Top 10 dance styles that will actually save your toronto party (a completely serious ranking)
listen. i've been to a lot of toronto parties. good ones, bad ones, ones where someone put on a spotify playlist called "vibe mix 2022" and just left it running for four hours. and i've come to believe that the difference between a party people talk about for weeks and a party people politely leave by 10pm is almost always the dance energy.
so here is my completely unscientific but deeply felt ranking of dance styles that genuinely elevate a toronto party — because this city is too culturally rich for anyone to be doing the shuffle in silence
1. belly dance 🐍
unpopular opinion: belly dancers are the best cocktail hour entertainment that exists, and I will die on this hill
it's not a stage thing. it's not "sit down and watch" energy. a good belly dancer moves through the crowd, stops at tables, makes eye contact with your shy coworker who said they weren't going to dance tonight, and suddenly everyone is smiling and the room temperature is three degrees warmer
works at: literally every kind of event. weddings, corporate dinners, birthday parties, events with a mixed multigenerational guest list. your grandmother will love it. your 24 year old cousin will love it. the guy who definitely didn't want to come will take seventeen photos
2. gogo dancing 💫
Toronto has been quietly running one of the best gogo dancers in North America since the early 2000s, and most people don't even know it
the history is actually kind of wild — it started in 1960s france (à gogo = "in abundance"), crossed to LA, became disco, became rave, became club culture, and now there are professional gogo dancers who have spent years performing at venues like rebel and cabana pool bar who can read a room better than most party planners can
platform? check. DJ? check. someone on a raised podium who adjusts their energy in real time to whatever the room is doing? absolutely yes. this is the format that keeps a dance floor alive for four hours straight
3. las vegas showgirl style 🪶
look. sometimes you want the feathers. sometimes the occasion demands that a human being enters a room in a full theatrical costume and everyone stops what they're doing and stares
showgirl-style dance shows are a whole choreographed production — like a little Las Vegas revue dropped into your corporate gala or new year's party. there is a beginning, middle, and end. there are formations. there are costume changes. it is genuinely spectacular and somehow this is a bookable thing in Toronto
best moment to use it: right after dinner, when the room needs to be reminded that the night is not over
4. salsa / latin 🌶️
Toronto has a real Latin dance scene, and it shows. El Rancho, Lula Lounge, basically any event with a half-decent DJ — salsa breaks out eventually. it is physically impossible to watch good salsa dancing and not at least tap your foot
the reason it works so well at parties is that it has a social component built in. partner dancing pulls people off the wall. it gives guests an excuse to interact who wouldn't otherwise. by the end of the night someone has learned three steps and is very proud of themselves
5. afrobeats / afrofusion 🥁
Toronto's Caribbean and West African communities have made Afrobeats one of the most energetic party formats in the city and it's spreading fast
the thing about afrobeats as a performance style is that it's incredibly joyful to watch even if you don't know the music. the movement is expressive, the rhythm is immediate, and it's the kind of dancing that makes bystanders physically unable to stand still. toronto carnival and afrofest energy but at your private event
6. LED dance / light performance ✨
okay technically this is less a "style" and more a "technology situation" but i'm including it because it belongs on this list
programmable LED dancers. lights that sync to the music. visors that can display your name or your company logo if it's a corporate event. the whole thing looks like a sci-fi rave dream and it photographs in a way that makes every guest immediately reach for their phone
works especially well: in dimmed spaces, after the dinner service, when the DJ kicks into the second gear of the night. one LED performance set and the room's energy completely resets
7. hip hop / freestyle 🎤
Toronto gave the world drake. this city has opinions about hip hop and they are correct
professional freestyle and hip hop performance is one of the most crowd-responsive dance formats that exists because it's built on improvisation and audience reading. a good hip hop performer can feel when the room wants energy and deliver it exactly then. it also has the advantage of being one of the most universally recognised styles — regardless of age, background, or how many drinks in someone is, they recognize hip hop and they respond to it
8. aerial silk / aerial dancers 🎪
someone slowly and dramatically descending from the ceiling on a ribbon of fabric while your guests are eating their appetizers is genuinely one of the most surreal and beautiful things you can add to an event
it is also: silent, visually arresting, cross-demographic in appeal, and the kind of thing that makes the whole room go quiet in the best possible way
(important caveat: you do need a ceiling. like actual height. this is a conversation to have before you book it and not the day of the event. ask me how i know)
9. dancehall 🇯🇲
Toronto's Caribbean community runs some of the most high-energy events in the city, and dancehall is a huge part of why. Caribana weekend alone is proof that this style turns groups of strangers into a community faster than almost anything else
as a performance style, dancehall is confident, rhythmically complex, and absolutely magnetic to watch. it also tends to have the effect of convincing people who were definitely not going to dance tonight to dance tonight
10. great gatsby / 20s jazz dance 🥂
i know. i know this sounds like "theme party in 2014" but hear me out
when it's done properly — with actual choreography, actual period-appropriate movement vocabulary, actual feathers and beaded costumes — 1920s jazz dance is extraordinary to watch. there's a reason the gatsby theme keeps coming back. the visual language of that era is just genuinely compelling, and watching it live at a themed dinner or NYE party hits differently than a playlist ever could
also it pairs perfectly with a champagne glass performer and if you don't know what that is please see my previous post because i need you to know that is a real thing you can hire
the tldr:
Toronto's dance shows are genuinely one of the best in North America — salsa, afrobeats, dancehall, rave culture, theatrical showgirl productions — it's all here, and most of it is available to book for your party if you know where to look
if you're in toronto and want actual professional performers for any of the above, Starmuse Entertainment has been doing this since 2005 and covers basically the whole list — gogo, showgirl, belly dance, LED, aerial, circus acts, you name it
your next party deserves better than a spotify playlist. i said what i said
#toronto #dance #party ideas #toronto nightlife #event entertainment #dance styles #gogo dancers #aerial silk #afrobeats #salsa toronto #las vegas showgirl #LED dancers #toronto events #things to do in toronto #party planning #belly dance #hip hop toronto #dancehall toronto #great gatsby party #event inspo