Hop has certainly changed in many ways since the 1930’s, but there a lot of things that are so cool and so awesome that they’re ingrained into and help form the bedrock of this dance. We don’t always have names for them, we don’t always teach them the exact same way, but Lindy Hoppers from around the world can take one look at be like “Oh yeah, I know that one.” Come learn some classic lindy steps this month!

Int Elective: Intro to Balboa w/Kate and PJ
Balboa is a swing dance that originated in Southern California in the 1920s and enjoyed huge popularity during the 1930s and 1940s. Because it emphasizes rhythmic weight shifts, subtle movements, and closed-position partnering, Balboa is ideal for very fast tempos (around 180 to 300 beats per minute). As a dance, balboa is frequently integrated with lindy hop, with dancers sometimes even switching back and forth within one song!

Adv Topics: Flip it and Reverse it w/Kristin and Gary
Of course leaders use their left hand and rock step with their left foot, and followers with their right. But what if we shook things up? In this class you’ll learn about handholds and footwork that flip what we’re used to. They’re fun to do, and they teach us about how to smoothly navigate surprises and changes in improv dancing!

05/03/2026

We taught the Big Apple in our elective class this month! Who already needs a refresher on the second half?! 👀✋😭

Series classes for May start this Thursday for all levels from Beginner to Advanced!
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The Breakaway every Thursday
🕖 Series Classes: 7-8pm
🕢 Beginner Taster Class: 7:30pm-8:15pm
✨ no partner or experience required for Beginner Series or Taster class!
🕗 Social Dance: 8-10pm
📍Lake Merritt Dance at 200 Grand Ave, Oakland CA
💵 Check link in bio for pricing and registration

04/15/2026

Ready to try something new this weekend? 💙

Join us at Breakaway Blues this Saturday, April 18 in Oakland
✨ Beginner & intermediate lessons
✨ No partner needed
✨ Welcoming, supportive community

Whether it’s your first time or you’ve been dancing for years, there’s space for you here.

Come join us on the dance floor.

03/26/2026

Registration is open for April classes! Sign up with the link in our bio. Check out what’s up this month:

Beginner: Moving Together with Cat and Bryan
The focus of this class is something fundamental to social dancing: Connection! After all, coordinating movement with another person is what makes Lindy Hop a partner dance. Starting with some basics and building up in complexity each week, you’ll learn different moves to get you and your partner on the same page and jammin’ together on the dance floor! No partner and no experience necessary.

Intermediate: Transitions and Textures with Hannah and Kevin
As they say in the Shim Sham song, “Tain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it!” In this class you’ll learn to smooth out your movement with patterns old and new, and help you find the texture that makes your dancing feel like a million bucks.

Intermediate Elective: The Big Apple
The Big Apple is a classic jazz routine, best known for its performance by Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers in the film Keep Punching (1939). We’ll tackle this challenging choreography all month long, and we’ll perform it at the dance on Live Band Night. This class will move at an aggressive pace, and some familiarity with solo jazz dancing is expected. Get ready to sweat!

Advanced Topics: Moves with Flow
Channel your inner waterbender as we moving with flow, learn some neat combos that have especially nice flow, and talk about influencing and adapting with flow from both the leader’s and follower’s side! Join this class if you want to go chase some waterfalls instead of sticking to the rivers and the lakes like you’re used to!

03/23/2026

Ten years of dancing together, doing Thriller together, and “5-6-7-8 Breakaway”-ing together. From our cozy roots at the Starline Social Club to the gorgeous Lake Merritt Dance Center we call home, we’ve loved every Tuesday and Thursday with you. Come make more memories with us this Thursday with Clint Baker’s Golden Gate Swing Band!

Photos by our longtime friend and OG Breakaway dancer , photos 12 and 14 by our friend .photo!!!

03/19/2026

Oakland… we’re dancing this Saturday. 🔥

Breakaway Blues is back with another night of great music, connection, and community.

Start with a class, then stay for a social.

💃🏾 No partner needed
📍 Oakland Veteran's Memorial Hall

Pull up. Bring a friend. Stay late.

03/04/2026

Feeling inspired from Swingin’ at the Savoy? Challenge yourself with one of our March classes! Sign up at the link in our bio.

Beginner: Ready, Set, Swingout! w/Aini and Yagmur
The Swingout is THE move that defines so much of Lindy Hop. It’s a move you’ll be refining for the rest of your lindy hop journey, but for now we’ll just start by learning the basics of it, as well as a variety of other classic lindy hop moves to put into your dancing. The swingout is critical for Intermediate and this class is well worth taking multiple times if you feel like you haven’t got it down pat after just one month with it.

Intermediate: Dancing on Your Own w/Max and Helen
Solo jazz is an important part of any lindy hop and jazz dancer’s skill set—and it’s really fun! This class will give you some classic moves, encourage you to explore how these moves work for your body, and help you take what you’ve learned confidently onto the dance floor. Building on Black dance traditions and values from Vernacular Jazz and related dances, we’ll dig into a couple moves every week, and then jam together in an open, welcoming environment.

Intermediate Training Sessions: Closed Position w/Kacey and Bryan
Half of all your dancing involves closed position. From the gentle swaying at the start of the dance, to the high-energy face-off in the middle of a swingout, to the bouncy side-by-side of basic Charleston. Dive into all of these and more in this class focused on building a strong closed connection for all situations.

Advanced Topics: Musical Modifications w/Calvin
Musicality isn’t always a super big, overt moment where you do a really dynamic variation on top of a musical hit. A lot of musicality actually involves a bunch of little tweaks to your basics, your bounce, and your overall movement. In this class, we’ll aim to learn a bunch of “mini-variations” and then listen closely to the music to see if we can make intentional choices about how to dance.

03/01/2026

Feeling inspired from Swingin’ at the Savoy? Challenge yourself with one of our March classes! Sign up at the link in our bio.

Beginner: Ready, Set, Swingout! w/Aini and Yagmur
The Swingout is THE move that defines so much of Lindy Hop. It’s a move you’ll be refining for the rest of your lindy hop journey, but for now we’ll just start by learning the basics of it, as well as a variety of other classic lindy hop moves to put into your dancing. The swingout is critical for Intermediate and this class is well worth taking multiple times if you feel like you haven’t got it down pat after just one month with it.

Intermediate: Dancing on Your Own w/Max and Helen
Solo jazz is an important part of any lindy hop and jazz dancer’s skill set—and it’s really fun! This class will give you some classic moves, encourage you to explore how these moves work for your body, and help you take what you’ve learned confidently onto the dance floor. Building on Black dance traditions and values from Vernacular Jazz and related dances, we’ll dig into a couple moves every week, and then jam together in an open, welcoming environment.

Intermediate Training Sessions: Closed Position w/Serena and Steven
Half of all your dancing involves closed position. From the gentle swaying at the start of the dance, to the high-energy face-off in the middle of a swingout, to the bouncy side-by-side of basic Charleston. Dive into all of these and more in this class focused on building a strong closed connection for all situations.

Advanced Topics: Musical Modifications w/Calvin
Musicality isn’t always a super big, overt moment where you do a really dynamic variation on top of a musical hit. A lot of musicality actually involves a bunch of little tweaks to your basics, your bounce, and your overall movement. In this class, we’ll aim to learn a bunch of “mini-variations” and then listen closely to the music to see if we can make intentional choices about how to dance.

Address

200 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA
94610

Opening Hours

Tuesday	7pm - 10pm
Thursday	7pm - 10pm

Website

http://www.breakawayswing.com/

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