S! Foundation Tuesdays
Beg-Int Swing Dance Classes

Foundations of Blues Dance

Blues music is diverse. So is Blues Dance. As we explore how to dance to blues music, we will focus on the “conversation” you have with your partner while dancing and how to establish and maintain great communication with each other.

Difficulty level: Medium/Low

Foundations of Jitterbug

The term “Jitterbug” means many different things to many different people of many different backgrounds. This class will start with the most universal 6-count rhythms and movements across all idioms of Swing Dance. We’ll get you on the dance floor quickly and present fundamental concepts that will guide the development of your technique and style in the future.

Difficulty Level: Low

Foundations of Partnered Charleston

Charleston and Lindy Hop are inexplicably linked together technically and historically. This class will focus on some of the more complex movement ideas in Lindy Hop. They feature lots of kicking and are very fun, but also demand higher level partnering and movement technique. This class will be a fun challenge and inspiration.

Difficulty level: Medium

Foundations of Lindy Hop

Emerging in the 1920s as a combination of the rhythm, styling and technique of African Dance (a la The Charleston) with the lead/follow partnering aspects of European dances (like the Waltz), Lindy Hop takes its name from a coincidental historical event of the same time period: the first ever trans-Atlantic flight piloted by Charles Lindberg in 1927. Created by African-Americans and traditionally danced to Big Band Jazz Music, Lindy Hop is the “founding father” of all future Swing Dance idioms.

Difficulty level: Medium

Foundations of Balboa

Born in Southern California during the Swing Era, Balboa is a close position partner dance that mixes well with Lindy Hop and Charleston. Legend has it that the dance halls in that region were so packed that dancers had to confine their movements to smaller spaces, giving rise to the style and technique of Balboa.

Difficulty level: Medium/Low

Foundations of Vernacular Jazz

Charleston, Shim Sham, and Big Apple are some of the African-American dances that became world-wide crazes and are featured in this class. We’ll introduce you to “vernacular” movements such as Suzy Q, Shorty George, Tacky Annie, Spank the Baby, and Camel Walks, so you can “speak the language” of Swing Dance.

Difficulty Level: Medium/Low

Prices are available at the registration page.

• All classes are open to students with any range of experience, from beginners learning for the first time to experienced dancers looking to solidify fundamentals or expand their knowledge base.

• Students are not required to bring a partner to class.

• In class, we use a partner rotation system where Leads dance with all the Follows and Follows dance with all the Leads. All students are expected to participate in the rotation unless there is an extenuating circumstance. Our classes are not designed for students to stay with the same partner.

• Students are allowed to choose their own role in class, Lead or Follow. Students may also switch roles as frequently as they like.

• It is highly likely in every class that students will dance with some partners of the same gender and some of different genders during the rotation. The expectation is that all students be respectful of all other students at all times.

Joel Domoe coordinates the design, development, and teaching of Swing Dance Foundations in collaboration with CCAC and other swing dance luminaries in the Cincinnati Area.

Joel is the founder of SupermurgaNati!, whose mission is: To amaze, enable, and empower Cincinnati's Jitterbugs and Lindy Hoppers creatively, technically, and socially by providing opportunities for elite instruction, generous mentoring, exciting collaboration, supportive connections, and amazing dance.

Joel has been teaching, performing, community building, and producing events in the Swing Dance community all over the Eastern United States for 25 years. He is a former Virginia State Open Jitterbug Champion and Southwestern Regional Lindy Hop Champion. He has served as Competition Coordinator and/or Head Judge for the American Lindy Hop Championships (Stamford, CT), Lindy Focus (Asheville, NC), and Beantown Dance Camp (Boston, MA) multiple times. Joel has taught classes at far too many events to name. He is a founding and honorary lifetime member of the Piedmont Swing Dance Society in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was a founding member and first president of the Atlanta Swing Era Dance Association. He has founded and directed three different Swing Dance Troupes: Bums and Bombshells (Greensboro, NC), Heavens to Murgatroid! (Atlanta, GA), and The Cinci SnapShots (Cincinnati, OH). In Cincinnati, among other things Joel served as a co-producer of SwinGallery (Cincinnati’s longest running weekly swing dance event) from 2006-2016.