Sashay Dance’s 10th Birthday | A Decade of Dance Parties

Sashay Dance is 10 years old. Ten years, 2,500+ parties, thousands of dancers, and one very proud (slightly emotional) founder. What started as a hobby and a slightly mad idea, that any living room, village hall or party barn could become a dance floor, has grown into a team delivering fun across the nation, and a decade of happy dancing memories that belong to us and our customers alike.

Birthdays make you reflective. So before I tell you about our own party (there was a ghost bus, more on that shortly), here’s what a decade inside the hen party industry has taught us.

What 10 Years in the Hen Party Industry Has Taught Us

The hen party has grown up. When we started out in 2016, the default was a night out with a few token accessories, and a dance class was a novelty booking. Ten years on, it’s often the centrepiece of the whole weekend, and the weekend itself has changed around it.

Hens went classy. The biggest shift we’ve seen is the move from tacky to tasteful: hen houses with hot tubs instead of hotel bar crawls, bottomless brunches, flower crowns and afternoon teas, and celebrations built around what the bride actually loves rather than what tradition says she should endure.

Themes took over. A decade ago, groups picked a dance style. Now they pick a world: Mamma Mia, Taylor Swift, and our Last Rodeo cowgirl class lead the pack, and the themed hen party has become its own industry. When we tell people we run 25+ themes, the response is always the same: which one is she?

The party comes to you now. Half our bookings today happen at the group’s accommodation, something that barely existed when we started. Hen weekends increasingly stay in: private chefs, at-home cocktail masterclasses, and a dance class in the living room of a gorgeous hen house.

And one thing has never changed. The moment a routine clicks and a whole group, from the bride’s nan to her uni mates, nails the chorus together, the room erupts. Ten years, every single time.

The Party Where I Finally Became a Customer

Here’s my birthday confession: in 10 years, I had never actually been a Sashay Dance customer. So as we sashayed into our next decade, I threw the party I’d have wanted as a bride, friends, family and a few of the local dance teachers from around York, a Boogie Wonderland theme, and my own 2 songs, chosen exactly the way our hens choose theirs.

Now I finally get it from the other side. I understand why the group chat fills with the routine video for weeks, and why so many groups perform theirs again at the wedding. Being taught your own dance to your own songs, next to your favourite people, is every bit as brilliant as our customers have been telling me for a decade.