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SOFIA
4-6 OCTOBER 2024
Join for a weekend full of dancing, parties with LIVE music and training with the world's most renowned instructors:
Main teachers:
🇸🇪 Lennart Westerlund & eWa Burak
🇧🇪 Alexandre McCormack & Jill De Muelenaere
🇧🇪 🇬🇷 Sander Costermans & Irene Ragusini
Taster teachers:
🇧🇪 Toffee & Nacho
🇪🇸 Alba & Javi
🇪🇸 Isa & Frank
🇬🇷 Thanos
🇧🇬 Kalina & Miro
... more to be announced soon
Band:
🇧🇬 Old Sea Company Swing Band
6 hours of classes
3 hours of taster classes
3 parties with LIVE music and DJs
2 history talks with Lennart
3 hours of taster classes
3 parties with LIVE music and DJs
2 history talks with Lennart
3 parties with LIVE music and DJs
2 history talks with Lennart
Lennart started out dancing a Swedish form of American Jitterbug in the very early 1980s. In 1983 he came across the Lindy Hop through books and old film clips, and in May the following year he travelled to New York on the look-out for the roots of the dance form. He soon met, studied and started to spend time with old-timers including Al Minns, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller. In 1985, he co-formed the semi-professional and later on highly recognized Swedish dance company The Rhythm Hot Shots (now Hot Shots), and started to seriously study also tap and vernacular jazz dancing in general. A few years later, the company was in the forefront of the first steps of the revival of the Lindy Hop, and in 1989 they took over the complete administration of the Herräng Dance Camp, and invited legendary swing dancer Frankie Manning to visit his first major international swing dance camp. When The Rhythm Hot Shots started to receive some serious international recognition during the early 90s, Lennart was one of the key dancers. The company travelled extensively throughout the decade, and was among a handful of other dancers seriously leading the way to put the Lindy Hop back on the map again. At the time, Lennart also established himself as an international instructor, as well as an administrator and background worker, especially at Herräng Dance Camp. In 2004 he opened Chicago swing dance studio in Stockholm, and in 2010, after 25 years, he left the professional performance aspect of the dance, now focusing more on teaching, giving lectures and performing dance demonstrations.
Ewa "W" Burak came into lindy hoppin’ in the fall of 1986, after successfully auditioning for semi-professional Swedish dance company The Rhythm Hot Shots (now Harlem Hot Shots). At the time, she did not have any experience with African-American dancing, but her background as a gymnast helped her to very fast become a most skillful acrobatic lindy hop performer. Her repertoire gradually grew during the later part of the 80s and early 90s, also to include lots of vernacular jazz, charleston, tap and other elements of the Harlem jazz dance tradition. In 1989 she teamed up with Lennart Westerlund, and they soon positioned themselves as one of the top performance couples, specializing in fast acrobatic lindy hop. When eWa decided to step back from the professional performance aspect in the late 90s, she continued to teach on a semi-professional level passing on the lindy hop and other traditional jazz dances to a new generation. eWa was during the 90s one of the most recognized and celebrated lindy hoppers out there. She was a key member of The Rhythm Hot Shots, she frequently partnered Frankie Manning, and she was often on the road teaching and performing in the constantly growing lindy community. Her style of lindy hoppin’ and vernacular jazz dancing was and is characterized by a pure and powerful quality based on Harlem traditions and long time experience. Modern influences have never been a part of her dancing, and today she belongs to an exclusive minority of lindy dancers that is clearly rooted in the history of the dance form.
Alex is Benelux multiple-time vice champion in breaking and has taught various street styles since 2006. In 2013, McCormack discovered old clips such as Hellzapoppin and the Spirit Moves and set himself on the journey to emulate the “oldstyle” in black american Jazz and Lindy Hop. Most of his inspiration comes from studying the Greats or discussing directly with elders. His motto is “Master the foundation to understand the dance and personalise to contribute to it”. He will jam for hours into the early morning to uptempo Bebop Swing, shaky Mambo and slow Blues. Back in Brussels, he trains with his group, the Old Soulz on a regular basis.
Jill started dancing when she was a child. She is trained in
classical ballet, modern jazz and jazz dance, contemporary
dance and yoga. She has been teaching these different
disciplines for the past years, now sharing her time between
her passion for dancing, her work as a contemporary dance
and theater producer, a massage therapist and a yoga
instructor.
Specifically inspired by the authentic vernacular dancing
showed in old movies and the african roots of the dance, Jill is
ceaselessly in search for a sense of freedom within the dance.
She finds her happiness on the dancefloor in fast athletic
lindy hop, a rythmical mambo, or a slow dragging blues, and
have at heart to stay true to the legacy of the era and the
originators of the dances as best she can. In class, her goal is
to create a joyful yet challenging and encouraging experience
for everyone, allowing each dancer to develop their own
individuality in their dancing.
One of the finest swinging jazz acts around!
Old Sea Company is a dynamic group of musicians based in Sofia
playing for dancers. They know jazz, they speak jazz and you will
never want to leave the dancefloor before their last piece is over.
Classes will be offered at 3 levels - Intermediate, Advanced and Pro.
Each group will spend 6 hours with the main teachers of the event + 3 extra hours of taster classes.
All classes will take place at the National Student House
- a historic building in the heart of Sofia with prominent architectural significance.
Social dancing and real-time dance action lie in the heart of Lindy Hop so we are offering to you 3 parties at top locations for jazz and dance in Sofia.
Bar Singles
The first two nights of the festival will offer interviews and talks with the legendary Lennart Westerlund
and LIVE music until late from one of the top swinging bands in Sofia - Old Sea Company Swing Band. Do not miss your chance to
meet the artists of the festival, have the best swing outs and listen to some good old hot jazz!
CUSH BAR
The closing of the festival on Sunday will offer a relaxing and cozy atmosphere
to dance even more or simply chat over a drink with the friends you've made
during the weekend.
This will happen in the artistic atmospehere of CUSH BAR.
Specially for the occasion a second dancefloor will be opened.
20:30 - Registration
21:30 - History talk with Lennart
22:15 - Party with LIVE music
10:00 - 10:30 - Level split and coffee meeting
10:30 - 12:00 - Classes
12:30 - 14:00 - Classes
15:30 - 16:30 - Taster class
16:45 - 17:45 - Taster class
22:00 - Party with LIVE music
11:00 - 12:00 - Coffee meeting
12:00 - 13:30 - Classes
14:00 - 15:30 - Classes
16:30 - 17:30 - Taster class
21:00 - 22:00 - Show with Lennart @ DomNaKinoto
21:30 - Party @ CUSH
All classes: National Students House: Pl. Narodno Sabranie 10
Friday and Saturday: Bar Singles: National Palace of Culture, 1
Sunday: Cush.Bar: Exarh Yosif Str 37