Vintage dancers: make a great party an unforgettable one!

Published: 02 Jul 2019   |   Written by: Mike Paul-Smith

Booking a live swing band adds and unforgettable touch to your party, and Down for the Count have a huge repertoire of music great at getting guests of all ages up and dancing.

One way to really maximise the potential of the band's performance at your event is to hire vintage dancers who can lead your guests in classic dances - 1920s Charleston, 1930s and 1940s swing dancing and Lindy hop, and 1950s jive.All the dances are great fun, and most importantly are easy to pick up!

We work with professional vintage dancers to deliver fantastic entertainment packages. Our Vintage Swing Collective is a collaboration between our Swing Orchestra and the sensational dance troupe, The Hotfoot Strutters. The dancers dress in great reproduction vintage clothing, with 1920s, 40s and 50s options available, and you can book between 2 and 12 dancers.

Here are the things dancers can do to make a difference at your party:

1. Take a beginner's dance class

A 30- to 45-minute taster swing dance class is a great way to get everyone involved at a wedding reception, or a brilliant ice-breaker at corporate events.

The vintage dancers will teach your group simple, fun moves that require absolutely no previous dance experience. You can decide whether you'd like to be taught partnered moves or solo moves - and the partnered moves are all fine to be done in same-sex couples, so no need to worry about having an equal female-to-male ratio.

In no time at all you could be dancing the 1920s Charleston (as seen in Baz Lurman's Great Gatsby film), 1940s Lindy Hop or 1950s jive moves!

Don't feel that you have to have a lesson - it's absolutely fine not to have one, as the dancers can still get your guests on the dancefloor from the very first song.

2. Perform a routine to live music

We have developed a number of great routines where the dancers perform to live music from Down for the Count. This has a great impact, particularly if you book 6 or more dancers.

The dancers can perform classic swing dance routines you may know already (The Shim Sham, The Big Apple, The Tranky Doo, The California Routine, Big Mama Stew) but can also perform completely original routines you'll never have seen before.

3. Get your guests dancing

Even if you decide not to have a lesson, the dancers have a number of ways of getting all your guests up and dancing from the very first song.

They can lead a 'snowball', where they start as a couple and then break apart every 30 seconds to teach another couple the routine; or they can lead a group dance where people copy authentic vintage dance moves. Watching hundreds of people dance a group Charleston is one of our very favourite things!

4. Meet & Greet

A popular option is to have the dancers, dressed in great reproduction vintage clothing, meet and greet your guests and help them feel welcome at your event.

Does adding dancers make a difference?

Adding vintage dancers to your events is a simple yet powerful way of adding value. We recently provided a bespoke live music and dancing package for 300 guests from Dell Computers at La Mamounia Hotel, Marrakech. We developed a corporate event entertainment package with live music and twelve 1920s dancers - and you can see from the pictures how much fun everyone had! Read more about the event here.

Any questions?

To talk about our bespoke entertainment packages in more detail, email us or call Mike on 07855 488 462.

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