Absolute Beginners SwingJive

A typical class starts with a warm-up and a recap, then the teachers show a move or concept a piece at a time. Leads and follows usually swap partners every few minutes, so you dance with everyone and nobody needs to bring a partner. Expect to laugh, to get it wrong a few times, and to leave with something you can use straight away on a social floor.

Swing Jive (also called 1940s jive or jitterbug) is the wartime form of jive that came to Britain with American servicemen. It is a friendly, adaptable partner dance to big-band and swing music, and it sits between Lindy Hop and later rock'n'roll jive. Read our full guide.

Lindy Hop is the original swing dance, created by African-American dancers in Harlem in the late 1920s and 1930s and danced to big-band swing jazz. It is a partner dance built on an eight-count swingout, mixed with six-count moves, and it is famously improvised – lead and follow play with the music rather than repeating a routine. It suits any age, and most classes rotate partners. Read our full guide.

SwingJive courses, the Lindy Series workshops, tea dances and class-and-dance evenings across Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset. We list 11 of their sessions, running on Thursdays. See everything from The Swing Dance Company.