I felt like this needed its own topic because there was a lot of not-so-good advice in the thread that actually asked for advice on what dance classes to take so that the OP could dance in clubs with more success.

Me: I danced competitive latin and ballroom for 9 years, and still train 3 days a week. I also perform modern dance and ballet, where I train 4-5 days a week. Altogether, I dance about 12-15 hours per week.

Goal: To be able to dance well in the average club atmosphere playing either top 40 or hip hop (most clubs)

1) Learn to dance if you have never danced a step in your life before.

People will argue with me here. True, you can become a pretty good club dancer if you never take a class in your life. In the same way that Mozart was able to teach himself piano before he went to classes for it. Those people are usually naturals.

Or, you can pay a little bit to go to weekly classes for a few months, and skip all the nervous BS you would have learning on your own because you think you'll never get competent.

You don't have to become an expert, and really any style, whether it's hip hop or ballroom or ballet, will give you what you need: coordination and a physical sense of rhythm.

2) Do not actually dance your formal style in a club.

Unless the club is having a special night where they do that style or you're a professional level in that style and people start clearing the floor for you because you're that good and everyone wants to see (in which case you don't need my advice because you a) competent and b) confident as fuck), don't try to take exactly what you learned in class and do the exact same thing in the club without adapting it.

See, a lot of people learn dance x, y, or z thinking that they'll take it to the club and re-enact the plot of Step Up 8: Montezuma's Revenge. It doesn't work that way.

For clubs, just take the coordination and rhythm you've sharpened in class, and maybe 2 or 3 moves to show off, a bunch of friends who can hold their own on the floor, do what the music tells you, and be seen dancing with people, and approaching people and dancing with them.

So don't be a tool and do bachata in a club that's not playing bachata and no one else is doing bachata. Don't do hip hop at a country western dance. Seven years ago I used to be that guy, and unless you're so good that people would otherwise pay you to see it, it doesn't work. The music dictates what you do, and not all music for dancing is for a prescribed style.

Feel it out. Use your sense of rhythm (everyone has one, btw, it just requires work). More importantly...

3) Create a fun atmosphere.

This is key. Cool dance moves work because they're social proof. They make you appear confident, and if you're selling the right kind of fun, girls will literally run up to you.

The trick is that you don't even need to be the best dancer. You just need to be on beat and have people dancing with you. This is where your friends come in, and why it's so important for some of them to be girls.

Of course, the better you are at dancing, the easier this is. So, keep working on it. But, if you can create a fun atmosphere while dancing in a club, you can approach anyone and they will be MUCH more likely to join you.

4) You still have to approach women.

Yeah, I know, I said up there that if you're good enough women flock to you. That's true to an extent. You can still double your results by approaching.

The good news is that if you've been dancing confidently, creating a fun atmosphere, and people have seen you dancing with your friends (some of whom are attractive women), that's your license to approach ANY girl in the club.

Conclusion

Look, the bottom line is that most women don't care how well you dance beyond a certain point. Sure, if you get to my level, it's a huge bonus. But guys who are relative beginners can still clean up with just a sense of rhythm and the ability to display their confidence in a room in front of hundreds of other people.

Think about it. Less than 10 percent of the guys at a club who take home the girls are professional dancers, and 50 percent of the male pro dancers are gay (and some of the best wingmen ever). So, again, you don't need to be an expert.

Don't overthink it. Take some classes, adapt what you learn in them to the club, and create fun. It's that simple.

Problem is that simple doesn't always mean easy. Work on it!