Elice from Stockholm, Sweden has a background as an elite gymnast and modern dancer, and discovered lindy hop at the age of 24. She fell in love with social dancing, the role of self-expression and the acrobatic influences, as well as the rich history of the swing dances. What she appreciates most while dancing is the reciprocity and exchange with her partner — as well as between the dancers and the music — in each millisecond of a dance. Elice recently joined The Hot Shots Swing Dance Company.
Nils Nygårdh, hailing from Mora, Sweden, discovered his passion for dancing in his late teens. Moving to Stockholm he delved deeper into the world of swing dancing. With his love for tap dancing and the energetic and acrobatic style of Lindy Hop, Nils became a member of The Hot Shots Swing Dance Company (formally known as Harlem Hot Shots) in 2015. Alongside his dancing career, Nils showcases his musical talents as the drummer for the jazz band Siberian Hot Heads. Additionally, he channels his creative vision as a film producer, specializing in music videos and commercials.
Frida’s love for jazz music started in her early teens, but it wasn’t until she discovered Lindy hop at the age of 17 that her passion for dance truly ignited. From the moment she took her first beginner courses, social dancing quickly took over, and soon the dance and everything around it became an extensive part of her life.
She is a well-known face at Chicago Swing Dance Studio in Stockholm, where she spends most of her time teaching, training, dancing or DJ:ing. She is committed to sharing her love for the dance and the music that drives it, and when it comes to teaching as well as dance in general, she greatly values rhythm, simplicity and personal expression.
In 2015 she joined forces with The Hot Shots (formerly known as Harlem Hot Shots) and has been a solid member of the dance company since 2018. Together with the group, she’s travelled to teach and perform both locally and internationally. Besides her passion for jazz and dance, Frida is also a visual artist and freelance graphic designer, and whether it concerns dance, art or design she always has a creative project going on.
Sakarias „The Champ” Larsson was born and raised in Frufällan, on the west side of Sweden. He watched jitterbug contests as a kid and there were some things with the music and the aesthetics of the dance that spoke to him and he decided to learn. One thing led to another and already at sixteen he started practice with The Hot Shots. That was 20 years ago and he’s been with the group ever since.
The amount of hours he’s spent in the rehearsal studio is probably beyond sane. The recent past years he’s focused on sharing what he knows with the younger generation of Harlem Hot Shots. He finds motivation from his friends in the group, they keep him young.
Sakarias is on a never ending world tour in the name of Lindy Hop with probably 1000s of shows, teaching gigs and competitions. Apollo Theatre, Frankie 95 and 100, Basie Centennial, Last Bounce, Jazz Jam, ULHC, several tours in USA, Asia, Australia and Europe (only to name a few). He made it to the finals in Sweden’s Got Talent and out of 100s of dancers he was casted among the top 20 to enter the reality tv dance show Floor Filler. He’s also one of the founders of Chicago swing dance studio, one of the more famous lindy hop and jazz venues in Stockholm today.
He actually met and knew some of the original swing dancers of Harlem and he was good friends with Frankie Manning. The dancers from the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers are his true idols. But he also finds a lot of inspiration in modern day dancers such as Peter Loggins, Minn Vo, Jeremy Otth and of course Vincenzo Fesi. A few years back he decided to try something else and wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roller. He started learning the drums and soon joined and started touring with the well recognised band The Vanjas. He’s also the drummer of the travelling jazz band Hornsgatan Ramblers. As if that wasn’t enough, surfing, tattooing, playing the saxophone, film making and graphical design are only a few of his other „professions”. He’s a man of contradictions: a performer with stage freit, a teacher with social anxiety, a people loving lone wolf.
Lizette is a dance teacher and a member of the famous swing dance company the Hot Shots. Swing dancing has been part of her life for a long time as she started dancing at the age of nine in her home town Borås. Todays she is based in Stockholm, Sweden and travels the world to perform, dance and teach various dance styles from the swing era. Lizette puts a lot of value into personal style and a solid rhythm.
Patrik is a dance teacher and member of the famous swing dance company The Hot Shots. Patrik happiest on stage, which is obvious when you see his famous smile and surprising agility. It is impossible not to notice his love for all music that swings, as soon as he sets foot on the dancefloor. He gets inspiration from the big dancers of the 30’s like Al Minns and Leon James, although he makes his moves his own.
Peter Loggins is a dance historian and a musician as well as a dancer.
Peter has done hundreds of interviews the past 20 years, with the likes of ragtime dancers in NY, Charleston Champions of the 1920’s to National Champions 30’s through the 50’s, including State Champions of Swing dance. Originally known for his research of early Jazz dance in California, and the owner of the Dean Collins’s archive and collection, this brought on other donators and research that lead to other cities regional area’s of the United states.
Spending many years helping with the Savoy Ballroom and Lindy Hop researcher and Historian Terry Monaghan. Allowed the possibility of working on projects with Frankie Manning both for the Heritage foundation, in London, as well as a national grant, for the University of Idaho, in Documenting Frankie’s Choreography.
In recent years the studies have been Nineteenth century origins of jazz, from a social approach based on Lawrence Gushee’s research, with a focus on African American influenced vernacular dance.
Fatima Teffahi, a jazz tap dancer, entertainer, teacher, DJ and collector. Rhythm is her business! Fatima started to tap dance in Brussels, her hometown, in the late 80’s. Her style is strongly jazz related and deeply rooted in the African American 30’s and 40’s tap and authentic jazz tradition. She has lived in Stockholm for more than 20 years now, a still active member of „The Hot Shots – A celebration of Harlem rhythms” and one of the driving forces behind „Chicago Swing Dance Studio”.
Four jazz-crazy men to the core and a voice that will give you goosebumps the moment it sounds. ArpiShow is more than just a jazz band—it’s a lifestyle we want to share with everyone. Since 2017, the five of us have been promoting classic Hungarian swing music under the name ArpiShow. At our concerts, we play our favorite songs in unique arrangements, aiming to shape the swing & jazz vibe in our own way, filling the hearts of our audience. We don’t just entertain, we represent an era.
The Hot Jazz Band is a Hungarian jazz band honored with the Kossuth Prize (the highest musical award given by the Hungarian state), primarily encompassing jazz songs from the 1920s to 1940s, both American and Hungarian, in their repertoire.
The band was founded by Tamás Bényei in 1985, and he has been its leader ever since. Their formation can be attributed to compulsory military service, specifically a talent show called „Who Knows What?” organized within the barracks.
They virtually uniquely undertook the authentic performance and release of practically forgotten Hungarian songs and film hits from the 1920s to 1940s, sometimes difficult to access, within the country. The Hot Jazz Band dedicated multiple albums to the authentic presentation of these songs, aiming for perfect sound quality and period accuracy, thereby reintroducing them to public consciousness. For authentic interpretation, Tamás Bényei developed a unique singing style reminiscent of what can be heard only on old Hungarian gramophone records.
The Hot Jazz Band is rightfully famous among European swing dancers, and we can’t wait to party together to their wonderful music.
About Canarro’s music:
The style of Django Reinhardt,
the manouche swing, spiced with traditional Hungarian musical elements, recalling the atmosphere of live gypsy and jazz music in old-fashioned Budapest cafés, with a hint of Paris.
Steven Coombe
International band leader and Swing Dancer Steven Coombe is based in London, UK. Since starting Lindy Hop in 2009, Steve has led bands and danced all over the world playing for Lindy Hop festivals and competition weekends. His knowledge of musicality is unparalleled and has taught classes and workshops at hundreds of events.
After deciding to start competing last year, his recent competition wins include Dragon Swing, Korean Lindy Hop Championships, Lindylicious and Lindy Szau Birthday Jam. He is now booked all over the world applying his experience and knowledge in his work as a Lindy Hop teacher, band leader, MC and DJ.
Tony’s first introduction to Swing dancing was back in 2004 by his sister, also a Swing dancer. Even though it took him another ten years to fully enter the Swing dancing world, since 2014 Tony has been catching up on all that he missed, and is now one of the core dancers in the Prague Lindy Hop community. Tony regularly DJs weekly dances and festivals in Prague and internationally, with a rich mix of tunes from the classic Swing era to post-war and groovy R&B. He believes that the most important thing for a DJ is to inspire dancers through the music and to keep the constant flow on the dance floor.
Kriszta’s love affair with swing dance and swing music started in 2014. She was a residential DJ in Budapest, and now in Vienna, and appeared at a couple of international festivals too. In the last almost decade she was traveling around Europe and got influenced by the teachers and DJs all over her journey. What made her turn to be a DJ? She has always been fond of music… the rhythm, the feelings and the very message it carries. It was always crucial to her to spread the love of the music and musicality even in her dance classes as a teacher. She has started early to dig into the different eras of jazz. Beside fizzy big band songs and classics she likes to play records from the modern jazz era as well as tunes of original records of the jazz masters. She always loves to bring something surprising and new.For Krisztina the danceroom is a playground, the music is the toy to play with and the DJ is the gamemaster. Krisztina’s greatest joy is to see the dancers get enchanted by the music she plays.
