Welcome !
Swinging Montpellier is a festival dedicated to promoting and preserving jazz swing dance and music. This so-called authentic jazz, or old jazz, was born over 100 years ago and constitutes a unique heritage of dance and music.
It’s jazz that has stood the test of time, accompanying several generations through difficult and joyous times alike; denouncing racial inequalities at its inception, a vehicle for integration for a whole generation of Afro-Americans, sounding the call for freedom in occupied Europe…
Today, this jazz is being reborn, worldwide, by young people in search of fraternity and living together.
Here in Montpellier, more than anywhere else, swing holds a place of choice, with dance expertise that is few and far between, highly experienced musicians and a community of enthusiasts.
The aim of the Swinging Montpellier festival is to bring to life this swinging effervescence made in Montpellier.
Enjoy the festival!
THE DANCERS
Lindy Hop lessons
Bianca Locatelli and Nils Andrén are dancers, choreographers, teachers and performers of Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie, two vibrant dance styles deeply rooted in African-American culture. They have spent the last decade teaching, performing and choreographing.
Solo Jazz Lessons
Helena Kanini Kiiru is a young dancer and teacher from Zagreb, Croatia. Her passion for music and dance goes back to her childhood, when she began playing the piano at the age of 7. With Kenyan family roots, Helena grew up with music, which stimulated her sensitivity to rhythm.
Solo Jazz Lessons
Marie N’diaye is a choreographer, performer, jazz dance educator and dance researcher. She specializes in jazz dance (African American Jazz), including the partnered form (Lindy Hop), focusing on the heritage of the Harlem dancers of the Savoy Ballroom as well as the tradition of chorus lines in nightclubs and theaters (such as the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn…)…
Lindy Hop lessons
It was at the Université du Québec à Montréal thatAlice Bourgasser‘s interest in swing dances, particularly Solo jazz and Lindy Hop, grew into a full-time job at Studio 88 Swing, teaching and performing these dances.
A swing dancer since 2014, Michel Campeau quickly rose through the ranks of Montreal’s Swinging Air Force and devoured the Lindy Hop several times a week. Since 2018, he has been teaching, coaching and performing vernacular jazz dances full-time, with a focus on Solo jazz and Lindy Hop.
Lindy Hop lessons
Alice Mei started dancing at the age of 4 and practiced many different types of dance until she fell in love with the Lindy Hop. She has spread the joy of authentic Lindy hop and jazz in over 30 countries through teaching, performances, competitions and social dancing.
Felipe Braga is a Brazilian jazz dance artist, choreographer and educator based in Berlin, Germany. Her warm personality charms every dancer she meets, and her ability to connect with people in conversation carries over to the dance floor.
Solo Jazz Lessons
Felix Berghäll is a Swedish, African, American and vernacular Lindy Hop dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher as well as a DJ and music researcher…
Lindy Hop lessons
Marie N’diaye is a choreographer, performer, jazz dance educator and dance researcher. She specializes in jazz dance (African American Jazz), including the partnered form (Lindy Hop), focusing on the heritage of the Harlem dancers of the Savoy Ballroom as well as the tradition of chorus lines in nightclubs and theaters (such as the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn…)…
Felix Berghäll is a Swedish, African, American and vernacular Lindy Hop dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher as well as a DJ and music researcher…
THE MUSICIANS
The “Swing Up Orchestra” is made up of jazz musicians from Lyon, and takes you back to the golden age of swing in the 40s. The band revives the music of jazz legends such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Artie Shaw and many others…
With a strong rhythm section and feverish solos, the Swing Up Orchestra recreates the energy and excitement of the Swing era to get you dancing !
Live, Friday July 19, 2024 at 8pm (festival opening) and Saturday July 20, 2024 on the Promenade du Peyrou
Les “Carolina Reapers Swing”were born from the meeting of young, crazy musicians from the ’30s and ’40s and “swing” dance. This synergy produced a group that is interested in jazz standards and in the rare pieces that bring together music and “swing” dancing since the early days of “lindy hop”.
By its energy, their style is alive in spite of their chiseled arrangements. That is to say that they combine classicism and a new approach of the “ole’ trad jazz songs” of the “swing” era… and their name is already synonymous with “ça va chauffer !
Live, on Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 8pm, to close the festival, on the Promenade du Peyrou.
From Billy Holliday to Ella Fitzgerald, via the song repertoire of Cole Porter and Duke Ellington, the quartet enthusiastically reinterprets the great classics of the era, bringing people together around nostalgic, danceable music.
Live, Saturday July 20, 2024 at 1pm, at the Guingette d’Oc, on the Promenade du Peyrou.
Bett Betty leads the show on vocals and double bass, accompanied by her sidekicks Johnny Mustang on guitar and Scott “Hi Hat” Jenkins on drums!
BUM BETTY arrives with its festive, vintage, rock’n’roll energy!
Live, Sunday July 21, 2024 at 1pm, at the Guingette d’Oc, on the Promenade du Peyrou.
L’Orchestre Syncopatique is a traditional jazz group that draws its influences and spirit from New Orleans orchestras and musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and Benny Goodman.
Passionate about traditional jazz, the quintet showcases both the vocal and instrumental dimensions of this fabulous festive music steeped in history.
Live, on Friday July 19, 2024 at 2pm, at the Polygone shopping center in Montpellier, as part of the festival warm-up.
THE PROGRAM
Warm Up at the Polygon
Le Polygone shopping center, Montpellier
2pm & 4pm – Live by Orchestre Syncopatique in the Polygone aisles.
3pm – Free Lindy Hop initiation in the Patio FNAC
FREE
Festival opening night
Promenade du Peyrou
7 p.m. – Doors open – official inauguration
7pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
8pm – Count Basie Contest (competition)
8:30pm – Concert by the Swing Up Orchestra (1st part)
9:30 pm – Presentation of guest dancers
9:45pm – Swing Up Orchestra concert (2nd part)
11pm – AFTER at the JOST Hotel – DJ set
FREE
Day 1 – 10am / 11pm
Promenade du Peyrou
10 a.m. / 2:30 p.m. – LINDY HOP Master Class – with tickets
1pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
1pm – Concert by Emilie & The Shiny Bunch – Free
2:30pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
3 pm / 6 pm – Master Class SOLO JAZZ – with tickets
6:30pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
7pm – SWING KIDS initiation – free with registration
8:30pm – Concert by the Swing Up Orchestra (1st part)
9:30 pm – Exclusive show by guest dancers, directed by Rémy Kouakou Kouame
9:45pm – Swing Up Orchestra concert (2nd part)
11pm – AFTER at the JOST Hotel – DJ set
FREE
Day 2 – 10am / 11pm
Promenade du Peyrou
10am / 1pm – LINDY HOP Master Class – with tickets
1pm – Wine tasting workshop by Pays d’Oc IGP – Free with registration
1pm – Bum Betty concert – free
2:30pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
3 pm / 6 pm – Master Class SOLO JAZZ – with tickets
6 p.m. – All styles jazz class – reserved for non-jazz dancers – registration required
6:30pm – Pays d’Oc IGP wine tasting workshop – free with registration
7 p.m. – JAZZ SOLO and LINDY HOP initiations – Free with registration
8pm – BATLLE Jazz vs Street dances (preliminaries)
8:30pm – Concert by Carolina Reapers Swing (Part 1)
9:30pm – BATLLE (final)
9:45pm – Carolina Reapers Swing concert (2nd part)
11pm – AFTER at the JOST Hotel – DJ set
FREE
Course prices
Swinging Montpellier Posters
2024
2023
2022
2021
2019
Posters
for the gala evening
Swinging Africa posters
Montpellier
2023
2022
2021
2023
2021
ACCESS MAP
promenade du peyrou
The favorite walk of the Montpellier inhabitants
Thanks to its location and the exceptional view it offers, the Place du Peyrou is an emblematic place of Montpellier. The last royal square built in France, it has the particularity of being a tree-lined esplanade of 3 hectares located at the periphery of the Ecusson at its highest point.
Belvedere widely open to all horizons, it hosts an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, which Jean Giral, the architect, will complete in 1774. The triumphal arch and the water tower that extends the aqueduct are models of classical architecture.
In 1685, Louis XIV designated Montpellier to receive an equestrian statue in his effigy. To build a royal square, the most complete expression of the monarchic glory speech, means to create a worthy setting for the statue of the sovereign. The earthworks and enlargement began in 1689.
It is only 75 years later, under the reign of Louis XVI, in 1766, that the embellishment works are launched. Completed in 1775, the Place Royale du Peyrou was considered one of the most beautiful squares in the kingdom, thanks to its location and the exceptional view it offers.
