Greatest Showman hen party dance class Derby ringmaster energy, no big top required
The theme that rewards a big group: wide arms, loud unison and an ending built to be shouted rather than politely applauded. Everybody dances on one figure — £176 across ninety minutes — with the venue cost of the hired room totalled onto the same written quote well before the day, while a sixty-minute class runs at £151 plus venue.
The bit where a room turns into a company
Eighteen people hitting the same shape on the same count, which nobody in the room could have done ninety minutes earlier. This theme is the one where sheer numbers stop being a logistics headache and start being the effect.
Big group, one message, one figure back
Tell us roughly when and roughly how many and you'll get a call the same day with what's free at both rooms and a single written total for class plus venue. Large parties are usually the ones being quoted three different ways by three different people; this is the hen party idea that gets simpler as the numbers grow rather than harder.
Hold the date first and settle the rest later — a hen do dance class will happily change theme once the diary is safe. Nobody needs dance experience, including the two people currently insisting they'll just film it, and as hen party activities go a dance hen party with this soundtrack is the one that gets the grandmothers and the teenagers onto the same floor.
One routine, written around the people in front of you
"A big cast isn't a problem to solve. It's the reason this theme works — you just have to write for the cast that actually walked in." Standing instruction to every teacher
Nothing is pre-set. The teacher takes one look at how many of you there are, who can hold a shape, who is going to need the count called twice, and composes on the day from there. A party of nine and a party of twenty-eight leave with genuinely different choreography, because the material was cut to the room rather than handed down to it.
The vocabulary is deliberately broad and readable: a staged entrance, a wall of arms on the chorus, level changes so the back row is visible, and a stamp-and-clap section that lets people who can't dance make the biggest noise in the building. Ninety minutes leaves room for the staged entrance, a feature moment for the bride out front if she is willing, and a proper last run with everyone's phones already positioned. Sixty gives you one strong number and a finish.
Big companies need time to become a company. With eighteen or twenty-eight people, simply getting the wall of arms and the level changes to arrive together takes patience, so ninety minutes is the length we put forward for this theme, and the back row is never left behind while the front row races on.
Two or three people who genuinely can't jump? Say so in the notes and the shapes change rather than the people.
Five numbers on the bill; the room decides
The Greatest ShowBuilt for entrances. Loud, stampy, and the fastest way to make twenty people look like a cast.
front-runnerThis Is MeThe one somebody will cry to. Slower shapes, big finish, and unusually kind to non-dancers.
bankerCome AliveWhere the choreography gets playful — good for a group with a couple of show-offs in it.
front-runnerRewrite the StarsSweeping and partnered-feeling without anyone needing an actual partner.
if timeFrom Now OnClosing material. Slow build, everyone in, arms up, cameras out.
closerThat is a list of contenders the teacher picks from on the day, not a running order. Nothing about the sequence is promised beforehand, and requests written into the form are considered rather than guaranteed.
One number non-negotiable?Put it in the notes box and it gets weighed up first.
Get a written figure ↑
Where a company of twenty actually fits
Big parties are the reason we name the room in writing. Railway Terrace, Derby DE1 2RU is the one to pick when half the guest list is arriving by train from Burton upon Trent, Long Eaton or Ashbourne and you'd rather not herd anybody across town with bags. Chapel Street, Derby DE1 3GU is the one to pick when the evening is already booked round the Market Place and the Cathedral Quarter, because you finish the class more or less where the night starts.
Sensible running order for a group this size: eat early, class mid-afternoon, twenty minutes of photographs nobody planned for, then out. Costume is entirely yours to sort — top hats, tails, sequinned everything, all of it brought by the group, none of it supplied by us. Whatever turns up, the routine is the same; only the photographs change.
Two letters from the cheap seats
"Twenty-two people is where most activities start adding zeroes. Here it was one figure, one room, and a teacher who used the size of us as the point rather than the problem. The entrance alone was worth the trip."
"We got a proper entrance, a wall of arms on the chorus and an ending that genuinely made people shout. Two of the party have knee trouble and both were in it throughout — that mattered more than any of us expected."
Numbers still moving?Send the date now and firm the headcount up later.
Pin the Saturday ↑Six questions, straight answers
If your question involves a number bigger than thirty, ring 07534 019087 and we'll talk rooms properly.
How much is the whole circus, all in? +
Two figures, nothing else: £176 for ninety minutes, covering the whole company, with the hired room's venue cost written in beside it — or £151 plus venue for a sixty-minute class. Nine of you or twenty-nine, the class fee doesn't move.
Does the routine cover more than This Is Me? +
It can. The Greatest Show, Come Alive, Rewrite the Stars and From Now On are all in the running, and the teacher shortlists on the day. No programme is ever sent out in advance.
Are top hats and tails on us? +
They are. Hats, canes, sequins and the rest are the group's own to organise — we don't supply or lend any of it. Jeans get the identical class; costume just wins the photographs.
Will anyone be asked to do circus tricks? +
No lifting, tumbling or swinging from anything. It is arms, shapes and timing — big unison material that reads from the back. Shapes get rewritten around anyone's knees or shoulders.
Which Derby room swallows a company that size? +
Both rooms we hire take a big party. Railway Terrace, Derby DE1 2RU suits train arrivals; Chapel Street, Derby DE1 3GU sits at the top of the centre. The exact room is confirmed in writing.
What if the group’s dancing peaked at school discos? +
Then this is aimed squarely at you. No dance experience is assumed, the routine is composed on the day around whoever turns up, and a big company shape is very good at hiding beginners.