About Us
Welcome to Ballroom Baby - Geelong’s best ballroom dance school. Our vibrant studio is not just a place to learn dance; it’s a community. From beginners to seasoned dancers, kids to adults, Ballroom Baby is Geelong’s home of competitive and social ballroom dance - for the 2020’s.
Our Team
Ballroom Baby has attracted highly experienced and qualified instructors to Geelong - but more importantly, our number one hiring criteria is that they are good people, who will care for our students and make each class fun and rewarding. Our team is led by studio director Zac van Grondelle, a qualified Dancesport adjudicator and coach with 20 years experience in the industry.
Our Story
Ballroom Baby has operated since 2016 and was established by Zac van Grondelle who began dancing at the age of 10, coming from a family of ballroom dance teachers. After a few years in Geelong, he learnt in Melbourne for over 10 years, competing nationally and internationally, including a brief stint in Europe. Returning to Geelong, Zac set out to create a ballroom studio where young people felt welcome and could thrive - and wouldn’t have to travel up the highway for quality ballroom classes - and Ballroom Baby was born. In 2019, we opened a new studio space in Geelong CBD, entirely dedicated to the art of ballroom dance. In 2022, we assumed management of Beachside Ballroom in Torquay, which had a 15 year history of dance on the Surf Coast and adopted their community into ours.
We called it Ballroom Baby because it was a new generation of Ballroom and it is young, fresh and exciting. Yeah baby!
Our Classes
We teach Ballroom Dancing. Or, as it’s known on the competition circuit - Dancesport. Ballroom dance consists of three styles - your traditional standard ballroom (waltz, tango, viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep), the fiery Latin American rhythms (samba, cha cha, rumba, Paso double and jive) and our favourite sequence dances, New Vogue. Our studio is a Registered Training Facility with Dancesport Australia and therefore we teach by their syllabus and rules, as well as our medal system from the Australian Dancing Society.
But, this isn’t the ballroom dancing that our grandparents did - it’s our brand of high energy, high glamour, Ballroom (Baby) Dancing.
Our Community
We’re not just a dance studio; we’re a community! We welcome all who play by our simple rules: work hard, have fun and support each other. It’s the perfect way to meet new friends, build connections, and share in the love of dance. Our community members stay updated at our community page, which has all current events, news, and more.
