“Swing dance” is the broad umbrella term for the social dances people did to swing jazz music in the 1920s-1940s. The most popular and well known style of swing dance today is Lindy Hop. We also teach Balboa, blues, and vintage solo jazz from the same era, and some more modern styles too - check out our dance styles page for more information and videos.

Absolutely! Complete beginners are our favourite people to dance with. We’ve worked with people of all ages, physical abilities and levels of experience, and we firmly believe that swing dances are for everyone, and if you’re having fun you’re doing it right.

You don’t need a partner to come to our classes, though you are very welcome to bring anyone you like. Lots of people come along to their first class solo. Classes are very social and we rotate partners, so by the end of your beginner course you’ll know plenty of people to head out dancing with.

Wear whatever you are comfortable moving in! Most people wear their normal street clothes like jeans and t-shirts, and flat, comfortable shoes like sneakers. Dancing can be quite energetic, so do bring a clean shirt especially if you’re coming straight from work, wear deodorant, and if you know you get super hot and sweaty when you exercise it’s completely fine to bring a towel or a spare t-shirt

Not at all! We’ve got students from school age to retirement and beyond, and we’d love to talk to you about what makes you feel welcome and happy in a class, no matter how old you are. We have a robust code of conduct and work really hard to make sure our events and classes are inclusive spaces for everyone.

Absolutely. We want everyone to learn to dance however they want with whoever they want. Full Swing is a safe, inclusive and rainbow friendly space, and our teaching and language (and bathrooms) are gender neutral.  This means you can lead, you can follow, you can do both, or you can do neither and just dance solo if that’s your jam. Check out our code of conduct for more information. 

This is the most exciting question, because there are so many answers! Within Full Swing you can move up the levels and keep learning, but if you want more, swing dance is a worldwide community, and there are workshops and social events for dancers all around New Zealand and the world. You might want to dance everywhere you can and make friends across the globe; you might want to work really hard on your dancing and become a teacher or performer, or you might just want to come dancing every week and hang out with your new dance friends.

We recommend that everyone starts with beginners if you haven’t done the style before, so that you can learn the basic footwork rhythms, shapes, moves and lead/follow concepts we build on in higher levels.