What exactly is ‘Swing’?

If you have watched “Swing Kids”, “Swingers” or “Malcolm X” you will know what swing is. Swing is a sound AND a dance. Swing music comes under the overall music umbrella of jazz and even though there is a lot of great modern swing played these days it all has that wonderful upbeat swinging dotted or “galloping” rhythm that you may remember from “In the Mood” or any other Glenn Miller golden oldie that your parents or grandparents played for you! Swing dancing is a style of dance that suits swing music. Swing dancing can be upbeat and flashy or slow and sensual. Whatever the pace, the dancing is always an expression of the music that it relates to! Chances are you are reading this page because a friend told you about swing dancing. They will be able to tell you more about the great steps and styling that is taught in swing dancing and how it is hard to swing without grinning.

You may also like:
Learn to Dance in a Day Workshops 2026 image
5 Mar| 2026

Learn to Dance in a Day Workshops 2026

Look at all our lovely new dancers!   Here’s our gallery of our Learn to Dance in a Day workshops of 2026 starting their new Swing Dance journey.   If you would like to join them, have a look at all our beginner workshops here.

6 reasons why every dancer should try blues image
5 Mar| 2026

6 reasons why every dancer should try blues

Regular blues dancer, Dalvinder, has written about blues dancing and kindly shared it with us: 1) Dance to some awesome music… Muddy Waters, Irma Thomas and Etta James are just some of the artists you might hear when you dance the blues. Whether it’s a just one man and his guitar or a singer backed […]