1920s Jazz Age Dance Weekend! Workshops, Lessons & Dance Parties, June 5-7, 2026
Schedule
Fri, 05 Jun, 2026 at 07:00 pm to Sun, 07 Jun, 2026 at 08:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
St. Barnabas Upper Hall 175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3, Canada | Toronto, ON
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NEW DATE: June 5-6-7 weekend, 2026!All other details remain the same
1920s Jazz Age Dance Weekend!
You don't want to miss this
Registration and details coming soon at www.swingtoronto.com
Presented by Swing Toronto & Waltz Toronto
Learn super popular 1920s Jazz Age partner dances!
Easy-to-learn, free-spirited, engaging, vernacular, improvisational.
Come to a Roaring 20s Jazz Age Edition of Saturday Night Swing ft Ben Harvey and his Ornamentals!
Good music for Lindy Hop, swing dancing and 1920s dances.
Theme: Jazz Age Garden Party
Photo ops and props
Teachers: Cheryl Henry & Simon Threlkeld
Location: St Barnabas Upper Hall (2 minutes walk from the Chester subway stop and Carrot Common on The Danforth)
SCHEDULE
Friday 7-11pm, Saturday 1-11pm, Sunday 2-8pm
FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 5
1920s TWO STEP & SHIMMIE WORKSHOP, 7-9:45pm
- Two Step & Shimmie in 1920:
- Shimmie dancing circa1920:
- Two Step in 1929:
- Learn 1920s Two Step, a smooth fun easy-to-learn style of Polka ("Polka without the hop"), and Shimmie. Two Step was extremely popular from from the 1890s through the 1920s. Learn 1920s Jazz Age style Two Step. Two Step is a Swing and Lindy Hop precursor dance.
SHORT & SWEET JAZZ AGE DANCE PARTY 9:50-11pm
Let's 1920s Two Step and Shimmie all over the flloor!
SATURDAY AFTERNOON June 6th
PEABODY ("SWING WALK") WORKSHOP 1pm to 3:45pm
- Peabody & 1920s Charleston performance by Chad Fasca & Midori Asakura: https://vimeo.com/222761425?fl=pl&fe=vl
(Cheryl & Simon mainly learned Peabody from Chad & Midori.)
- Lindy Hop greats Frankie Manning & Norma Miller, illustrating some of the Peabody (aka "Swing Walk" and "The Walk") they did in the 1930s at the Savoy in Harlem, NYC:
Peabody (Swing Walk) is an engaging and distinctive form of One Step, and was very popular in the Jazz Age, including at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, the epicenter of Lindy Hop in the Swing Era. "All of the Lindy Hoppers" at the Savoy in the 1930s and Swing Era did Peabody, including Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, widely considered the greatest and most influential Lindy Hop performance group of all time.
SATURDAY NIGHT PRE-DANCE LESSONS 6pm to 7:40pm
- 1920s PARTNER CHARLESTON 6-6:30pm
- 1920s VERNACULAR FOXTROT and ONE STEP from FAST & JAZZY to SLOW & ROMANTIC, 6:30pm to 7:40pm
Film footage:
Some Jazzy Foxtrot in 1929:
Bad Boy Brody 1925:
Foxtrot was by far the most popular dance of the 1920s and 30s, (vernacular Jazz Age Foxtrot, not modern Ballroom Foxtrot which is something quite different). It is easy to learn, the basic step is just walking. Fox Trot in the 1920s was a broad concept. It can include One Step, Two Step, and alternating between slow and quick steps. It is free-spirited, varied, not rule-bound, and can be done at tempos from slow to fast, and everything in between, varying from wild and energetic to slow and romantic.
The swing music from the 1930s and 40s that is played at swing dances today, is almost always described, on the original records and sheet music from the 1930s and 40s, as music for Fox Trot. (Because that is what people mostly danced, including to swing music.)
In the mid 1920s there was a huge Charleston dance craze. 1920s Charleston is still widely done today, including by Lindy Hoppers around the world.
ROARING 20s SATURDAY NIGHT SWING ft BEN HARVEY AND HIS ORNAMENTALS, 7:45-11pm
Theme: Jazz Age Garden Party
Jazz Age attire is encouraged but optional
Traveling dances on the "outside track," non'-traveling in the middle, (as was done in the Jazz Age and Swing Era, including at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, NYC).
Photo ops & props
SUNDAY June 7th
WALTZ IN THE 1920s WORKSHOP 2-4:45pm
- Learn 1920s style Waltz, including at least one turning basic (turning/rotating as you travel with a partner)
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- 1920
WALTZ & BLUES JAZZ AGE SUPPER DANCE PARTY 5-8pm
Jazz Age Waltz Dance 5-6:30pm
Jazz Age Blues Dance 6:30-8pm
Swing Toronto website: https://swingtoronto.com
Facebook calendar of all Swing Toronto and Waltz
Toronto events: https://www.facebook.com/SwingTorontoPage/events
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Where is it happening?
St. Barnabas Upper Hall 175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3, CanadaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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