A Brixton Primary School Turns Into A 2 Room Dance Party Tomorrow Night, And The Lessons Come With The Ticket

Tomorrow night, Saturday 3 October, a primary school hall in Brixton gets turned into one of the bigger Latin and Afro dance nights in London. Drena, the monthly party run by Rhythm & Vibes Dance Co, is back at St John’s Angell Town Church of England Primary School, with kizomba in one room and salsa and bachata in the other, and a beginners’ class at 9pm before any of it starts. If you have ever watched people dance salsa and thought you would never manage it, this is pretty much the night built for that.

What Is On Tomorrow And When

Doors open at 8:30pm, and the timings run like this.

• 8:30pm: doors open
• 9pm: classes in kizomba and in salsa and bachata, and beginners are welcome
• 10pm to 2:30am: the party itself, across the 2 rooms
• 1:30am: strictly last entry, so turning up after that is not an option

That 9pm class is the bit worth paying attention to if you are new. It is included in the ticket, which means the hour before the party is basically a free lesson, and by the time the music goes up at 10 you have at least got the basic step to work with.

What It Costs To Get In

Advance tickets are £12, and on the door it is £15, card only. Advance booking shuts at 5pm the day before, which for tomorrow’s night means 5pm today, so anybody on the fence has a few hours left to save the £3.

Either price includes the classes and 1 coat check item. Coat check is compulsory, at £1 an item, so it is worth not turning up with a coat, a bag and a jumper unless you are happy paying for each one.

£12 for a lesson and four and a half hours of dancing is fair for London, honestly.

Never Danced Kizomba Before

Plenty of people will know salsa, a few will know bachata, and fewer will know kizomba, which is the one that comes from Angola. It is slower and closer than salsa, and a lot of people describe it as more about connection with the partner than about fancy footwork, which is partly why it has caught on the way it has.

Having it in its own room is handy. Somebody who loves salsa and somebody who wants to try kizomba can come together and split up for an hour without either of them sitting out, and the beginners’ classes in both styles mean you are not thrown in cold either way.

The Man Behind It Learned From Angolans

Richard Voogt runs Rhythm & Vibes, and he is from Cape Town in South Africa. He is actually a trained biochemist with a master’s degree, and he only found dancing while he was at university.

His path into it is quite specific. He started on salsa and bachata in 2007, then after moving to the United States he was introduced to kizomba, semba and afrohouse in 2010, and he spent time training with and living alongside Angolans, which is where those styles come from. He came back to the UK in 2015 to set up his own school and go professional, and he still teaches there while travelling to teach at dance events abroad.

That background matters for a night like this. Kizomba taught by somebody who learned it from the people whose dance it is tends to feel different from kizomba picked up off a video.

How Big It Actually Gets

The organisers say 350 plus dancers come every month, and that the night has been going for 11 years. Their own figures have shifted over time, to be fair, a 2023 listing for the same party said over 250 dancers a month, and the school’s website has described it as running for over 6 years, so take the exact numbers as the organisers’ own.

What is clear is that it is not a one off. The school also says over 4,000 people take part in its events each year, and it runs a weekly salsa and bachata night on Wednesdays at Dogstar in Brixton as well.

What To Wear, Because There Is A Theme

Every month has a dress theme, and October’s is Leather & Lace. Nobody is going to turn you away for ignoring it, but plenty of people do dress up, and it is half the fun of the night.

Shoes are the one thing that really matters. Something with a smooth sole that lets you turn is much easier than trainers with a lot of grip.

Getting There And The House Rules

• Address: St John’s Angell Town School, 85 Angell Road, Brixton, SW9 7HH
• Entrance: on Overton Road, not Angell Road
• From the tube: about an 8 minute walk from Brixton station
• Parking: free on the street
• Bar: full bar, with air conditioning inside
• Not allowed: chewing gum, or bringing your own drinks

The gum rule sounds odd until you remember it is a school hall with a dance floor, and nobody wants it stuck to their shoe halfway through a turn.

If Tomorrow Does Not Work

Drena runs on one Saturday a month, so there are 2 more this year.

• Saturday 7 November: dress theme Afro Chique
• Saturday 5 December: the Xmas Ball

With December being the Christmas one, booking early would be sensible. Either way, the class at 9pm is the one not to miss.