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Our Story
Welcome to The London Swing Dance Society, your one stop shop for all things swing dance!
We’re the UK’s biggest and longest running swing dance club, on a mission to bring the magic of swing dance to the masses. Our founder, acclaimed dance champion Simon Selmon, was inspired to start up the society in 1986 after a visit to the swing dance clubs of New York, and he’s been getting the big city up and lindy hopping ever since. We started off small, but our society has continued to grow and we’ve since established a fantastic following, hosted thousands of events and swing dance classes, and even sparkled on the silver screen.
Timeline
Here are some of our proudest moments to date:
1986 – The London Swing Dance Society was born!
1987 – We set up Stompin’, the UK’s most famous regular swing dance night, which opened at the legendary 100 Club
1990 - Organised a major live band dance for Jazz FM at the beautiful Porchester Halls
1993 - Capital Gold sponsored the Open Jive Championships organised by the LSDS
1994 - introducing Lindy
Hop around the UK from Bristol to Aberdeen
1995 – We hosted giant outdoor Lindy Hop classes in London’s Hyde Park celebration of the 50th Anniversary VE day
1996 – We took part in The Joint Is Jumping, a series of live recorded concerts with the BBC big band, broadcast on prime time BBC Radio 2
1997 – We set up the London Lindy Hop Festival, in conjunction with the Jiving Lindy Hoppers
1999 – We provided featured and backgrounds swing dancers for the film ‘Swing!’
2001 – We organised the United Kingdom Open Lindy Hop Championships, where we danced up a storm!
2006 – Our dancers were featured in ITV’s Foyle’s War
2011 – Our featured dancers stole the show in the Hollywood blockbuster My Week with Marilyn
2012 – We taught Lord Sugar’s winning Apprentice team to swing dance
2013 - We taught Dancing On Ice's winning couple Beth Tweddle & Daniel Whiston the Charleston.
Today, The London Swing Dance Society is London’s best and brightest community for anyone with an interest in swing dance culture. We hold classes, events and special occasions on a regular basis throughout the city, in a variety of different Vintage dance styles.
Our dances
From our original aim of promoting swing dance and its music and in particular the Lindy Hop, the granddaddy of all the Swing dances, we have expanded into other forms of Authentic Jazz dance, or what is now sometimes referred to as Vintage dance, many of which have now taken on a life of their own.
Lindy Hop
Charleston
Jive
Blues
Balboa
Collegiate Shag
Foxtrot
St Louis Shag
Shim Sham
Big Apple
Cakewalk
Ragtime
Join in the fun
Whether you’re 18 or 80, a man or a woman, an absolute brand new beginner or a swing king or queen, there’s a swing dance class in our schedule that’s perfect for you. If you’d like to know more about how you can get involved in the London Swing Dance Society, call us on 01895 613 703 or visit our Classes page today.
You’ll be a swing-a-holic before you know it!
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