Festival 2024 video teaser
2024 festival photo gallery
Photo credits: Thierry Plétan, Mathis Brachet.
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…
Solo Jazz, Swing Kids & Jazz Exploration classes
Rémy Kouakou Kouame fell into the world of swing dancing at an early age. A distinguished competitor, he holds a number of prestigious titles, including Champion de France and Champion du Monde de Boogie Woogie.
For several years now, he has also distinguished himself as a teacher, travelling to the biggest international festivals to share and pass on his passion and knowledge. What he likes to share most of all is the joy that dance gives us. He fights against the intellectualization of dance and militates for fun and feeling. For him dancing is… living… expressing himself!
Rémy has been Artistic Director of the Swinging Montpellier Festival since 2023.
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.
