Our beginner courses cost £10 per person per class, billed monthly.

Classes run every Wednesday evening in Witham. There are no joining fees or long-term commitments — you pay month by month.

No experience is needed at all. Our beginner courses are designed specifically for adults who have never danced a step in their life.

We teach one dance per monthly course, starting completely from scratch, so everyone in the room is learning at the same pace.

We teach the full range of ballroom and Latin dances including Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive, and Paso Doble (as well as some Salsa and Argentine Tango)!

We also offer Sequence dancing. Beginner courses focus on one dance at a time so you can properly understand each style before moving on.

We run classes across North and Mid Essex including venues in Witham, Tiptree, Marks Tey, Coggeshall and Wickham Bishops.

Our Wednesday beginner courses run at Wickham Bishops Village Hall. Contact us for the current schedule of all venues and class times.

Yes — our beginner courses run every Wednesday evening in Witham and are designed for adults with no dance experience.

Each monthly course teaches one ballroom or Latin dance from scratch. You're welcome to come as a couple or on your own.

Each beginner course runs for one month — one class per Wednesday evening. Every course focuses on a single dance, so in four weeks you learn that dance properly from beginning to end rather than being rushed through several at once.

After completing a few beginner courses, students can progress to our Beginner Plus Class and beyond.

Children can start ballroom and Latin dancing from age 5 at Starlight Dancing. Our Shooting Stars classes are for children aged 5 to 11, and our Superstars classes are for teenagers aged 12 to 17.

Both programmes include the opportunity to sit UKA medal examinations and enter competitions.

Shooting Stars is our ballroom and Latin dance programme for children aged 5 to 11. Classes are fun, structured, and confidence-building, taught by fully qualified teachers.

Children can work toward UKA medal examinations and take part in local and regional dance competitions as they progress.

Yes — we offer UKA medal examinations for students of all ages and levels. These are formal graded assessments in ballroom and Latin dancing, and many of our students enjoy working toward them as a way to track their progress. Exams are entirely optional — plenty of our students dance purely for fun and fitness without ever sitting one.

Starlight Dancing teachers hold qualifications from the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing), UKA (United Kingdom Alliance) and ABD (Associated Board of Dancing), and the school is BDC certified.

Christopher Burrell and Emma Burgess have represented England in European and World Championships and performed alongside Strictly Come Dancing professionals including Aljaz Skorjanec, Janette Manrara, Oti Mabuse and Gorka Marquez on BBC-partnered P&O cruises.

Starlight Dancing has been teaching ballroom and Latin dancing in Essex for over 20 years. The school was founded by Lorraine Burrell, who has been a professional dance teacher for more than 30 years, and is now run alongside her children Christopher and Emma — making it a three-generation family dance school.

Yes — alongside weekly classes, Starlight Dancing runs a regular Saturday Night Social, weekly Practice Nights, an annual Summer Ball, a Christmas Ball, and dancing holidays.

These events give students the chance to practise in a relaxed social setting, meet other dancers, and enjoy the wider Starlight community beyond the classroom.

Yes — in fact, that's exactly who we teach best. The most common thing we hear from new students is that they were convinced they couldn't dance before they walked through the door.

Our teaching style is relaxed, patient and genuinely fun, and we've successfully taught hundreds of people who considered themselves completely uncoordinated. If you can walk, we can teach you to dance.

Ballroom dances — such as Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz and Tango — are typically smoother and more flowing, danced in a hold with your partner.

Latin dances — such as Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Paso Doble and Jive — are more rhythmic and expressive, with more individual movement and footwork.

At Starlight Dancing we teach both, and most of our students end up with a favourite in each category.