Cat’s Corner

Cat’s Corner is a friendly swing club that caters to beginners and experts alike. Located in the back of the Balancoire Club, Cat’s Corner springs to life every Wednesday night. Beginner lessons begin at 9:00pm with a live band starting at 9:30pm ($ 10 for lesson and open dance).
When my dance companion and I first arrived, we were able to catch the end of the progressive lessons (aka not one-​shot like the beginner lessons) where 10 – 20 people practice and perform a dance routine. Skill levels ranged, but everyone looks merry and bright.
Our own beginner lesson taught the Charleston and a simple spin. Note that they have the leaders and followers rotate every minute to try dancing with a new partner. We were not anticipating this, so beware! I understand it helps your dance skills to switch partners, but the experience can be a little strange. There’s a lot of friendly characters though, so nothing to be scared of.
After the beginner lesson, the instructors opened the floor to all kinds of dancing. Dancers tended to be on the more experienced side and also on the older side. If we knew more moves, we would have stayed longer, but overall a fantastic night!

Cat’s Corner is a weekly (Wednesdays) swing dance venue in San Francisco. The dance happens at the Balançoire Club on the Mission St.
Logistics: $ 10 buys you an attendance to the dance (9:30PM) and a drop-​in lesson at 9:00PM. There are two set of progressive lessons prior to that: beginner at 7PM and intermediate at 8PM. Easy but expensive parking is available at the Mission Bartlett Garage (entrance at 3255 21^st St, closes at midnight, will cost more than the dance). Street parking is possible but tough to find.
Venue: The club is essentially a single long room with the bar area closer to the entrance and the dance floor in the back. Those who come early can secure seating close to the dance floor, the rest will have to stand up or seat in the bar area. Dance floor is relatively small for the crowd and is of good quality. Compared to other SF venues this one feels a bit cramped and worn out. There is a second dance floor upstairs used during the lessons.
Music: The dance goes to the live music, the band selection varies. On the two occasions I had visited the place, the music was quite danceable.
Crowd: I have attended an event prior to the New Year with live music. There were about 70 dancers, with technically many more leads than follows. However, a lot of leads did not dance much, so finding a follower was easy. A lot of people in the club did not dance for some reason, perhaps due to the overcrowded conditions on the dance floor. I was told that this situation is unusual. The skills of most follows I have danced with were very good, many were way above my intermediate level, few beginners were skilled enough to make dancing fun even in the crowded conditions. There were few true beginners as well.
The lessons: I have attended the progressive beginner and intermediate lessons. Both were of very high quality and went at a fast pace. The drop-​in lesson was also quite useful and structured in a way useful to beginners with some dance experience that would like to expand their skills and low-​intermediate dancers. However, drop-​in lesson made first-​timers confused due to the rapid pace and complexity of the lesson. For the follows this was somewhat compensated by assistance from more experienced leads, but true beginner leads were left in the dark. There were many more leads than follows at the drop-​in lesson; this was mitigated by many regulars helping out as follows and the overall ratio became pretty even.
Overall: a very good venue for intermediate and advanced leads. Not the best place to start dancing unless one makes a choice to attend the progressive beginner lessons. Some of the follows had a lot of idle time, so it might pay off to bring your own lead with you.

I’ve danced at swing clubs all around the world, and Cat’s Corner is one of the best. Great environment, great people and great music.

I highly recommend it. My first time taking class from Nathan I signed up for the month long beginner swing class and only knew one person going in. After that month, I had a whole collection of awesome friends. If you do decide to sign up online for the month long class, do so early to get the cheaper price and to get your spot saved before it fills up.
7−8pm month long beginner class
8−9pm month long intermediate class (get approval from Nathan before hopping in)
9 – 9:30pm drop in crash course (free with price of month long class or if you just come to social dance, free with the $ 10 price of admission)
9:30pm live band – different every week
Here’s what I love:
–At the start of every introductory 9pm lesson they always explain that leaders have traditionally been guys and followers have traditionally been girls but that all they care about is that you pick one role and stick with it.
–At the beginning of each month long class we go around and share what we do during the day and answer one fun question about ourselves (favorite cereal, for ex). I’ve taken class elsewhere and the instructors rarely do this but I feel like this is part of the reason it’s so easy to form new friendships in class. The frequent high-​fives also help. :)
–Nathan and Alyssa are top notch teachers. Excellent at getting newbies into the groove of swing and also excellent at gauging where the class’ skills are lacking and pinpointing them. They’re also not afraid to discretely give individual corrections if need be.
–In the month long classes, once a move has been taught and after dictating exactly which moves come next for a few rounds, they then incorporate times when leaders can practice deciding what to do next and correctly leading what to do next, it also gives followers a chance to practice reading the cues from the leader.
–I always leave in a better mood than when I arrived.