Birmingham Bounce 2017

After waiting for what seemed like an age for it to arrive, the inaugural Birmingham Bounce has already come and gone.

For me it very nearly didn't happen at all, courtesy of delayed flights and lost, then found but damaged luggage, so I eventually arrived on the Saturday afternoon a tad knackered but raring to go.

Sadly, however, that meant I missed two highlights - the classes by Tatiana Udry, and seeing Swing Belfast's own Anna kicking ass in Friday night's competitions: coming second in the strictly finals with James, and third in the jack & jill.

I'm sorry not to have been there cheering Anna and James on but, just as I had mentioned before, anyone representing Belfast was not shy of support as I think we ended up taking about 35 people to Birmingham, and to say I am not also immensely proud of that in and of itself would be an understatement.

I don't think I've ever been to an event with more than three others from Belfast, so to more than decuple* that number (*yes, it's a new word to me also) was a glorious thing. But quantity isn't much without quality and from the many accounts I heard it sounded like everyone represented Swing Belfast with distinction.

In fact, when I got chatting to Paul on the Sunday afternoon, he told me that a number of people had even described the Belfast dancers as being "aggressively friendly", so it's clear to me that the enthusiasm and warmth that I fell in love with in our nascent scene is also an exportable quality!

Having such safety in numbers I think also proved to be a brilliant way for some of our newer dancers to experience their first ever big event and as I'm sure all of them would agree, the weekend itself was a lot of fun and a fantastic introduction to Lindy hop outside Belfast.

The weekend's teachers were Swing Express' own Paul & Sarah Neary and Scott Cupit & Jenny Thomas with Felix Berghäll rather enviably teaming up with both Tatiana Udry and Katja Završnik (probably my two favourite follows on the planet) for their partnered workshops, and between what I experienced and what I heard, it seems that the classes all went down a treat.

As I said, I missed Tatiana's classes with Felix but I was determined to make up for it somehow and decided that the Saturday night social was where to do it. Not only was I going to try to make up for the dancing I had missed that morning, and indeed the night before, but I was also going to attempt to compensate for missing out on a class with Tatiana by asking her for a dance.

I've commented before how my confidence escapes me when approaching my favourite top tier dancers and as the Birmingham Bounce was my first weekender in over a year, it's safe to say that I was feeling distinctly chutzpah-lite. But the second I rediscovered some testicular fortitude and actually approached Tatiana it turned out, unsurprisingly, that she was absolutely lovely and every bit as spectacular to dance with as to watch.

My erstwhile reticence was then completely shown up by some of the newer Belfast leads (some with less than a year of classes under their belts) who walked straight up to Tatiana and the rest weekend's pros and asked one or all of them for a dance: Brett, Curtis, Luke and Mark and a probably a few more didn't even blink, and I believe a few of our follows did the same!

And then when the inevitable jam circle kicked off, the Belfast crowd once again showed up and made us proud with about a third of the dancers who took the floor hailing from our scene.

Furthermore, a special mention must also go to Mark and Kristina who, despite being one of our newer couples, waited out the regular jam cool as you like and then bounced into the middle of the action as the fabulous Basin Street Brawlers really started to crank up the BPM.

All in all, it was a really fun weekend of dancing that I hope whetted the collective appetites of the 30-odd Belfast dancers for whom this was their first big event. A big thanks must go to Paul & Sarah and Swing Express for putting on a brilliant inaugural Birmingham Bounce (as well as an apology for taking so long to finally write this up but I'm using wedding prep as my excuse!) and I'm sure we're all looking forward to our next trip to Brum!

Paul & Sarah one year (and a bit) on

[NB - interview from September 2016]

About 16 months ago Galway grieved and Birmingham bubbled as Paul & Sarah Neary swapped the West of Ireland for the West Midlands so I thought it was time to find out how they were getting on in their new home, how Swing Express was progressing and also to find out a bit more about the big event they have planned for next year: Birmingham Bounce.

Paul, it's almost a year and a half since you both upped sticks and moved. How long did it take for you to feel properly settled and at home?

I'm not sure that we've yet achieved that. The place we're living in was always meant to be short-term, so it always feels like we're just waiting to find that alternative place where we will be comfortable and set up as 'home'. Work-wise Sarah has a job she is very dedicated to, and has grown enormously in that role, which is great. From the dancing side of things, it's been slow going but things have gradually begun to take shape. It's an extremely different set-up to Galway, and the relationships we've built with dancers here are very different to the relationships we built in Galway.

One of Galway's strengths is the intimacy of a buzzing scene in a small city and I have mentioned a few times how much I love dancing there so what do you love most about Birmingham? Is it possible to create intimacy in the second largest city in the British Isles?

Galway and Birmingham are so different. In fact, I shouldn't say Birmingham, I should say the West Midlands, as our classes take place in Birmingham, Coventry, and Sutton Coldfield. I've even done a fair bit of teaching in Leicester. Our classes are very spread out, so you rarely the see the same people twice in any given week. In Galway there were always die-hards (they know who they are!) who I would see three or four times per week. You got to know people very quickly and become really familiar with them. Our current set-up makes that a bit harder, but we've been lucky enough to meet some really great people and those relationships have slowly come.

I will say the dancers here have been very supportive, especially the ones that are a little more removed from Birmingham city itself. Our dancers in Coventry and Sutton Coldfield, for example, really appreciate having some classes in the their local area and not being forced to travel to find a dance class. They really have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome.

In comparison with starting a completely new swing scene in Galway (and by extension, kicking things off in Ireland as a whole), how did getting started in Birmingham compare? New obstacles or was it much easier the second time around?

Mate, so, so different. As an instructor you're always trying to work out what people need to know. As a scene builder you need to work out what people want to know. I've walked into an established scene here where people are used to things being done a certain way. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it's up to me to adapt to that mindset. Some people are really hungry for new ideas and to hear a different perspective, others not so much. It's my job to walk that line, try and keep everyone interested and work out inventive ways of delivering my message as an instructor. Walking in to an established scene has presented some really interesting challenges, but has also given us a great opportunity to practice what we preach and work together with local schools. We've worked really hard on that and just a few months ago were part of the team that delivered the first ever Birmingham Lindy Exchange: BrumLX with two other local schools. It was a great test for all of us to see how well we played with others :-)

In terms of the dancing and students, how has your first year gone? Did you have many already established local dancers who came along or has it been a fairly new thing for most of your crowd?

It's been a mixture. Our Sutton Coldfield class (to the north of Birmingham) and our Coventry class picked up a few established dancers, primarily because they are a little starved of options in their local area. There have also been a good number of newbies come along, which has really helped as it's nice to have some blank slates with which to start. There's great enthusiasm amongst the newer dancers and the older ones really do feed off their enthusiasm. Our more centralised classes in Birmingham City and Bournville (to the south of Birmingham), where there are a lot more options available to people, primarily consist of brand new

Bournville... so swing dancing and chocolate?! Gadzooks I'd be in heaven. Anyway, when you started last year you had three classes on the go. Is that still the same or have things changed and do you see Swing Express expanding any further?

We still have three going, plus I teach regularly in Leicester as a 'hired hand' (i.e. it's not Swing Express I'm teaching for in Leicester, it's the local school). We do have a fourth venue set to kick off on the 20th of September, so that's exciting. Being new we've had opportunities to try a few different things, set up classes in different areas. If something doesn't work, we tweak it, try again etc. Being new definitely has its advantages.

Did you ever consider naming your event BirmingJAM? I chanced upon that suggestion due to a typo and had to ask...

No, too cheesy Adam. That's just silly. That's a 15 minute time-out from the internet for you...

Pffftt... Well, similar to my name suggestion I think the line-up for the Bounce is also top notch. The teachers are some of my absolute favourite dancers and you've also roped in one of the top jazz bands in the UK - what influences these choices and can I borrow your phonebook?

When I run events I do tend to focus on the learning aspect. Some organisers prefer to concentrate on the entertainment/social aspect of their events. There's no right and wrong there, it's just a preference of which approach to take.

For example, someone suggested I organise a late night party for the Birmingham Bounce. My response was "I'm not flying William and Maeva and JB and Tatiana over from France just so people can sleep in and miss their workshops". I'm a teacher first, and I want to help people not just become better dancers, but to also understand their dance better. That's why I choose the teachers I do. I believe the instructors I tend to work with have a genuine passion for what they do and work very hard to pass on that passion to the scenes they visit.

For the Bounce I put together a wish list of Lindy Hop instructors, and also figured that there might be slightly more interest in a specific authentic jazz track here in the UK, so also asked Sarah to help me put together a wish list of instructors that could anchor a jazz stream. William and Maeva are absolutely perfect to lead a Lindy Hop stream, and JB and Tatiana were high on Sarah's list for jazz. To call Scott and Jenny icing on the cake is doing them both a stupendous injustice. Jenny is an absolute legend, in every sense of the word, in Lindy and Jazz circles and it's only that she is based in the UK that she doesn't generate as much excitement as some of the other visiting teachers. It's my first time working on an event with her and it's a huge honour to have had her say yes.

Bottom line, I'm interested in instructors that can help me shape my students and make them better dancers - to challenge them but also leave them feeling inspired. I've been fortunate to generally hit those targets.

As for borrowing my phone-book - that's not as silly as it sounds. I have been so lucky to have built the relationships I have, and those relationships have helped me build other relationships and so on. Scott Cupit, for example, helped me build relationships with a few of the bigger personalities within the scene, and they, in turn, helped me with others. Dax Hock has gone out of his way in the past to help me generate relationships, and I will always be grateful to both Scott and Dax for giving me a leg up when I needed it. For the Birmingham Bounce, William and Maeva, who I've worked with before in Galway, were instrumental in helping me reach out to JB and Tatiana. Sometimes you just need a foot in the door, and given the help I've received in the past, I'm happy to 'pay it forward'.

I booked my pass the day they went on sale but for anyone who has not yet registered, why should they make sure to get on it as soon as possible?

The longer you take the less likely you'll get the track you want. There are seven to choose from, but eventually some will book out and you'll either be stuck on a wait list or you'll have to find a track that maybe wasn't your first choice (not that you'd complain too much. Can you imagine - "Oh, I don't want to take classes from JB, Tatiana and Jenny. I wanted William, Maeva and Scott").

From an organisers point of view, booking early means I know you're coming, and allows me to be a little more flexible budget-wise. There are plenty of cool things I'd love to do for dancers at the Bounce, but it depends on numbers as to how I put these things together.

For those already committed, do you have any suggestions for accommodation or additional tips?

We're working on trying to get some deals from local hotels to help with accommodation, and we'll also be setting up some hosting. We recently ran the first ever Lindy Exchange here and managed to do a pretty good job getting people to offer hosting. We should be able to replicate that for the Bounce.

A huge thanks to Paul for taking the time out of a busy schedule to answer my questions! If anyone in the West Midlands or beyond is interested in taking up swing dancing or attending their forthcoming event, details and registration can be found on the Swing Express and Birmingham Bounce websites.

Galway to Birmingham - all aboard the Swing Express!

I just shared a post about my recent trip to Galway for Lindyfest 2015 but as much as enjoyed it, my elation was also tempered by the knowledge that it was Paul and Sarah Neary's final fling as the leaders of the Galway swing scene.

They have given so much of themselves to put Galway on the map and to ensure that it is at the vanguard of the Irish swing revival, and considering Paul and Sarah's pioneering stewardship in a popular art-form I'm sure I'm not the first to draw the obvious parallels between them and another somewhat prominent power couple: Jay Z and Beyoncé.

Much like Jay Z and his Brooklyn origins, Paul also hails from a modern hipster mecca (Melbourne) that's undergone notable redevelopment from the comparatively unfashionable streets he spent his formative days hustling.

Additionally, the establishment, growth and success of Galway Swing (and now Swing Express) has followed an almost identical trajectory to that of Roc-A-Fella and its international subsidiaries. Almost identical.

But global domination can be a lonely thing, so as Paul liked it he put a ring on it: a single lady with a mutual passion from a very talented all girl ensemble who has also demonstrated phenomenal prowess as a soloist. And both have picked up a considerable number of accolades along the way

Paul started Galway Swing 12 years ago and it was there that he met Sarah who has since become his right hand woman and better half and together they have nurtured a swing scene that punches well above its weight despite the other major cities on our wee island, Dublin, Cork and Belfast, all dwarfing Galway by population.

That said, to suggest Galway is only better on a pound-for-pound basis does it a disservice because if the ever reliable meter of Facebook 'likes' are anything to go by, Galway is well ahead of the others on merit.

Size, however, isn't the be all and end all (now now, keep those innuendos in check!) and Paul and Sarah's warmth and fervent dedication has permeated the west of Ireland and is reflected in the earnest ebullience of its swing community.

The high standard of the dancers to be found in Galway (including some of my absolute favourite follows) is another credit to Paul and Sarah's teaching, and for this reason I have no doubt that Galway shall continue to be a joy to visit, but I am of course gutted that they are leaving.

with permission from Anita McGarry photography

As well as their contribution to the Irish swing family I am also incredibly grateful to Paul and Sarah on a personal level for the encouragement they gave me the first time I met them and on an occasion where I really needed it.

Last year, for my first ever swing weekender and not much longer than a year after I had started learning Lindy hop, I went to the London Swing Festival with Anna and, as well as attending our first pro workshops, this also included our first attempt at competing. It didn't go well.

Anna had introduced me to Paul and Sarah briefly when we had arrived on the Friday night as she had actually started dancing under their tutelage during her time in Galway, but before we could really get chatting, Anna and I were shortly called up for our competition heat.

It was to be an an all-skate (everyone dancing at once) which calmed the nerves a little, but having been asked to fan out across the floor we found ourselves at the front.

The dance was going well enough and then, as planned, we thought we'd throw in an airstep that we were hitherto pretty confident in, but, for a couple of reasons, it failed utterly and very publicly.

Not only could we not hide behind other dancers, courtesy of being at the front, it just so happened that our heat featured two Blue Peter presenters and so a few BBC cameras were also floating around recording the whole thing for national TV.

After inadvertently creating a move that we now refer to as the 'elegant salmon' and one that is unlikely to appeal to swing purists or anyone with a shred of dignity, we skulked off the floor, hoping it would swallow us up, but Paul made a point of immediately coming up to us and stating that "unlike everyone else, at least you went for it."

If I'd known Paul's significance in Lindy circles I would have been even more appreciative (as a point of comparison this was early enough in my swing career that I was distinctly unawed by the presence of Skye Humphires as I simply had never heard of him) but nonetheless it was exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear when my confidence had just taken a major hit. On top of that, Sarah insisted that we had several dances that weekend when there were plenty of much better leads to be had, and I was also to discover that Sarah is one of the most incredibly fun people to dance with.

Dancing is one of those things where confidence can play a huge role and I have to thank Paul and Sarah for helping me keep mine on that weekend and in my dancing since.

I also have to thank them for their continued support of this blog, as not only did Paul kindly allow me to interview him (in the midst of a busy Lindy Hopper's Delight weekender!) for a piece I wrote on Frankie Manning, Sarah has also been incredibly encouraging and complimentary about my articles, and that truly means a lot.

I'm very sad to see them go but equally I'm very excited to see what magic they can conjure in and around Birmingham, a city almost 14 times more populous than Galway.

I look forward to attending their first big event but now would be a great opportunity to share some information about Paul and Sarah's new classes!

They currently have three weekly classes planned that target beginners and shall hopefully see an exponential explosion of swing in the West Midlands:

Monday // Harborne: 7:45pm – St Mary’s Church, Vivian Road
Tuesday // Coventry: 7:30pm – Biggin Hotel Hall, 214 Binley Road
Wednesday // Sutton Coldfield: 7:30pm – St James Church Centre, 61 Mere Green Road

Their classes operate on a 'drop in' basis so no booking is required and payment is taken at the door: £7 each or £6 for students and the unwaged. Further information can be found on their website.

And now I suppose there is nothing else for me to do but wish them the very best of luck in their new endeavour! All aboard the Swing Express!!