Edinburgh Queer Lindy Mini-Festival 2023

Schedule

Sat Jun 17 2023 at 12:30 pm to Sun Jun 18 2023 at 02:00 pm

Location

Inch House Community Centre | Edinburgh, SC

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Edinburgh Queer Lindy Mini-Festival is back!
Join us on Saturday 17th June for a day of exploration and expression through discussions and dancing
|| Register here: https://edinburghqueerlindy.dancecloud.com/dance/33918 ||
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For our friends who’ve attended previous years, things will look a little different than our other editions. Some of this is by choice and some due to circumstance.
Due to logistical reasons, Lise and Marlies are supporting the event from the sidelines rather than being in central organising roles. Rounding out the organising team, Edinburgh dancers Emily and Sarah have joined Rob to bring you our 2023 edition.
We’re also changing our approach to what would have previously been classes with dedicated teachers. Instead, we’re running a session where individual and shared exploration of our Lindy Hop is the goal. We believe it’s important to move away from putting ourselves in positions of authority when talking about how Lindy Hop can be done, so we’re experimenting with other ways to appreciate, understand and grow in the dance.
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*What makes this a queer dance event?*
Between us, we have danced in lots of different cities and at lots of different events across Europe, and we’ve consistently found that we enjoy ourselves the most when we don’t feel any pressure to conform to any one dance role or social identity. The times we’ve felt the most ourselves have been when we were surrounded by queer dancers, in an environment where everyone was allowed and encouraged to take part in this dance in a way that fits who they really are – no judgement of one another, simply being able to express yourself and appreciate others. The joy and positive energy we’ve experienced in these places has been exceptionally freeing, and in running this event we want to share that feeling of freedom and expression with you.
*How are we working to achieve this?*
We want to challenge the implicit idea that all dancers identify as either men or women – ignoring the existence of non-binary/gender-diverse dancers – and that they should dance a particular role according to that identity.
It’s great to see that in many communities it’s becoming more common for dancers of a wide range of genders to choose to lead and follow – or do both! – and for non-heteronormative couples to be seen dancing together. However, we all too often see that the binary is still upheld, both in terms of gender as well as dance roles. To us, Queer Lindy means to not be limited by gendered structures in our choice of role, style of dancing, and who we dance with.
Do you want to follow? Lead? To choose a different role depending on the dance? Or do you and the person you’re dancing with agree to switch roles during the dance? We want you to make the choice for yourself. Part of this is helping bring awareness to the structures – that we sometimes don’t realise are there – that can limit us. We can then each decide how we want to use, or not use, those structures.
One of our further-reaching aims is to use this questioning of structures and hierarchies to examine our place in the Black American culture of dancing and music that we are guests in. As a group of White European dancers, we are very aware that we will always have work to do when it comes to taking part in this culture with appreciation and respect.
This event was inspired by Gothenburg Queer Lindy Festival which Rob, Lise and Marlies attended in 2018 and 2019. Having run our mini-festival in 2019, 2020 (in person) and 2021 (online), and now with Emily and Sarah joining us, we want to continue creating this space in Edinburgh where anyone can explore different dance roles and/or switching between them, regardless of their gender, presentation, level of experience, or anything else for that matter. Taking further cues from the wonderful folk at GQLF (who very generously gave us their blessing to use a similar name for our event), we also want to provide a platform for the LBGTQ+ community to be more visible within the Scottish swing dance scene.
In short, Edinburgh Queer Lindy Mini-Festival is a space for anyone who doesn’t feel dancing environments should be heteronormative and wants to dance where they are welcome and accepted for who they are.
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*’Exploring Our Dancing’ Session*
A collaborative, minimally-structured session where trying things out and sharing ideas about dancing will be encouraged. Rather than have teachers, the event organisers will act as facilitators with the role of supporting individual and shared exploration. There will be options for playing music and a screen for watching reference videos if any are suggested. This will be led by ideas and questions from dancers.
How will this actually look? What will we end up working on as a group? We’re not entirely sure! This will be experimental and as long as we all agree on guiding principles – set out at the start of the session – we’re going to throw ourselves into the ambiguity and trust that as a group we will be able to support each other in our understanding and growth.
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*Panel/Discussion*
We think it’s important to have an ongoing conversation about the swing dance community and how we can make it more open and welcoming to as many people as possible. This will be a dedicated space for sharing ideas and experiences with each other.
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*Social Dance*
Of course we’ll have a fabulous social dance too! Take to the floor with the openness of being able to genuinely dance with every person in the room. Lead, follow or switch, it’s entirely your choice.
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*Hosting*
If you would like to request hosting or you live in Edinburgh and can offer hosting, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/paXQaS82QmSxKBRQ7
We'll do our best to offer hosting, however we can't guarantee it. As the event is so soon we'll starting matching hosts and hostees together as soon as we’re able, although if you'd like to make sure you have somewhere to stay it may be worth asking someone you know directly or looking at AirBnB or similar. The venue is on the south side of the city centre so anywhere south of Waverley Rail Station or close to King's Buildings would be suitable.
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*Schedule*
Our venue for the whole day is Inch House Community Centre
Here's how the day is going to run:
12:30-13:00 -- [Registration]
13:00-15:00 -- ‘Exploring Our Dancing’ Session
15:00-15:30 -- [Break]
15:30-16:45 -- Panel/Discussion
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20:00-01:00 -- Social Dance
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Sunday Hangout -- 11:00-14:00:
If you're still in Edinburgh on Sunday then join us for some more chats, brunch, tea and/or coffee.
One of our favourite parts of the other editions was spending time with you all on Sunday afternoon. We’re hoping to have some casual dancing as part of this - to be confirmed!
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*Passes*
We want to make this event accessible so please choose the pass which is right for your circumstances. The Patron tier is there if you’re able to contribute a bit extra towards our running costs and help more people to attend on the Concession tier.
Full Day Pass - including the ‘Exploring Our Dancing’ Session, the panel, and the Saturday night social dance
£30 Patron
£25 Regular
£20 Concession
Social Pass - including the panel and the Saturday night social dance
£20 Patron
£15 Regular
£10 Concession
|| Register here: https://edinburghqueerlindy.dancecloud.com/dance/33918 ||
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For updates, keep an eye on the event, our page and our website:
https://www.facebook.com/EdinburghQueerLindy/
https://edinburghqueerlind.wixsite.com/mini-festival
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Where is it happening?

Inch House Community Centre, 225 Gilmerton Road, Inch Park,Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Edinburgh Queer Lindy

Host or Publisher Edinburgh Queer Lindy

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