West Coast Swing Lab coming in 2025
Join us at The Lab: an unforgettable week-end workshop for west coast swing and modern jive
Enjoy your favourite modern chillout tracks and blend influences from your favourite dance styles
Enthusiasts of west coast swing, modern jive/ceroc™, or blues will feel at home
And until then, why not join our Dance in a Day workshops?
8h of classes and practice
With the lab format, you build new skills progressively and anchor them immediately with directed practice – the format is intense, but rewarding!
4 taster classes
Smooth dancing is about connection and musicality. Get inspired by various smooth interpretation dance styles and integrate new influences in your movements!
3 unforgettable parties
If you are looking for the perfect connection, that magical dance conversation while gliding on the floor, you will enjoy our smooth partner dancing nights!
The Lab Program
We will have four great classes:
- Let’s get moving
- Playing with time and space
- Whips and rotations
- Transitions and extending moves
The Lab format offers a directed learning path through the whole week-end – you will not find a better format to grow your skills!
The teaching will be focused on technique, so it helps to have prior experience. If you are comfortable with putting technique before fixed patterns and enjoy topics such as connection, posture, elasticity and timing variations, you will find yourself at home.
Note: there is no dedicated beginner stream in The Lab – you should know the basics of West Coast Swing or Modern Jive / Ceroc™.
Your Teacher
Neil
Neil has been on the partner-dance scene for over 10 years and has been teaching several partner dance-styles for the last 6 years. He has been successful in several UK and Pan-Asian competitions.
Neil teaches a connection and musicality-oriented approach to partner dancing, taking a fusion of techniques from West Coast Swing, Blues, Zouk, Tango and Contemporary Jive.
During the weekend, Neil will teach 4 classes with Ellie, building up a sequence of moves to help participants further develop and practice a variety of techniques including compression, extension, body-leading, footwork, movement transitions, height and speed variation, and delayed weight-transfer.
Influences
In The Lab week-ends, you will find influences from blues, zouk, argentine tango or different versions of swing.
West Coast Swing
Rooted in Lindy Hop, west coast swing (and its simpler version smooth swing) is characterized by an elastic look. It is danced primarily in a slotted area and allows for both partners to vary the steps while dancing together, putting it in a short list of dances that emphasize improvisation.
(description adapted from Wikipedia)
Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the African-American communities of Harlem in the late 1920s. It is a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development, mostly jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston. It is a highly diverse and playful dance.
(description adapted from Wikipedia)
Blues
Blues has its roots in sub-Saharan African music traditions and the historical dances brought to the United States by European immigrants. As a dance family, it includes historical movements danced to blues music and contemporary evolutions that are danced in that aesthetic.
(description adapted from Wikipedia)
Argentine Tango
Argentine tango is a social dance marked by nostalgia, sadness, and laments for lost love. It is thought to have developed in the late 19th century in working-class neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina and was practiced by Argentine dancers, musicians, and immigrant laborers.
(description adapted from Wikipedia)
Brazilian Zouk
Finding its origin in the Lambada, Zouk is recognisable by the follower’s upper body movements which are led out of axis. Rich with body isolations, tilted turns and counter-balance, Zouk’s plasticity of movements and range of musical genres caters to creativity and improvisation.
(description adapted from Wikipedia)
The Lab Locations
Tanzwolke dance studio
Hotel – Pension für dich
Splendid piano bar
Book a Hotel
You are welcome to book a room at Pension für dich for the whole The Lab week-end (07.10 until 10.10).
Please book directly by e-mail (pension@fuerdich.ch) with Leroc as code word for a 10% cultural discount on the room price (not via booking.com or the pension website).
Hotel THE FLAG Zürich (the-flag.de) offers a 20% discount for the week-end participants if you book before September 30th.
Contact us to get the promotion code.
Of course, you can also find your own accommodation on alternative channels:
Specifically for Zürich and Switzerland:
Don’t forget to check the public transport for your last service from the evening dance party location to your chosen hotel before booking. Trains run through the night, albeit less frequently, but trams and buses generally stop around 1am and are replaced by a more restricted night bus service.
Things to do in Zürich during The Lab
Zürich is a vibrant and relatively compact city that can easily be discovered on foot, or enjoyed from the multiple forms of public transport (tram, bus, train, boat) all covered by the same ticketing system. See Visitors General Information.
Visit the Landesmuseum
Visit one of Switzerland’s most visited museum and learn about Ann Frank’s journey, cycling or the history of Switzerland. And if art is more your cup of tea, the Landesmuseum will also content your wishes.
Trip to Uetliberg
A pleasant train journey from Zurich’s main station brings you to the top of Uetliberg hill for sweeping views across Zurich, complete with a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. An easy ridge walk starts from here, and can be followed to Felsenegg, from where a cable car delivers you down to Adiswil for a last train ride to Zurich main station.
Visit the iconic churches
The graceful slender spired Fraumünster is a beautiful church showcasing a wonderful series of famous stained-glass windows. It sits on one side of the Münster bridge crossing the river Limmat. On the other side of the bridge is the Grossmünster with its distinctive twin towers. The cut stone stained glass windows are very alluring and need to be enjoyed from inside. Climb one of the towers for a spectacular view over Zürich.
Cruise on the Zürisee
See beautiful Zurich and its surrounding areas from the water. Take a round trip, or jump off at one of the many lakeside villages or towns for a drink at a waterfront bar and/or swim in Lake Zürich. Or continue to the end of the lake to quaint Rapperswil, the rose garden and wine growing town and castle, and home to Europe’s longest wooden pedestrian bridge. Optionally return back to Zürich by train or boat. Tickets can be purchased through the Zurich transport service ZVV.
For more inspiration, see:
https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/sightseeing
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/destinations/zurich/
Visitors General Information
Zürich Airport
Zürich airport is an easy 10 minutes from the centre of Zurich by train, with the train station inside the airport itself. Trains run to Zürich’s main station (Zurich HB) every 10 minutes or so.
Transport
Nationwide (SBB): https://www.sbb.ch/en
Zurich area (ZVV): https://www.zvv.ch/zvv/en/home.html
Zürisee special cruise (ZSG): https://www.zsg.ch/en
Currency
The currency of Switzerland is the Swiss Franc.
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