Lennart Westerlund
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 Harlem 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 at especially the 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 perform dance demonstrations.
Lennart is today still a most active dancer, instructor, lecturer, judge and administrator. He divides his time between the Herräng Dance Camp, the Chicago swing dance studio, and traveling around teaching and giving lectures. After some 35 revival and renaissance years of the Lindy Hop, Lennart is one of very few of the pioneers that are still active in the scene. His background and dedicated interest in the Harlem roots of vernacular jazz dancing has positioned him as an important link between the past and the present.
Dmitry & Daria
Daria is one of the best swing dancers in Russia. She started her dance career in 7. By the moment she met Dmitry Vostrikov in 2009 Dasha already managed to win a ton of top-tier competitions in Russia and worldwide, and was literally fall in love with lindy hop.
Turned out, Dima was also deep into swing music and dances and achieved spectacular results too. On Dima’s account are multiple wins in competitions, a chain of demanded master classes under his command and firm reputation of a top dancer in Moscow.
After they formed a dance pair, each one unleashed true potential and set new pinnacles to go onwards and upwards. Today, Dima and Dasha are one of the best dance couples on the lindy hop scene, both in Russia and in Europe. Successful dance instructors, Dasha and Dima gladly share their experience with students and “infect” more and more people with a virus named “lindy hop”.
Lizette Rönnqvist & Patrik Pettersson
Patrik and Lizette started dancing together when they both moved to Stockholm, Sweden.
Besides teaching they are also members of the famous swing dance
company The Harlem Hot Shots. The genuine spirit of the swing era, and in particular the dancing that came from the Savoy Ballroom and the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, have always been their main focus and inspiration.
This style is what they bring to their performances, classes as well as their social dancing.
Harlem Hot Shots is a group of Swedish dancers whose specialty is entertainment authentic to the Swing Era. With the deepest appreciation and passion for dance styles that originally derived from Harlem, their mission is to keep spreading knowledge and the tradition of swing dancing. Dances such as the lindy hop, charleston, jazz and tap make up the company’s repertoire which also includes acrobatics, singing and comedy.
Photo by: Eric Esquivel
Alexia Legoueix &
SEp Vermeersch
Alexia was rescued by swing dancing in 2005, when she was about to engage into standard competition dancing. Attending her first Herrang in 2007, she has since traveled the world to learn more about the dance, its origins, and jazz in general.
With a background in Ballet, jazz and contemporary dancing, she mostly gets interests in African rhythm based dances… also learning percussion and drums in the process. That would explain why rhythm stays so important to her, and the core of her dancing.
Sep Vermeersch is a very passionate swing jazz dancer and music expert. He is based in Ghent, Belgium. The combination of his educational background and daily practice makes him a unique person to work with. His energy and passion for the dance, music, art and
vintage business made him a welcomed guest in many projects in Belgium and around Europe.
Alexia & Sep recently partnered up as they discovered that Belgian Chocolate and French Wine was indeed a tasty combination.
In their dancing they are exploring all kinds of connection. Because what is important to them, is to be able to share the swing dance magic and fun with anybody on the floor.
In their class, they make sure everybody enjoys it, and improves within their own style and way of moving.
Barbara & Alberto
These two hep cats met at the sunny Italian seaside a few years ago in Genova. Since that they love to dance together, enjoy the music, share ideas and fooling around on the dance floor. In the class room they are super passionate and energetic about each material.
This is their first visit to Bucharest and they can’t wait to see you all at Lindy Bug 2018!
Barbara:
Started to dance at age 9. Ballet, modern jazz and ballroom dances gave her classic technique and stable base. She loves to spice up that with the energy and craziness of jazz. When teaching, it’s important to her to build up well structured classes.
She tries to help her students to reach strong body awareness, to improve their technical skills, but can’t miss out some fun figures or games on each class. In the last 4 years she is teaching every day classes in Budapest at the Keep Swinging association, she is involved the local scene building and everyday life of the school. She is started to teach on international festivals just recently. Next to all the dancing and teaching she is an event organizer. She is in the main organizing team at Lindy Shock, Chase Festival, CEUSDC, One Minute Challenge, Vienna Honey Swing.
Alberto:
Alberto is a swing dancer and teacher from Genova. He discovers Lindy Hop in 2015, and it is love at first dance: he throws himself into the world of Swing specializing in Lindy Hop but trying out anything, from Jazz Steps to Blues, Shag and Balboa. His eagerness to learn and challenge himself drives him to quit his job to entirely dedicate himself to his career as a dancer.
Today, he takes part in competitions all over Europe and attends every possible festival in order to improve his skills as performer and a teacher. He sees every lindy hopper a source of inspiration, be it a teacher or student of his: every new connection is a discovery. Dancing is energy and freedom to him, and that is what he hopes to share with the rest of the world.
The Morning Call Jazz Band
Adrian Tudor
