It's a swing thing: Popular dance enjoys a revival in Limerick!

IF YOU’RE walking through the city centre on a given Sunday - or indeed any Tuesday night, you might just hear the sweet sound of swing dance music filling the air.

Swing music is most certainly ‘having a moment’ across Ireland, and Limerick is no exception, with weekly classes taking place at LPYMA building in O’Connell Street - and bi-monthly social dance events.

“For me, I find swing dancing is the closest thing to flying. It has that energy and freedom about it,” said Farranshone woman Sheila Cahill, a real aficionado of the dance.

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Sheila, and five other committed volunteers have brought swing dancing back to Limerick’s dance floors after years of absence.

Above: Amy Baker, Anais Guittonny, Alice Molvern, Shelia Cahill and Ciara Haugh and Noel Whelan, committee members of the dancing social

For the uninitiated, swing is an umbrella term for a variety of partner dance styles that emerged around a century ago from the big band swing jazz and social dance scenes in Harlem, New York.

It’s at its most authentic when performed in front of a live swing jazz band.

“The music is generally jazz-type music, a lot from the 1920s and 1930s, but classics like Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald. What does it involve? People. The steps were created in the 1920s and 1930s,” Sheila, who has long had a love affair with swing music, said.

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“I started swing dancing when I was living in Dublin years ago and I really enjoyed it. Then I moved down to Limerick in 2008. There was a woman coming from Galway and teaching lessons as you need to lean the steps a bit before you can dive in. She got tired of driving from Galway, so there was no lessons. Then someone came from Dublin, and he lasted around six months. Then we had a young woman who taught a couple of years. Then there were no lessons,” she said.

Against this backdrop in Limerick - and with swing thriving elsewhere in Ireland - Sheila took matters into her own hands (or feet, if you like!).

“After Covid-19, I was really frustrated we didn’t have any swing dancing in Limerick, and I love it so much. We still had a Facebook page, so I put a message up to see if anyone is interested in having a drink and discussing how we might start it again,” she explained.

Below: Shelia Cahill and Alice Molvern

The rest, as they say, is history.

Sheila explains: “We have classes for around four weeks, a couple of practice sessions, then we run social events once every two months.”

When Limerick Live visited the Sunday social, there was music from the Downtown Dixieland Band prompting people of all ages to enjoy a bit of a bop!

Many even paid tribute to the occasion, dressing up to the nines in garb from the 1920s and 1930s!

It is socials like this where participants bring together what they’ve learnt from prior dance classes.

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“The socials are the place where swing dancing actually happens, where people are asking each other to dance, and you get to mix and it’s a really nice community,” Sheila explained.

I wonder if swing dancing is easy to pick up - despite the fun the dancers are having, it looks like a lot of hard work has gone into perfecting their routines.

“If I was able to learn it, then it’s easy,” said Jaume Bonet, who lives in Garryowen, but hails from Catalonia.

“Once you get the basic steps, everything falls into place.”

Teachers Ciara Haugh and Noel Whelan, who live in Woodlawn Park, found love on the dance floor.

Fourteen years and three children later, they are sharing their expertise.

It’s their presence as teachers which Sheila hopes keeps the swing show on the road for the long-term in Limerick.

Noel says: “It’s a great way to meet people and chat with people, and have fun as well.”

Both Noel and Ciara remain very diplomatic when I ask who shades it in swing.

“I’d say Ciara! She’s been training from a young age,” Noel laughs, before his partner interjects saying: “Noel is the most dedicated. I love it as well though!”

A regular participant in the swing dancing classes and the socials is Anais Guittonny, who began to pick up the rhythm in her native France.

“Swing dancing is fantastic. It’s about the music, about the dance, and it’s also about the social aspect. That you mingle with people - you are talking and you’re laughing. It’s all these things together which make it so nice,” she said.

It’s acknowledged that trying anything new - especially something as exposing as dancing - can be frightening.

But teacher Ciara shakes her head, and says people must not feel afraid.

“Each week, we will take everyone from the basic steps. We are not judging. We are just trying to help people learn the dance that we all learned,” she said.

Sheila adds the practice sessions are very informal.

“We are all learning,” she says.

The organisers are trying to keep things affordable, with classes starting from €10-per-person. The cost of the swing social varies according to whether a band is booked to play or not.

As for the floor fillers, there is one number it’s agreed gets everyone on their feet. That’s Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra.

And the organisers of the swing dancing sessions in Limerick will hope their success continues to go into the orbit!

For much more information on the swing dancing classes in Limerick, and to register, please visit: www.limerickswingdance.com. Alternatively, you can telephone 0892229979.

A new set of beginner classes have just launched, but there will be opportunities to get involved throughout the summer.