About Swing in KW
Swing dancing can be found in most major cities around the world, like Seattle, Paris, Seoul, and Melbourne. We have our own dance community here in KW that has been around for over 10 years.
About the KWSDS
The Kitchener-Waterloo Swing Dance Society is a not-for-profit group which exists to preserve and promote swing dancing in the Waterloo Region. We run regular dances, organize special events, and distribute information on dance activities. We promote local classes, bring different studios together, and encourage dancers to travel to events in other established swing dance communities, such as in Toronto, Ottawa, and Rochester.
The KWSDS was founded in January 2007. Currently our executive members are:
- Martin Hansen, President
- Jeff Stager
- Kathy Hanson
- Angie Koch
- Jillian Randall
- Chris Nichols
The Current Scene
The KWSDS is one of many groups that keep swing dancing alive in KW. Other groups in the region include those mentioned throughout this site, such as:
- The UW Swing Club, which offers lessons and runs occasional events
- Next Step Studios, which offers lessons and runs some events and workshops
- Hep Cat Hoppers, which does performances and also organizes some events
- The Waterloo Swing Crew, which is a performance team
- Addicted to Dancing, which gives private lessons and was a major force in developing the scene in the past
In town weekly and monthly dances and events can be found, as well as many opportunities for lessons, and special events such as larger workshops. There are also many road trips to big events in other communities. Many of the dancers here have travelled and learnt all over the place, for example in Montreal, Chicago, Rochester, and Vancouver.
Before Today
As in many other places, swing dancing saw some intense growth in KW starting around 1999, through students at UW. This dancing was a good fit for the active young people at the university and was also motivated by the growing interest throughout North America due to cultural forces like the movies Swing Kids and Swingers, and an infamous Gap commercial featuring dancers doing swing lifts and throws.
Eventually some of the main organisers at UW, led by Jeff Benoit, moved on to found the Addicted to Dancing studio, teaching regular lessons throughout the community and organising major events and workshops on a regular basis. After many years the organisers moved on to focus on other projects and the studio scaled back to just offering private lessons, around 2007. Meanwhile, other groups began to grow and offer new opportunities, bringing us to the dance scene that we are fortunate to enjoy today.
