How not to dad dance like Prince William, by a top teacher (2024)

The first London leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour saw celebs galore put on their dancing shoes as the global star's pop circus rolled into town.

Prince William, taking two of his three children along, Prince George and Prince Charlotte, also brought his best dad dancing with him too.

Video footage showed the heir to the throne proving that yes sir, he can boogie, as he let loose on a balcony above the stage as Swift belted out her 2014 smash Shake it Off.

And he's not the only father of a certain age that will happily throw some shapes on the dancefloor - with varying degrees of success.

Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper and Robbie Williams have all offered up energetic performances of their best moves.

Here, top London choreographer Jess Brichto, who runs startthedance.co.uk, a dance school that specialises in teaching couples, and often dads and daughters, how to perfect routines ahead of a big day, tells MailOnline what she makes of the moves offered up by some famous dad dancers.

Jess says upbringing - and access to lessons - influences confidence on the dancefloor: 'If you've grown up in the kind of environment where music is part of your upbringing, and you watch your parents dance - and see them being inhibition-free, then you tend to adopt that when you're older.'

She adds: 'If you've been able to go to dance classes too, then you grow up with a dance teacher, and you don't have any inhibitions and you have a real understanding of beats and rhythm and timing.

'Unfortunately, we don't have a culture where we send our boys to dance lessons. When I teach abroad, they often already have a strong dance vocabulary because in many other countries in Europe, they teach dance on the curriculum at school.'

Jess also offers some top tips for avoiding a dancefloor disaster...

PRINCE WILLIAM SHAKING IT OFF TO TAYLOR SWIFT AT ERAS TOUR

After a stressful recent period for the royal family, including the Princess of Wales' cancer diagnosis, Prince William looked delighted to be taking his two oldest children to see his friend Taylor Swift in concert last Friday night.

But the heir to the throne's Dad Dancing goes back a long way, you might argue he's been doing it since long before he had children.

Any opportunity to show off his moves, from clubbing in Verbier in 2017 on a boys' ski holiday to dancing with Kate in 2012 on a royal visit toTuvalu and his 'urban swag dance' in 2011.

Prince William also very publicly decided to show off his dance moves at the Coronation concert for his father, King Charles III in Windsor in 2023.

The royal, 42, joined Kate, their three children and other senior royals at the Coronation Concert in Windsor, with Katy Perry and Lionel Richie amongst the headliners performing.

During the live television broadcast, the Prince of Wales was shown dancing alongside Prince George and at a garden party afterwards admitted he was a tad embarrassed by his moves.

A well-wisher asked him: 'Did you enjoy the concert?'

William then replied: 'I did yes, thank you.'

'We saw you,' a woman standing in front of him said. 'We saw you dancing on the TV!'

Pulling a funny grimace, William then said: 'Oh no. That wasn't dancing.

'As you may know, dancing sober is a terrible idea! No it was a fun weekend.'

EXPERT VERDICT

'If you're a good dad dancer, you are probably from either a family which embraces dance - puts on the bangers on a Friday night after dinner - and you grow up knowing how to dance and not have any inhibitions.

'I can't imagine the royal family doing that. The formality of his background doesn't help him - but he tries so hard. There's a phrase, 'dance like no-one's watching' - unfortunately, the world was watching! But at the Taylor Swift concert last week, Williamhad a groove on, he looked like he was enjoying the moment.

'He gave it a go, put himself out there - and that should be respected.'

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE'S DISMAL ATTEMPT AT THE BEAT YA FEET DANCE

The former N-Sync star built his career on his flawless moves but even certified amazing dancers can lose their way, it seems.

The 43-year-old, facing a DWI arrest after being arrested in the Hamptons this month,was mercilessly mocked on social media for his clumsy attempt at Washington,DC's Beat Ya Feet dance at a concert in the nation's capital two years ago.

He got himself into trouble with dance connoisseurs after his performance at DC's Something in the Water Festival on Saturday night.

Justin tried to replicate the city's popular Beat Ya Feet dance, which has been a common step in the capital for more than two decades.

But after video of the dance break made its way to social media, Timberlake was lambasted by users for his poor performance, with one person joking that his dance was closer to the 'hokey pokey' than Beat Ya Feet.

One fan who had a prime spot at the DC festival shared a video of Justin's dancing to TikTok on Sunday, captioning it, 'CANT BELIEVE I SAW JT,' with a crying emoji.

After the ribbing,Timberlake took to Instagram to apologise for his half-heart steps in a video.

The singer and actor told his 65.2 million followers at the time that he wanted to apologise for two reasons — 'Here, and here! — he exclaimed, as he pointed down at his feet.

He joked: 'I had a long talk with both of them, individually,' he said of his underperforming feet as he warned them, '"Don't you ever do that to me again."'

EXPERT VERDICT

'Justin Timberlake is an amazing dancer, fully trained and has no problems with dancing but mood is everything with dance and he was just having an off-day, wasn't feeling it that day when he tried to conquer the Beat Ya Feet dance.

'If you're not in the mood for it, just don't do it - and it won't come across like you're trying too hard.'

'That day, it's clear his vibe wasn't right, it came out in a way that didn't look comfortable - it was a bit try hard and it just didn't align for him that day. He's clearly an amazing dancer - he's amazing to watch when he's in the right frame of mind'.

BRADLEY COOPER'S POINT AND THRUST PERFORMANCE IN PARIS

Once again, it was Taylor who sparked some serious dad dancing in Bradley Cooper when the Maestro and Avengers star watched her fourthParis show.

Coopersent fans into a frenzy as he showed off his energetic dance moves while watching the singer perform her biggest hits in front of a huge crowd in theFrench capital.

The actor, 49, joined his girlfriend Gigi Hadid and Taylor's boyfriend Travis Kelce on a private balcony, with the trio dancing together in footage from the show.

A clip circulated on social media showed Bradley dancing to Taylor's hits Blank Space and But Daddy I Love Him.

The fun video sparked a flurry of responses on X, with one reshare captioned: 'Bradley Cooper is me at parties.'

EXPERT VERDICT

'Bradley's another person who's danced well in the past, he knows how to dance - but in that moment, he was just off.

'It's all about the thrust - you've got to be a certain type of character to pull off a thrust. And nobody wants to see their dad thrusting and most people can't stomach their own partners thrusting.

'Lots of girls crush on him, but sorry Bradley, it's a bit off-putting that he's a thruster. Think about Barack Obama, he's an example of someone who would never thrust, he's just too cool - and he gets dancing right every time.'

ROBBIE WILLIAMS ADMITS HE'S A 'CONFIRMED DAD DANCER' - BUT IS HE?

As one fifth of Take That, Robbie certainly wasn't the worst dancer in the band... but it seems as soon as you hit a certain age and have ankle-biters at your feet - the star shares four children with wife Ayda Field - those moves that worked on stage at Knebworth don't quite feel as cool any more.

The Stoke-born star has made plenty of Dad Dancing videos in recent years, including his version of Beyonce's famous Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) routine, shared with fans on social media in 2021, after Ayda filmed the sketch.

During lockdown, the star posted a clip of him throwing some shapes at his LA mansion, alongside the words 'Confirmed Dad Dancer'.

EXPERT VERDICT

'Robbie absolutely is trying too hard with these dances, doing proper dad dancing for effect and just trying to make us laugh, he'sreally rolling those shoulders and pulling those faces that we associate with dad dancing.

'Robbie can dance and I reckon he was putting on his dad dancing here, he was probably trying to wind his children up. Even dancers can do dad dancing. '