History of Cat's Corner
In the Beginning...
Cat’s Corner was founded in 1998 by Fred Ngo in Kingston, Ontario.
In 1998 Fred moved to Kingston to take an academic position at a local College. Having been stung by the Lindy Hop bug in Toronto, he was dismayed to find that there was no Swing in Kingston! It was clear that something had to be done. In order to promote swing dancing in Kingston, he started teaching regular classes (out of a classroom at a local Kingston high school, KCVI) and even put together a performance troupe, the Kingston Swing Kids (now called Limestone City Lindy Hoppers).
Several of the Kingston Swing Kids members were able to navigate the red tape at Queen's University to start up the Queen's Swing Club, which is still going strong today!
On a trip to Montreal during the Jazz Festival in 1999, he was asked by several Montreal dancers, "What are you dancing?" Lindy Hop had not yet made it into the mainstream consciousness in Montreal. A group of dancers asked Fred to teach them the Lindy, and he spent a full year driving to Montreal to teach for 6 hours straight every weekend, at the legendary Swing Ring.
Montreal Bound
In early 2000, Fred decided to move Cat's Corner to Montreal full-time, leaving the Kingston scene in the good care of the Queen's Swing Club.
In the summer of 2000 Fred spent 5 weeks in Sweden dancing at the famous Herrang Dance Camp. This trip would prove to be course-changing for the Montreal swing scene, as this was where Fred finalized the idea of running a Lindy Hop dance camp in Montreal.
Meanwhile, back at home, Cat's Corner was still homeless and renting studio time for its classes. Memorable spaces include the African art gallery near Lionel-Groulx metro, and various studios in the Belgo Building.
In the summer of 2001, the Montreal International Swing Dance Festival arrived. The enormous logistical challenge was met by a small team of executives plus a larger team of volunteers drawn from the Montreal swing scene, andDepuis 1998 the camp was a resounding success. Over 500 attendees and rave reviews in its first year! The camp would prove to change the course of the swing scene in Montreal, firmly planting Lindy Hop into the minds and hearts of Montreal dancers.
In September of 2001, Cat's Corner found its first studio, near Vendome metro. It was a small, small space, shared with a latin dance school, that was barely 1/4 of the size of our current studio. Nevertheless, it was home and created many happy memories for us.
In June of 2002 Cat's Corner moved to a new studio, dedicated entirely to swing, near the corner of St.Denis and Maisonneuve. The Cat's Corner crew spent many weeks designing and renovating that space to be the perfect dance space for all swing dancers, even going to the expense of installing a genuine hardwood floor and a custom-designed air-conditioning system.
In February of 2003, Cat's Corner moved yet again to its current location on St. Catherine Street, near The Bay on Aylmer. Again spending weeks designing and renovating the perfect dance space, the gem that is our studio was created with sweat and tears. At nearly twice the size of the St.Denis studio, Cat's Corner had truly found a home to stay.
Since 1998, Cat's Corner has grown to encompass nine teachers, a wide student base, and hosts a weekly dance night attended by dancers of all levels. But this is not the end! Will you help to create the next piece of our history?
The Savoy Ballroom
No history of Cat's Corner would be complete without going even further back, to the Savoy Ballroom, the most famous ballroom during the Swing Era of the 1930s-40s.
The Savoy Ballroom was located in Harlem, New York, where all the action was. Everybody knew that the dancers at the Savoy were the best. Among these swing pioneers were Frankie Manning, Shorty George Snowden, and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. The Cat's Corner was the section of the Savoy Ballroom where they gathered to strut their stuff and to innovate.
Cat's Corner's name is thus inspired from the original Cat's Corner at the Savoy Ballroom, in appreciation of the pioneers that blazed the path we are dancing on today.
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