ABOUT US
Swing Patrol is a well-known and unique community of swing dancers featuring a first class group of teachers, award winning troupes, a dedicated admin team and what we (bias acknowledged) think are the most dedicated and passionate group of social dancers in the world. The curator of this crazy family is Scott Cupit who is responsible for the vision and leadership of Swing Patrol.
Swing Patrol on Dragons' Den
Swing Patrol gained national prominence after a successful appearance and pitch on Dragons’ Den when Deborah Meaden joined our team.
The media attention after this was unprecedented with a number of press articles and TV appearance. (link to ? Scott to clarify)
Swing Patrol Australia
Swing Patrol Australia began back in 1998 but the UK story started in Feb 2009. Scott Cupit, Ben Cook and Tanya Stephan hopped off a plane with an ambitious vision to start Swing Patrol London with no network, no social media presence and no students. It’s fair to say it was a tough few years with the sole aim of year one – paying the rent. Swing Patrol offered a vibrancy and joy in their classes and that combined with great technical nuggets got the attention of Londoners and three years later Swing Patrol hit their tipping point with 900 students suddenly attending classes. Swing Patrol had momentum they had never experienced before with venues approaching us, teachers from other cities keen to teach for us and suddenly we knew that we had arrived. The media was also kind to us with an array of attention including appearances on Call the Midwife, The Apprentice and even Blue Peter.
Our Journey
Our journey has had many highlights from dancing at Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and even on the Empty Plinth in Trafalgar Square. This newsletter lists our voted top ten highlights so this gives you a great insight into some incredible occasions.
Since 2016, we’ve proud to be “dancers in residence” at the Bishopsgate Institute, which has been a space for culture and learning since 1895, and is where we hold many social events and workshops.
Performance Troupes
Our performance troupes are the face of Swing Patrol, performing at birthday parties, weddings, corporate events, and summer festivals such as Wilderness and Bestival. We also have an active Schools Programme that teachers use to teach children about vintage dances as well as providing a fun and healthy activity. While we have had a lot of fun along the way, the quality and standard of dance is a priority to us and our dancers achieved some incredible results at the international Savoy Cup competition over recent years. An example was the results in 2017 where our troupes achieved a clean sweep in every team event. This newsletter lists the Swing Patrol results and you can enjoy the award winning routines.
History Of Swing Dancing
Ensuring our dancers were aware and passionate about the history of the dance was mandatory and we fondly think of two really special weekends where we immersed ourselves in the history of the dance. Read about our time with Jean Veloz here and the incredible time we had when we arranged Norma Miller to be part of our community as part of her European Tour here.