QSDC is excited to announce the return of our beginner-focused workshop on Saturday, January 25th, 2025 in the Great Hall at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral.

Led by instructors Greg and Tony, this workshop aims to build essential Lindy Hop skills by breaking down and spending time with the fundamentals. This workshop is a great introduction for new Lindy Hop dancers and a great way for experienced dancers to refine their technique. In the evening, there there will be a DJ’d social dance featuring guest DJ Art!

Schedule

See Class Descriptions below for more details.

TimeEvent
9:45 AMDoors Open
10:00 – 11:00 AMClass 1: Moving, But to Jazz
11:10 AM – 12:10 PMClass 2: The Basics
12:10 – 1:30 PMLunch Break
1:30 – 2:30 PMClass 3: Lindy Hop Toolkit
2:40 – 3:40 PMClass 4: Circles and Swing-Outs
3:40 – 6:45 PMBreak
6:45 PMDoors Open
7:00 – 10:00 PMSocial dance with DJ Art

Pricing and Registration

Registration in the workshops and admission to the dance are completely free if you purchase a QSDC membership in 2025. Returning members also receive a discount. See our registration page for full pricing information.

Participants can register at the door, or in advance to get to an early-bird discount.

Class Descriptions

The Z2H workshops will be taught by our in-house instructors Greg and Tony. These workshops are designed so you can start with zero prior Lindy Hop experience, but also offer experienced dancers an opportunity to practice their fundamentals, or explore another dance role.

1. Moving, but to Jazz

Walks, Breaks, and Feeling the Music

Let’s get a better understanding of swing jazz and learn how to move to it. This class will explore the patterns, accents, and emphasis through walking, clapping, and stomping our feet to the music. Get comfortable with engaging the music, even if it isn’t ‘dancing’

For returning dancers, this is a great opportunity to improve your understand of the music and how to improve your musicality.

2. The Basics

Footwork, Frame, and Connection

This class will focus on how we engage with our partner in closed and open positions. We will be looking at the three Ps (Pulse, Posture, and Placement) while we do our ‘basic’ footwork.

For returning dancers, you will be given opportunities to improve your fundamentals on which the dance is built.

3. Lindy Hop Toolkit

Holds, Turns, Redirects, and Passes

Now that we’ve laid the foundations of your dance, it’s time to start exploring how we can shape our movement. Rather than give you a grocery list of moves to memorize, we’ll explore how very simple transitions between and within holds are all you need to lead expressive, musical movements, while also addressing how to follow by listening and responding, rather than anticipating and guessing. For returning dancers, this is an opportunity to break down the moves you already know, opening up opportunities for exploration and experimentation.

4. Circles and Swing-outs

Putting It All Together

We’re ready to distill what we’ve learned into Lindy Hop’s most iconic movements: the 8-count circle and swing-out. In this class we’ll learn the basic shape and feel of these movements, and begin layering on different tweaks. Nobody is ever done working on their swing-outs, so you might as well start now!

DJ Art

DJ Art (he/him/his) began his Lindy Hop journey with Rochester Institute of Technology’s Brick City Boppers. Shortly after joining the college swing dance club in 2016, he found a passion for DJing, and hasn’t been able to stop dancing or nerding out about jazz since! He now DJs regularly at Rochester, New York’s local Groove Juice Swing events, and as of 2022, is Groove Juice’s DJ Coordinator. The past two years, he also had the honor of being a part of the DJ teams at Stompology and Slow Dance Soiree. His choice of tunes tends to skew toward contemporary musicians, while honoring the classic jazz sound of the swing era. (Photo courtesy of Steven Thull)