Review – Swing Dancing Workshop

Every Monday and Thursday night of the month long Fringe Festival, the crew from The Swing Sesh, are running beginner classes in swing dancing. Tickets are only $10, and for that price you get a full hour of learning basic step patterns and some more flair based choreography like passes and turns.

Welcoming and competent instructors Yarran and Earanee take the class, which is a mix of absolute beginners and a few students who attend this class regularly as well. This has the glorious effect of mixing those who are bumbling their way through the steps, like you, and those who can really lead you through the moves and show you how fluent it can be, and make you feel like you’re a pro in the space on an hour.

You don’t need to bring a partner to join in, but as seems to be the trend, males (or leaders) tend to be in high demand, however Yarran and Earanee make sure that everyone is swapping partners frequently enough, that no one misses out for too long.

The hall is large enough to cater for as many people as required and there is plenty of free car parking around. On really hot summer days, it can get warm inside, but the vibe is still great. Make sure you wear closed, comfy shoes that won’t slip off your feet as well as clothes you can move in, and carry a water bottle for after class on a hot day.  The class requires constant movement and learning, but it is not too fast paced and doesn’t require a high level of fitness. It was great to see that there was a really big range of ages of people all enjoying learning to dance together.

You can tell the instructors love swing dancing, it would have been nice to have seen a bit of a demonstration of the level of swing dancing people could be aiming for, however no time is wasted on displays of talent (for that you can check out their fringe show A Swingin Spectacular), this hour is about your own learning, dancing and enjoyment.

PRO TIP: If you can’t make one of these workshops The Swing Sesh offer these classes regularly outside of the fringe as well as a free social dance night on Thursday night for participants.