🌟 F1 – come learn the Shim Sham from 5pm (suitable for beginners)
🌟 Practice and Social time 6-6.30pm
🌟 F2 – From 6.30pm Explore some more of Frankie’s classic Lindy Hop partnered moves (for those who can triple step and rock step in 8 and 6 bt patterns but it’ll be ok if you sometimes get muddled 😉).
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It’s also WORLD LINDY HOP DAY on Friday 26 May so head down to Late Night Lindy to celebrate by dancing your socks off!
Woo! Hoo! It’s the first of our two May class days today! I hope you had a great time over the bank holidays but I’m so looking forward to getting back to classes for a couple of weeks. Hope to see you all later 👋
F1 class will be doing something a little different in May by exploring ‘Frankie’s’ Shim Sham – an essential must know for all Lindy Hoppers (suitable for beginners)
F2 class will be focussing on Frankie’s 6’s (anyone with a grasp of triple step basic footwork and connection will be fine here)
Frankie Manning
For those new to swing dancing, Frankie is Frankie Manning ‘The Ambassador of Lindy Hop’. There’s lots to learn about Frankie – I’ll tell you more in classes and you can also get googling and YouTubing – but I love this blog post from Bobby White at SwungOver written for Frankie100 it captures so much about the man as well as the dancer and teacher:
There’s also lots to learn about so many other important original Lindy Hop dancers and swing era artists and musicians too. Here are few you can start to explore here (also on SwungOver):
26th May every year is now World Lindy Hop Day– Frankie’s birthday – Late Night Lindy (Nottingham’s monthly swing dance social night at Bunkers Hill) will be celebrating on this day. “You know what to do”
The Shim Sham
This is a routine done mostly solo which comes from tap dance and there are many variations. The version we Lindy Hoppers learn as our foundation is Frankie’s version – a soft shoe adaption using basic jazz steps you can incorporate into your partner dancing or dance alone or in a group. It’s such a wonderful feeling to dance it together on a full dance floor and it’s danced the world over, wherever you find Lindy Hoppers.
These are two clips from Frankie 95 – the event held in New York to celebrate Frankie’s 95th birthday, which I was very privileged to attend (you can spot me in the Central Park version if you have good eyes). Sadly Frankie passed away just a few weeks before the event. The Central Park Shim Sham was held after a Second Line parade from Frankie’s memorial service. It was a very moving experience. I hope you can all see the joy and sense of community 🥰
And here is Frankie (in his 80s) with Erin Steven’s teaching us himself (for clips of young Frankie go to the blog link above (20 dancers…) 🙏
Looking forward to seeing you all later and hopefully next week too.
📣 Good news folks! I have some more dates planned for us all and after the success of our introductory classes over the last couple of months I’m changing things up a little bit so that we can continue to build and grow together.
I’m adding a second class (Foundations level 2) to our Sunday sessions for those of you ready to expand your repertoire and skills a little further while still working on the fundamentals.
The Intro class will become Foundations level 1. Both classes will be drop in, pay on the door. No partner required.
Foundations level 1 will be a similar level to our Introductory classes building all the basic rhythms and some initial connections and concepts. (Suitable to new and all level dancers).
For those who’ve never danced a step in your life and are perhaps a bit nervous, try to get to the first Sunday of the month class, but don’t worry if not as we’ll always start from the footwork and build up.
Foundations level 2 builds on F1 skills ensuring you have a good grasp of all the essential rhythms and patterns in Lindy Hop. (Suitable for those handling foundations level 1 material well).
Practice and social time we’re still keeping the practice and social time which will now be between the classes – all F1 and F2 class attendees welcome to stay on or join us early to practice, social dance, drink tea, have a natter.
I’m addition I’m very happy to say we also have a Spring Social and Fuddle planned for April 23rd which will have a fun all levels class at the beginning.
Pre COVID this was always our birthday dance – we started in 2010 so that would make us 13 this year! It does feel strange though as we never really got to be 10, having to close our doors in 2020 a month before our birthday. So let’s come out and simply dance and celebrate that we’re back, regardless of our age, and have the best fun ever.
Let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you all at St Christopher’s Church Hall in Sneinton sometime soon 🥰
In addition here’s a reminder that Late Night Lindy are holding their monthly social dance at Bunkers Hill Pub (bottom of Hockley, next to Ice Stadium) on Friday 31st March.
This month is a Late Night Lindy special, marking International Women’s Day! All proceeds from the entry fee will be going to support local charity Equation – a Nottingham-based specialist charity that works with the whole community to reduce the impact of domestic abuse, sexual violence and gender inequality. https://equation.org.uk/
They have a taster class at the start of the evening 7:45pm followed by social dancing. Beginners more than welcome!
The roots of the Lindy Hop and Jazz dance go all the way back to the people of West Africa.
I’ve discovered a fabulous opportunity right here in Nottingham to experience this culture, it’s rhythms, and movements in this series of free (Arts Council England funded) workshops from Jokeh Sillah and with live percussion too!
This is not my event but I would highly recommend trying these out. I certainly intend to amd we’ve been told by the organisers Beat Feet Ltd that we’re all very welcome!
I’m so looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow at our first of two more ‘Intro to Lindy Hop’ classes in Sneinton this month on Sunday 5th and Sunday 19th March. The weather may be getting colder but we’ll soon warm up out on the dance floor.
Classes are suitable for complete beginners and rusty returners.
What will we be learning next?
This month we’ll be building a few new connections and rhythms into our repertoire including some of the basics of the ‘swing out’ Lindy Hop’s fundamental essential move/connection/pattern. It’s going to be a blast!
Don’t worry if you’re brand new, or you’ve had to miss a few classes, it’s still a great time to join us. No experience is necessary as we start slowly from the beginning and build up in these intro classes. No partner necessary either as we rotate dancers around the group circle so every lead dances with every follow – it’s the most effective and most fun way to learn.
April and beyond
I’m still working out the specifics but there will definitely be more classes, how could I not keep going after the fabulous enthusiasm from you all so far?! You’ve all been so wonderful, are progressing so well, and we’re having so much fun. 🥰😃
As well as continue with more Intro/fundamentals classes, I’m keen to re-introduce us all to solo jazz again and give those of you wanting to develop your partnered Lindy Hop skills further an opportunity to do so while still maintaining balance for me with my personal commitments and health challenges.
Anyway, I’ve got lots of ideas and ambitions for us all, so do keep an eye out as more info to follow soon ❤️
Keep in touch
Our Facebook group and page are probably the best places to keep in touch with us. I share inspirational and educational posts from across the worldwide Lindy Hop and Swing Dance community, others may post information about their special events, workshops and social dances. I sometimes ask you questions to get your feedback, plus it tends to be the first place I remember to post updates on classes.
We’re also on Instagram and Twitter (and still have a Tumblr feed I think) so join us wherever you do your socials or sign up to ‘follow’ this blog (find the icon link on this page) and you’ll get a direct email with every post I make on this site.
Anyway, however you find us, I hope to see you out on the dance floor soon!
Much love, Lisa xx
March Class Details:
⏰ Classes start at 5pm so get there a bit before hand to check-in if you can. There’s time after class till 6.30pm for practice and social dancing.
🎟️ £7 per person on the door (cash or card)
☕️ Free teas, coffees and biscuits for all.
📍Location: St Christopher’s Church Hall, Trent Road, Sneinton, Nottingham.
W3W – gate is at: aspect.woke.staple
W3W – front door is at: curl.pans.image
🚗 Free on street parking with a few places inside the gates.
🚌 No 44 Bus from Nottm city centre lands you a minute away at the Trent Lane stop round the corner on Collwick Road
🚌 No 43 Bus to the Lord Nelson stop on Sneinton Dale is 3-5 minutes walk away
(Both routes are still running after class and practice)
Apologies for the delay in posting to the website – I forgot to move the post from the drafts folder! 🤦♀️
Anyway, as those of you in our Facebook group or who follow our Facebook page will already know, following the continued fabulous success of our January classes, I have confirmed some new class dates for February and March. Yay!
They’ll be on firstandthird Sundays of each month(that’s the 5th and 19th of both months). So the first is this Sunday 5 February (and as I’m posting late – that means TODAY!!)
⏰ Classes start at 5pm to 6pm (apx) with practice and natter time after class till 6.30pm
📍At St Christopher’s Church Hall, Trent Road, Sneinton, Nottingham.
🎟️ £7 per person per class on the door (card or cash payments accepted)
❤️ No partner or experience necessary. All welcome.
In other news – thank you to the Late Night Lindy team who invited me to teach the taster class at the start of their regular monthly social dance at the end of January.
I loved how many of you from our classes came along, included many very new dancers, from the feedback I’ve had I think you had as great a time as I did and the energy in the room was amazing. I hope we continue to see you all there in future.
For those not familiar, Late Night Lindy is Nottingham’s regular monthly social night held at Bunkers Hill (pub), Hockley (upstairs), on the fourth Friday of the month. It’s run by a fabulous bunch of volunteer swing dance enthusiasts and it’s a lovely cosy friendly place to dance your socks off in the heart of town, have a couple of drinks, and meet up with fellow dancers from across Nottingham and further afield. You can find out more here: Late Night Lindy Facebook
See you all on the dance floor soon and thank you for your continued support.
I hope you all enjoyed our November class and Christmas class and Tea Dance despite the bumps along the road! It was wonderful to see so many of you turn up for both and with such enthusiasm. New faces and old, it filled my heart and I hope you all got as much out of it as I did. The first class back after two and half years was pretty emotional for me.
Best laid plans!
Thank you also all for your patience on the day of the Christmas class and Tea Dance as I battled to get to you after locking my keys in the car with all my equipment and party things inside (aghh!). Not the way I wanted the day to go for any of us but it did perhaps show off the best side of our local community. Fellow Nottingham swing and rock roll dance teachers, Terry and Lynn (Revival Dance), who had turned up to support our event, stepped into the breach with their speakers and ran a spontaneous class for you all. And the wonderful Tim, Debbie, Nina, and more doing their best to keep you all supplied with teas and coffees and meet and greet you all.
Thankfully I made it to you eventually (an hour and half after I’d planned to be there and 30mins after our class should have started!) and as far as I could tell, through my panicked stress haze, you were all having a lovely time, and with help again I got everything set up and soon got to enjoy the evening with you.
The Fuddle was amazing, thanks to all who contributed, you all threw yourself into a party version of the Social Big Apple, chatted, socialised and practiced your moves on the social floor. Those that stayed to the end enjoyed a fab few songs of friendly jam circle dancing that was the perfect end to the day.
I am so grateful to be part of this community and I’m looking forward to more dancing with you all as we head into 2023!
Supporting the Trussell Trust
I’m also really pleased to say that we raised £50 for The Trussell Trust Food Bank Charity which is going to their Emergency Appeal. If anyone wants to support their work, feeding those currently struggling in our unbalanced country, then you can do that here: https://www.trusselltrust.org
January classes
Our next two Introduction to Lindy Hop Classes at St Christopher’s Church Hall will be on:
🗓 Sunday 8 January and Sunday 22 January.
⏰ I’m trying a slightly earlier time of 5pm- 6pm. So doors open at 4:45pm with time to practice after class through to doors close at 6:30pm.
🎟 New price for 2023 is £7 per person per class.
More details on our diary page or on the facebook page or group events.
(Updatefor 8 January): Please note there is an issue with the heating for the 8 January class so please wear some extra layers to keep warm that you can remove if you get too toasty. We’ll be aiming to keep the side room warm with portable heaters and providing the usual complimentary teas and coffees so hopefully not too bad for you all)
See you all soon and here’s to a great 2023 for us all!!
Well it’s a bit of an understatement to say that it’s taken me a little longer than I hoped to get to this stage but I think the most important message to say today is that Nottingham Lindy Hop is coming back baby!
I hope that makes you as happy to hear as it makes me to say :-).
For now, I’ll be starting us back gently with a couple of Introduction to Lindy Hop taster classes (Sunday 27 November and Sunday 11 December 2022) and a beginner friendly Christmas Tea Dance and Fuddle following the class on 11 December.
We’ll be taking everything nice and easy. All are suitable for complete beginners, or rusty returners (like me!), no partner is necessary and all adults are welcome.
If the classes go well then I’ll see what we can get going for you all more regularly in the new year.
I’m very excited and also very nervous, as it’s been so long, but really hoping to see familiar faces and meet new ones as we get our bodies moving again and enjoy every step of this expressive, rhythmic, fabulous dance art form.
🌟 Introduction to Lindy Hop Classes (Sun 27 Nov & Sun 11 Dec 2022)
🎄 Christmas Tea Dance and Fuddle (Sun 11 Dec 2022)
Social dance and beginner friendly group dances – 6:30pm to 8:30/9pm
📍Location: St Christopher’s Church Hall, Trent Road, Sneinton, Nottingham
Lots of on street parking available with a few spaces inside the gates.
💷 Cost: £6 per person, per class £6 per person, tea dance only £8 per person, for class and tea dance on 11 Dec
Payments can be made by cash or card but as this will be the first time I’ve used a card machine to take payments it might be helpful to bring cash as well in case of issues 🙏
🎶 Late Night Lindy
I also want to take the opportunity here to shout out and thank you to the amazing crew at Late Night Lindy who have been the volunteer, fabulous people keeping swing dancing alive in Nottingham this year with their end of month Friday night social dances and taster classes at Bunkers Hill, Hockley, Nottingham.
They have their regular social dance on tonight Friday 25 November and very excitingly a special Christmas social dance on Saturday 10 December held at Nottingham University’s Great Hall with live music from the Moonlighters Big Band. I’d hugely recommend getting your tickets for this asap (see links to their events). It’s a lot of work hosting big events like this and so important that we support them so that we can have more in future. Plus it’s set to be so much fun and a great experience. I’m definitely going to be there!
Much love and happy dancing to you all. Hope to see you on the dance floor soon! Lisa x
How are you keeping? I hope happy and well despite this difficult time. It’s been so very long!
Thank you for all for the messages enquiring about classes starting up again. It’s great to know there’s still a passion and enthusiasm for this wonderful dance form out there and that you’re all raring to go.
We closed our classes due to the COVID pandemic on the eve of our 10th birthday back in March 2020. What should have been a year of celebration turned in to a year of a very different kind.
This community has meant so much to me over the years and I’ve missed all of you, as well as the dancing, enormously.
These last 2 years have been particularly tough for me personally, working in the NHS, and supporting a close family member and her children through a brain tumour diagnosis and the last years of her life. I know I’m not alone in facing tough times these last couple of years but I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t taken a toll on both my mental and physical health.
It has also been the reason why I’ve been unable to keep up the regular correspondence and online classes/ catch ups over the last year or so that I would otherwise have wanted to do. I’m so very sorry for that but hope you understand and have been able to enjoy some of my occasional posts and links to our Facebookpage and group along the way.
Right now I’m taking some time to process my bereavement and heal, though I am starting tentatively to look ahead at when and how our classes could return.
Step one for me will be teaching an intro toBalboa workshop at NottingJam this February!!
My current aim, COVID and life willing, is to be back with Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz in some capacity before we start our 12th (10 again) year, around March 2022. I’ve got lots of ideas and am starting to feel excited about it but please bear with me, I need to take my recovery one step at a time and we all need to be careful through this latest COVID wave.
For those of you with itchy dancing feet, why not look at booking on to NottingJam2022, a local workshop weekender hosted by The University of Nottingham’s Swing Society. It’s been revived this year and will be held on 18-20 February (hopefully on the other side of this latest omicron wave).
There’s an intense beginners Lindy Hop day, a range of individual taster workshops of other swing styles to try, history talks, and activities around the City. It looks perfect for new comers and those feeling rusty.
I’ve been assured that they will have good COVID protocols in place, including proof of clear lateral flow tests (and whatever else the guidelines say at the time), but I’d also encourage you to get your booster vaccine if you’re medically able to and haven’t already.
In the meantime I want to wish you all a very wonderful Christmas time and let’s raise a glass to a healthy and happy New Year for us all.
Also if there’s any interest in a zoom catch up over the holiday period let me know.
Thank you again for your continued support and enthusiasm for this dance form, it’s culture, our community, and our classes.
My love to you all and I’ll look forward to seeing you in 2022!
So, Sunday 27 November actually happened! It was our first class in two and a half years and it was amazing, a little emotional, and so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came. It’s your energy and enthusiasm that make it all so special. I went home with a very full heart 💛 and very tired legs 🤣
Today, Sunday 11 December, we have our second Introduction to Lindy Hop Class and we’re following it with a beginner friendly, relaxed Tea Dance and Fuddle. I hope lots of you are able to join us again.
👉 You don’t need any experience or a partner for either the class or tea dance.
The class will add to the skills you learned last time but you don’t need to have been at that class to join us this time as we’ll start at the basics and build from there.
And, trust me, for the tea dance you’ll have learned enough in our intro class to be able to dance your way through a song, giggling away through missed moments and exploring all you’ve learned together with each partner. It’s the best way to embed your learning. Plus I’ll be running a Social Big Apple that no one needs any dance knowledge or skills to take part in.
Then of course it’s also a Fuddle. We invite you all to (please) bring a donation of food for a collective table for us all to share (it’s a tradition of ours). I provide the usual Tea, Coffee and Squash to drink (it’s really not a NLH class without tea ☕️😁) plus you can also bring your own if you’d like. It’s a great opportunity to sit and chat with everyone and get to know your fellow dance community. We’re a pretty friendly bunch 🥰
⏰ Timings
5:10pm – Doors open, 5:30pm Intro to Lindy Hop class, 6:30pm Tea Dance and Fuddle, 8:30pm (ish) wind down and pack up, 9:00pm Doors close
Obviously factor in a little ‘Lisa time’ flexibility to this schedule but pretty much this is the plan 🤣
🎟️ Cost
£6 Class only, £6 social only, £8 class and social (with the £2 top up going to the Trussell Trust to help everyone eat well this Christmas time).
The card reader worked well last week (so 🤞) but we also take cash.
📍Venue
St Christopher’s Church Hall, Trent Road, Sneinton, Nottingham. (Around the corner from the Church which is on Collwick Road).
Free parking on street with a few spaces inside the gates.
I really hope to see lots of you fabulous people later today but whether you’re able to make it or not, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and fabulously Happy Holidays to you all.
Thank you so much for your continued support of Nottingham Lindy Hop.
I know how important our classes are to the mental and physical health of so many of us (me definitely included) so I’m taking this step with a heavy heart; but with the need to protect our vulnerable people and try to delay spread to help our health service (which I work for) cope, I have taken the decision to suspend all classes for the time being. That means no Sunday Lindy Hop and no Monday Solo Jazz Roots.
I know that local guidance hasn’t asked for this yet and I was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary just yet but the advice around social distancing is pretty convincing plus today I have a mild sore throat and itchy eyes, more likely due to hay fever than COVID-19, but it wouldn’t be right to chance it.
I will keep you all up to date as things progress and I’ll do my best to post interesting videos and information to keep you connected to all things swing in the meantime.
For now please feel free to use our Facebook page and group (search for Nottingham Lindy Hop on FB), our Twitter handle (@nottmlindyhop), and/or our Instagram feed (@nottinghamlindyhop) to keep in touch with NLH and each other to avoid loneliness during what may become an increased period of suspended activities. You can also message me directly whenever you need to 🙂
For now, take care of yourselves and I’ll look forward to seeing you at the earliest opportunity.
Nottingham Lindy Hop 