Regularly offered classes

Swing 1 – Introduction to swing dancing

For beginners. Whether you are new to swing or it’s your first time on a dance floor. This class will teach you all you need to get out onto the dance floor, easy as 1-2-3! Moves that are fun and easy and will make you smile from the first day.

Swing 2 – Swing Foundation

Solidify your basics with this class that brings together many different basic steps. Learn the famous swing out, play with some charleston. Discover an old line dance tradition, the Shim Sham. Your friends will be blown away!

Swing 3 – Lindy hop Liberation

Refine your swing out and a whole range of variations on this theme that you will never get tired of! This class will take you to the next level with a whole set of new vocabulary.

Swing 4 – The lindy hop – continued

This class is built based on the needs of the students and deepening the key concepts to help you master improvise dance.

Swing 5 – The lindy hop – continued

This class is built based on the needs of the students and deepening the key concepts to help you master improvise dance

Blues

Slow it down! Blues dance is all about filling the space between beats in slow music. One of the most subtle and connected dances in the swing family, Blues has lots of room for follows to improvise and contribute to the dance. Good blues dancing also requires balance and strength, so plan to come out of your blues classes a better mover and dancer all around!

Balboa – (not offered every session)

Balboa is an elegant and classy swing dance. With an emphasis on close connection and tight footwork to fast music, Bal is a great way to dance to those faster songs without breaking a sweat! Balboa grew out of the crowded dance floors on the west coast in the 1930s, so it’s also a great dance to know when you’re in a packed room.

Collegiate Shag – (not offered every session)

Time to get crazy! Collegiate shag is a fast, energetic dance from the 1930s that was danced in the American south while the northerners were doing Lindy Hop. The biggest part of shag is rhythm, and we’ll be cranking the tempo up to the max for this class. After you’ve learned to shag, no song will ever sound too fast again!

Shag Drop-in:
Social Shag (beginners always welcome) is taught most Saturdays from 1PM-3PM, on a drop-in basis, by Owen Hortop and Mary Timmons. For more information, contact owen@catscorner.ca

 

Performance Troupes

Cat’s Corner currently has 4 student performance troupes, two for Lindy Hop, one for Blues, and one for Collegiate Shag:

The “Harlem Reverie” is our intermediate level Lindy Hop troupe, led by Jonathan Caron and Meghan Gilmore. Practices are Thursdays from 7pm-9pm.

The “Cool Cats Coleslaw Collective” is our advanced level Lindy Hop troupe, led by Aleix Prats-Ferrer and Lunou Samson-Poirot. Practices are Thursdays from 7pm-9pm.

The Blues Troupe is led by Randy Panté and Geneviève Moisan Marmen. Practices are Tuesdays from 7pm-8:30pm.

The Shag Troupe is coached by Owen Hortop and Olivia Bowman. Troupe practices are Sunday evenings from 7pm-9pm.

Troupe members gather weekly to practice under the watchful eyes of their coaches. Powered by a fiery passion for Swing and Blues and their thirst for knowledge, these bands of merry men and women come together to diligently work on improving their dancing, technique, and movement, all while learning more about Swing and Blues cultures. Rumour has it that the coaches actually make them sing! By learning various choreographies, troupe members expand their dance vocabulary and get a chance to perform these choreographies at various events in Canada and the United States.