ABOUT US
UTOPIA was founded by us in 2007 and still continues to be the destination venue for dancers throughout the UK who love Chill Out music and who want to hear the hottest new tracks on the scene. Every event we run is about attention to detail: from the lighting, sound and dressing of the venue, right down to the welcome you receive on the door.
Over the years many dance organisations have come and gone, but after 15 years we're still going strong!
Our traditional UTOPIA events are held in Twickenham and are aimed at dancers - like us - who love Blues, Soul, Funk, Dance & R&B. All of the music that we play is about the feel and composition and has an emphasis on music that promotes the concept of musicality in dancing.
Our events are supported by a broad range of dancers with varying styles and as such our DJs always play to the floor. On this basis you can expect a mix of music but that mix is constantly varied based on styles and tempos that suit the floor and the dancers present on any given night. Essentially it’s a night of dancing to music that will always be slower, funkier and often more expressive than you would expect to hear at a normal freestyle. So if you enjoy slower music or want to learn more about these styles of dance then these are the nights for you.
Other events that we run under the UTOPIA banner also include Twisted, Colossus, Zen, PURE and Mojo. And in addition, we run a number of themed events such as: Spooktopia, S'funk, The Black & White Ball and Yuletopia.
Our Twisted events are aimed at a broad cross section of dancers and follow a format of an up-tempo section followed by a slower UTOPIA section. The first part of the evening until midnight has an up-tempo vibe akin to a regular Ceroc freestyle and therefore encompasses a variety of music and a variety of tempos. The music then changes to the slower more intimate feel of a traditional UTOPIA event after midnight.
This means that it's essentially two freestyle events in one, with the expectation that this will encourage more dancers to crossover from one form of dancing to another. Events run with this format include Twisted at Hermitage and Colossus at the Watford Colosseum.
At our PURE events, held in London and Twickenham on an ad-hoc basis, the emphasis is on playing just pure Blues and old style Rhythm and Blues music. These forms of music are generally more expressive and slower than you would expect to hear at general freestyles and therefore cater to a more dedicated audience who love these styles of music.
At Zen, held at Chiswick Town Hall, we have a mix of all the above hosted in 3 rooms all in the same venue. On this basis Zen is the ultimate crossover event where dancers can enjoy up-tempo music in the main room, but can also dance to UTOPIA music or PURE style music in the other rooms.
And finally, at Mojo, we cater for dancers who love a Club atmosphere, and this night therefore encompasses Club, Dance & House Music twisting to Cool Lounge and R&B at midnight. It's actually proved to be one of the most surprising of the events we run - we had no idea so many people loved this style of music and dancers literally rave about it every time they attend.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Our main aim in creating the UTOPIA experience is to encourage more dancers into the Chill-Out/Blues dance environment. This can often be a daunting prospect for anyone on the periphery, which is why we also run Utopia Academy workshops from time to time to help build confidence.
Workshops are updated on a regular basis and, in addition, most of our freestyle events commence with a specialist dance class – eg. Blues, Smooth, Funky or SILC. We also always run a series of slower dancing technique based workshops in the afternoon prior to our Colossus events. This gives dancers the opportunity of trying new moves, styles and patterns before the evening glides seamlessly into hours of chilled and challenging freestyle music.
This program of teaching has recently been enhanced by the SILC format introduced in 2012. This style of dance is based on technique and connection. As such it fits perfectly into the format of our events and the music we play.
This was further extended when we also launched the LUX Dance weekender, in conjunction with Bill & Becky Cooper 13years ago. The idea was to create a weekend full of inspirational teachers, DJs, workshops, mastercallses and freestyles - this has been a great success and the event goes from strength to strength each year. LUX details HERE.
More details on our workshops can be found in the Academy section of our website HERE.
We pride ourselves on gender balancing our nights, and have self imposed maximum capacity limits which means that ladies' tickets always sell out faster than men's. We could of course make a lot more money by not doing this; but our goal in running our events is not just to make the most profit we can, but instead to run the best possible events we can. On this basis gender balancing, along with imposing maximum capacity limits, result in an improved dance experience for all concerned.
You can however, subscribe to our news listing which always alerts you to when bookings open, plus of course the HOME page of our website list news on a regular basis. You can subscribe via our contact page HERE.
We also never rest on our laurels. If there's one thing that defines UTOPIA it's constant innovation in both creating new events and breaking new music on the dance scene. Our Djs have an enviable, and well deserved, reputation gained from years of experience playing to packed dance floors.
We hope to see you at one of our events soon and whilst this website contains a lot of detailed information about our events you are still welcome to contact us directly to receive further information. Constructive feedback, is also always gratefully received.
UTOPIA
twickenham