bands
Flying Jazzmann (DK)
Friday
The band plays the 30-40’s jazz standards in a fresh style with clear threads to the old days of swinging jazz from dance halls and small jazz clubs.
The musicians have all been handpicked from different backgrounds on the Danish music scene but all with a love for old school jazz music. Band leader Jan Nielsen’s piano playing are strongly influenced by the music of Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner and Gene Harris.
In 2017 the band started working together with the Danish swing dance society and accommodated their repertoire to fit the national and international swing events in Denmark
The Shirt Tail Stompers (Uk)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Shirt Tail Stompers have been recognised as one of Europe's best social dance bands.
Formed in 2010 for the London Lindy Exchange, they have played numerous dance camps and shows in over 25 countries all over the world. They have a passion for swing music and movement, with their extensive knowledge and experience of social dancing, they are definitely the band to dance to in 2025.
Truly appreciating the art of swing and knowing its place in history, they are heavily influenced by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie and many other greats from the swing and trad jazz era of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
teachers
Welcome Miranda (DK) and Liam (UK/SE) - the teachers for Saturday’s daytime classes.
Miranda loves everything about dancing. Her first dance was Blues, which led to Lindy Hop and Balboa. The addition of Fusion, Contact Improvisation and Tango has made her an accomplished and versatile dancer. She started teaching dancing in Amsterdam and later brought her passion to Copenhagen 🇩🇰 . To her, the core of dancing is joy, playfulness, and the connection she has with her partner(s) . Balboa is currently what excites Miranda the most and she loves geeking out about the fine nuances of the dance.
Liam started dancing swing in the UK in 2014, Lindy Hop led him to Blues dancing and he later got hooked on Balboa. He now lives and teaches in Gothenburg 🇸🇪, and wants to help others craft more moments of joy in social dancing. For Liam, Balboa feels like the perfect combo of nerdy technical movement and bubbly caring connection with another person.
Ruben & Gunnhild (NO) - the teachers for Saturday’s daytime classes and Saturday’s evening taster class.
Gunnhild and Ruben are Lindy Hop – and Boogie Woogie – dancers located in Bergen, Norway. Today Lindy Hop, Boogie Woogie and Solo jazz play a big role in their lives. Teaching and practicing in Bergen in addition to traveling to various international festivals for teaching, competing and taking classes take up much of their time.
They both have a strong passion for teaching, performing, competing and especially social dancing - where the goal during the social night is to avoid leaving the floor for as long as humanly possible.
To Gunnhild and Ruben the multifaceted activity of swing dancing involves so many treasured elements - from the music itself to the possibilities of expressing yourself to it. And to be able to share these elements with another human being on the social floor makes it all so very special.
DJs
Charlie is a swing DJ and dancer from Italy, known as Jivin’Charlie.
Jivin’Charlie is selecting music between 1930’s to 1970’s for Lindy Hop, Balboa and Blues dancers. He is collaborating with several dance schools in Italy and festivals all over Europe - making everyone dance with a mixed, original selection.
Ruben (NO) has a big passion for both swing music and the rhythm & blues. Seeing it from both a musician’s and dancer’s perspective he is quite picky regarding the subtleties that make up a good «dancing tune».
On his list you will hear everything from Ella Fitzgerald and Illinois Jacquet to Lou Rawls and James Brown.
Favorite quote: “Try not to dance to this one!”
DJ Arnau (DK/BCN) is the local DJ representative. His tunes will create a nice and enjoyable Sunday vibe.
Expect a balanced mix of mid and fast-tempo tunes to keep everyone comfortable on the dance floor after two very intense days.
You will definitely hear something from The Jive Aces, some timeless classics, and a few fun swing versions of unexpected hits like Wannabe or Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. After all, why not?
Science talks speakers
Jan is an assistant professor at the Center for Music in the Brain at Aarhus University. His research interests include rhythm perception and production, sensorimotor synchronization, social interaction in musical contexts, the experience of flow in musical activities, and the pleasurable urge to move to music, also known as the experience of groove. He has received an Erwin Schrödinger postdoctoral fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and a DOC doctoral fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).
His talk “𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜?” will explore how groove—the blend of steady rhythm and surprising twists—not only makes us want to move but also deepens our sense of connection when we dance together.
Danish filmmaker Mattis Appelqvist Dalton is also musician and composer, a jazz double bassist who was classically trained at the Conservatoire National de Musicque et Dance in his native Aurillac, France. He furthered his studies at the Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2020, he received his ScB in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Music from Brown University, writing his thesis on “Aberrations in time: The effects of music-elicited emotions on time perception in film.
His talk “𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬? - 𝐑𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦, 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧” will dive into why some animals can dance to a beat while others can’t, what that reveals about the evolution of rhythm in the brain, and how music shapes our perception of time—with help from some groovy animal videos.