While all people are welcome at Queer Swing Seattle, our goal is to go out of our way to create a uniquely safe & queer positive space for people to learn to Lindy Hop. This is reflected in our policies, the way we do business, the way we think about and teach dance, and ultimately the way we will all dance with each other.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, ethnicity, ability, appearance, national origin or religion will not be tolerated. LGBTQAI+ spaces have historically lacked sensitivity to our Trans, NB and POC family members. We want to be especially conscious of this to create a new dance community where everyone feels explicitly welcome, safe, and valued!
Lindy Hop is a Black American cultural art form, as such, Queer Swing Seattle is dedicated to dismantling white supremacy in dance spaces through action, education and working to undo the cultural burglary of Jazz and its various dance forms.
What is an ELEF partner dance class style?
ELEF stands for "Everybody Leads, Everybody Follows."
In our ELEF classes we teach everyone both roles (Leading and Following) from the beginning while keeping the value of equality in the social dance conversation at the forefront. Learning both roles from the jump not only dismantles the problematic power dynamics associating gender roles, it also gives you and your partner a social dance super power!
In many partner dance classes and spaces you will encounter an unspoken expectation that A). you should only learn one dance role, and B). you should learn the role "traditionally" associated with your gender identity. What results is a way of "leading" and "following" that often inadvertently reinforces the problematic power dynamics associated with the gender binary in society. This is one of the first things that can turn off a lot of LGBTQAI+ people to participating in partner dance.
Queer Swing Seattle's programming is different. with a collective three decades of experience teaching and working in swing, We've worked hard to develop programming that confronts these systemic issues and offers a new approach to learning and dancing Lindy Hop: A truly Queer empowered approach to Swing Dancing! Join us!
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If you are excited to join our classes and community but have financial difficulty, reach out to us. We are working with amazing organizations to ensure financial ability is not a barrier to dance.