About Scott Cupit

“It has been a great journey with some unbelievable highlights.”

Scott Cupit is the Director and co-founder of Swing Patrol and the driving force of the business and this unique community of swing dancers. He always says that he has the best job in the world doing something he loves – every day. Scott teaches Lindy Hop and Balboa. His philosophy is simple: “Surround yourself with talented and inspiring people, love every step you take and assume goodwill.”

• 1. TEACHING

• 2. PUBLIC SPEAKING

• 3. AWARDS, HIGHLIGHTS AND PROUDEST MOMENTS

• 4. THE BOOK

• 5. CHOREOGRAPHER  & DANCER

• 6. ENTREPRENEUR

• 7. HISTORIAN

• 8. SCOTT & THE MEDIA

• 9. DJ SCOTTIE

• 10. SOCIAL MEDIA

 

 1. TEACHING

Scott loves teaching and shares the dance he loves every week. He often talks about his passion for introducing the dance to new people and watching their joy as they are first shown this amazing art form. Scott has been described as someone who has introduced Lindy Hop to more new people than anyone else – anywhere! Scott always imparts vital technical nuggets required to be a great social lindy hopper as well as always referencing the history of the dance. At the same time Scott ensures the joy of the dance is part of all session. You will always find Scott dancing in the class with any follows or leads that are spare and his team call the class “ the love bubble” as he has a special skill of taking everyone on an immersive journey where they leave feeling inspired by the dance. As well as his local classes he is a guest teacher at many weekend Festivals around the UK, Europe and Australia. He usually teachers alongside Jenny Thomas and or Trisha Sewell which he constantly says “ have both reinvigorated and inspired him as a teacher.” Over recent years Scott has taught at some fabulous camps in cities such as Grenoble France, Cologne Germany , Munich Germany , Berlin Germany , San Sebastian Spain, Vaasa Finland, Lucerne Switzerland, Edinburgh Scotland, York, Hullzapoppin’, Bristol, Swingmazo, in Santander Spain, Leiden Netherlands and many more. Click here for a fun example of a beginner aerials workshop in Brighton that Scott anchored.

 

 2. PUBLIC SPEAKING

Scott is the compere for many of the larger Swing Patrol events but also does a lot of public speaking both inside and outside the Lindy Hop community. As well as being on several safe place forums he has also been on panels at events such as Herräng Dance Camp, Berlin Swing Dance Exchange, Boogie Baron and Highland Swing. In September 2018 Scott was the MC for the Balkan Lindy Hop Championships. With a background in Training Management at a larger finance corporation, he bring strong corporate training skills and has run many teacher training sessions with his own team and with other teams including Swing Step in Germany and the the Edinburgh Swing Dance Society. After a successful pitch on Dragons’ Den, Scott was invited to speak at several university entrepreneur seminars and for some charities in London. Scott was also a guest speaker at a Pecha Kucha night at the Geffrey Museum in East London. Scott has been honoured to be the guest speaker at charity events talking about his experience on Dragon’s Den, dealing with change in society as a scene leader and building something from nothing. Check him out in an evening with Suited and Booted.

 

3. AWARDS, HIGHLIGHTS AND PROUDEST MOMENTS

The greatest highlight according to Scott is the “ Swing Patrol Boat” story. It was recently told again as part of the Swing Patrol Melbourne 20th year celebrations. It’s a great read so grab a coffee and enjoy this inspiring story here.  In 2009, Scott was invited to dance in Trafalgar Square as part of the Antony Gormley Empty Plinth project. Out of 2400 hours  Scott was voted by the Evening Standard as one of the top ten hours as it was one of the few slots that took the attention off the Plinth as Scott had 100+ dancers below in the Square as part of a unique and unforgettable event. Check out the great footage here.

In 2015 Scott was awarded the UK Dance Teacher of the Year. In a packed room at the famous Blackpool Ballroom (and up against some amazing ballroom teachers) Scott was announced 1st place which was excellent for Lindy Hop as an art form, as it is almost always won by someone in the Ballroom arena. It is testament to the amazing London Swing Patrol community who played a pivotal role in voting for Scott.

A few years ago Scott had the crazy idea of breaking a world record. He rallied the entire Swing Patrol London community who broke the World Record for the largest amount of people doing the Charleston. It was an incredible event and the photos and video are testament to the size of the community. Check them out on our Facebook page here. Apparently over 8 million people watched Scott and his team secure funding with Deborah Meaden on the BBC television show “Dragons Den”. Watch it here. It gave Lindy Hop some unprecedented media attention with follow up interviews on a range of shows including Good Morning Britain. Swing Patrol were later voted in one media article as one of the top 16 success stories on Dragon’s Den.

Two other highlights that need to be listed are Scott leading his dance team at both 10 Downing Street with David Cameron and team present and also dancing at Buckingham Palace as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations. Another highlight was a joint pitch in 2011 with the Jive Aces to be part of the opening of the London Olympics. It was a special day and another testament to an incredible community. Scott curated and managed the day and was the driving force of this fabulous event. While the pitch wasn’t successful the team were thrilled to see swing dancing as part of the NHS section of the Olympic Opening ceremony. We like to think the attention on swing dancing had an impact! 🙂

And then there was that time when Swing Patrol brought Norma Miller to London! We arranged for our troupes to perform for Norma at the Hippodrome in Leicester Square. Scott had recently formed a troupe with Jenny Thomas called “Brat Pack London.” Norma jumped up, grabbed the microphone and said. “ You have the spirit of Lindy Hop and you don’t always see that!” To be present when Norma was praising one of our troupes was a special moment for everyone present. This clip captures some of the magic of our evening with swing royalty.Swing Patrol dancers and troupes have competed all over the world and achieved great success on many levels. The moment that Swing Patrol really arrived on the European stage was the incredible results at the Savoy Cup 2017 in Montpellier. Swing Patrol had a clean sweep winning all the troupe events. This is an amazing newsletter to read.

 

4. THE BOOK

Scott was approached by a book publisher who produce illustrative books. They were impressed by his presentation on Dragons’ Den and were looking for something vintage. This lead to the book “ Swing Dance” which has been published in four languages – English, French, Italian and Spanish. It is now proudly part of the Queen Mary library and thousands of copies have been sold to keen swing dancers. The book launch was a particularly special affair with all the Swing Patrol troupes performing as part of a sold out afternoon at Wilton’s Music Hall The book is available through most normal channels and also through the Swing Patrol website.

 

5. CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER

Scott loves being a dancer more than any other role he plays. Whether it being lost in a corner social dancing or performing front and centre, Scott loves every step he takes and is always grateful for the opportunities this art form has presented him with. Scott was the head swing dance choreographer on the Australian “ Dancing with the Stars” and has assisted Jenny Thomas on the UK version “ Strictly Come Dancing.” Scott has worked on various other projects as a choreographer including alongside Helen George on the swing dance scene in Call the Midwife.