19-21 January 2024
teaching LINEUP
Help! I need somebody! When we started thinking about teachers for this event, we reflected on our experiences at all of the camps, and weekenders that we have attended over the last five years. The teachers that are at this weekender have made an impact on us in way that ensures fun, inclusiveness, and talent. For those teachers who were not available this year we will hopefully have you next year!
We've got the following teachers who can help you if they can:
María Ferrer and Aurélien Darbellay, Stephen Atemie and Korantema Anyimadu, Clàudia Fonte, Wendy Okoli and Ithalia Johnson.
.jpg)
María and Aurélien
María and Aurélien think about their dance as a space of three-sided dialogue, where collective dynamics combine with individual expression and musical inspiration. They emphasize rhythmical playfulness, and different ways of interacting with the music and each other. They like to pay attention both to the moments when individuality smoothly fits into the collective flow, and to the moments when tension arises and resolves. They embrace with curiosity, doubts and joy the responsibility of sharing an artform that was born in the African-American community, in a social and cultural context very different from their own. Sometimes you are up for a chill conversation, sometimes you want to go deeper. Their classes are a mix of both.
Stephen Atemie & Korantema Anyimadu
Stephen is a fresh young talent emerging from the new generation of Lindy Hoppers. In 2017, Stephen travelled to South Africa to spend a month working with the charity Sing Inchanga. There he shared skills with local children & young people across their own dance styles and Lindy Hop. Stephen's performance/competition credits include 10 Downing Street, Harrods, Savoy Cup (France), ILHC (USA). His latest projects include organising talks, webinars and advocacy for cultural appreciation within the Lindy Hop/AAVJ communities across the world as a board member for Collective Voices For Change (CVFV)
Korantema Anyimadu is a dancer from London and fell in love with African American Vernacular Jazz in 2014. She has tapped for Zadie Smith and performed at the 2012 London Olympics. When she's not dancing, Korantema is a curator and zine maker, and runs an award winning creative project called Black Hair Stories. She is passionate about the cultural links between the past and the present, and the stories of the African and Caribbean diaspora. Korantema was the former co-leader of the chorus line troupe, The London Starlings (formerly known as The Dinahs)
Claudia Fonte
Swing dancer (Lindy Hop & Authentic Jazz), Clàudia Fonte explores and embraces all kinds of playful ways in her dancing. Her main source and inspiration is Swing music itself. Taking the classic rhythms and moves as the foundation, she challenges herself to keep them alive through her own perspective and interpretation. Even though considering and admiring the great historical tradition of Swing dances, she believes in its evolution and expansion; respecting but also transforming the roots she explores different ways of communication and expression, as in vernacular jazz also in the partner dance.
Authentic Jazz is where she feels most in her element. Solo jazz enables her to achieve a creative atmosphere of exploration and play where she takes on the challenges proposed by Swing music and finds her own voice and style. Essential to her approach is promoting solo dancing in the context of social dancing. Sharing tools and techniques her objective is to help the dancers to explore and develop a style the most authentic for them. She believes that the dance floor is where everything starts, and the magic happens; where all dancers find their own way of dancing.
Wendy Okoli
Wendy, a self-taught Nigerian Heritage dancer, embarked on her dance journey at the age of 14, initially focusing on Hip Hop performances from Secondary school through University. Upon relocation to England, Wendy expanded her repertoire to include a diverse array of dance styles, such as Salsa, Dominican Bachata, Merengue, Semba, Kizomba and Brazilian Samba. Her expertise lies in teaching and performing Afrodance and Brazilian Samba.
Together with her best friend, Wendy co-founded Samba Livre, a renowned dance troupe celebrated for their electrifying performances at shows and events, venues, commercials and television shows, both within the country and abroad.
Wendy’s dedication extends to sharing her passion as an Afrodance instructor at colleges, youth centres and through collaborative workshops with Afrodance Academy.
Beyond her mastery in dance, Wendy is a versatile artist, also making a mark in the realms of acting and modeling as a talent represented by Urban Talent, with appearances in various films, TV programs and commercials.
Ithalia Johnson
Ithalia Johnson: Liverpudlian with African, Caribbean and Irish roots, Business Female of the Year, Trailblazer Dance Champion, Clore Leadership Fellow. Dancer, leader and coach. Co-founder of an award winning dance charity, igniting change through dance. Bridging cultures, breaking barriers. Cultivating belonging and self-discovery. Embracing joy, fostering resilience. Creating a world where all can bloom and feel liberated.
Ithalia is a change-making dance facilitator, Movement director, Lecturer and performer; who’s vision is to shape explorations and practice around African and Caribbean Dance.
Ithalia started her journey of self discovery after quitting her job as a development officer to become a dancer. Gaining a distinction in dance at the Liverpool City College, then travelling to NYC to train at the Jose Limon Dance School (2008).
During Ithalia's time in NYC she became part of CoCo dance theatre, directed by Cynthia Oliver, and toured the US for 2 years in the production “Rigidigidim De Bambe De: Ruptured Calypso.” A piece that explored Afro-Anglo Caribbean identity.
Visiting lecturer at Universities including UCLAN, and Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), specialising in using dance from the African diaspora to connect with people and communities, address racism and inequalities.
Choose your adventure
Beginners
Experience a dance festival! This ticket, it includes 4 hrs of classes on Saturday only, and all our socials (Friday, Saturday Sunday).
If you've not been dancing very long or haven't danced much outside of your own scene, this stream will give you a strong foundation to build connection, melody and rhythm into your dance. A little experience in some basic lindy hop movement will help (e.g. rock steps, triples, swing outs and circles etc).
Melody
"Voice & Expression"
Finding your voice in the dance. Listening to the story of the music and exploring how to interact with that.This track will include workshops with all core teachers. This track will be for you if you like to think about the bigger picture when you are dancing. Maybe you find yourself singing along to the lyrics of a song and notice it influences your decisions on how to move, or maybe you have big ideas when you hear a break. This track will give you lots of ideas about how to interpret both what you hear in the music and your own creative ideas into your dancing.
Rhythm
"Riffs and licks"
Developing solid foundations, and exploring other aspects of rhythm and improvisationThis track will include workshops with all core teachers.This track will be for you if you love to play with rhythm and working on both the groove and the embellishments is important to you. Maybe you hear a drum lick and find it gives you inspiration, or you notice the subtle changes in different eras of jazz music and want to feel you can embody that in your dancing. This track will give you lots of ideas about how to interpret the rhythms you can hear, as well as add your own rhythms into the dance.
Connection
"Listen and collaborate"
Working both on how we connect physically, and how we can play off each other to create magicThis track will include workshops with all core teachers.This track will be for you if you want to dig into developing your connection when dancing. Maybe you find that some dances are just electric, as it feels like you, your partner and the music are perfectly in sync. This track will give you lots of opportunity to develop your connection in a myriad of different ways, using classic movements and moves and looking at moments of synchronicity as well as individuality.
band & DJ LINEUP
We get by with a little help from our friends, and this year's musical talents are world-class, hailing from the town where I was born and beyond, we have:
Corina Kwami and The Swing Selection, Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats, Bearcat Gumbo, with more to come!
Schedule
The long and winding road that leads to our door is at Liverpool Masonic Hall on Hope Street. That's where all our classes will be on Saturday and Sunday.
Here's our party venues:
Friday Night - Stanley Theatre
Saturday Night - Liverpool Guild Of Students
Sunday Night - Masonic Hall, Hope St
Please note- the Masonic hall has steps to the entrance and lifts internally. Other venues are fully wheelchair accessible, if you need more detailed info, email us
Beginners
Friday
6.30 Registration opens
7:00 Social begins
11:45 Social ends
Saturday
10am Registration opens
10:30 Classes start
4.15pm Classes end
Tasters & Panel TBC
7:00 pm Social starts
11:45pm Social ends
Sunday
10:30 am Classes and tasters start
4:15 pm Classes end
4:30 pm Social starts
7:30 pm Social ends
Passes & Prices
Passes:
Full Weekend Regular Price (all classes & socials) £170
Beginners (Saturday classes & all socials) £100
Socials Pass £60
Contact us for shared passes & pay what you can passes
-
All tickets will be released on 6th October
-
Early Bird Full Weekend pass will be on sale throughout November
-
Beginners & Socials passes will be the regular price from November- early January
-
Regular Weekend passes will be on sale throughout December & early January
Contact us for:
-
Shared passes are for two people sharing the same ticket- only one person from the pair can be at the festival at a time- it's ideal for parents, carers or those managing health conditions that might mean they're unable to do a full weekend.
-
Pay What You Can if you're unable to pay full price, contact us to get on the waiting list for these passes (no questions asked), we release one place for every ten passes we sell.
email: info@merseyswing.com