YM Dance School at Dotonbori, Osaka

Long-running social and ballroom dance school in Namba, open since 1974.

YM Dance School - now operating as You and Me Dance School - is a social and ballroom dance studio on the third floor of the Kabuki Building at 4-3-15 Namba, a one-minute walk from Namba Station's exit 12. Founded in 1974, it is one of Namba's longest-established ballroom dance schools, with a student body that spans from teenagers to people in their nineties. The school's guiding principle is "lessons tailored to each individual's purpose," whether that is finding a new hobby, improving health and posture, or competing in dance-sport events, and its experienced instructors teach both the international standard and Latin syllabi. The studio offers small-group lessons capped at five students, private one-to-one lessons, and off-site lessons at venues including Takashimaya Osaka and JEUGIA culture centres. Group classes are tiered from beginner to advanced, with no joining fee or monthly membership fee - students pay only per class. The school is open from 13:00 to 22:00 and closes on Sundays and public holidays, with trial lessons available for newcomers. It suits absolute beginners who have never danced before, couples preparing for a wedding first dance, and seniors looking for gentle, social exercise. Half a century on, YM Dance School remains a fixture of Namba's adult-education scene - a place where a waltz box step learned at sixty can become a weekly pleasure. A good dance school, in the end, is one where nobody feels too old, too stiff or too new to begin.