Hepcat Swing

Weekly Monday Night Dances
2025-04-07 19:30 - 22:00, 2025-04-14 19:30 - 22:00, 2025-04-21 19:30 - 22:00, 2025-04-28 19:30 - 22:00 (America/Toronto) | Hepcat Swing Studio, 42 Erb St. E., Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 1L6, Canada
Like many new skills, dancing is best learned by doing! We are doing our best to provide you with opportunities to come out and dance, socialize, and listen to great music.
Almost every Monday night at Hepcat Swing, we feature great swing music to keep you dancing all night! We are a friendly bunch of people who love to see new faces out on a Monday night! The dancing starts at 8:00, with an introductory lesson at 7:30 included in the admission price to get you started (no partner or experience required). Dancing ends around 10:00, depending on how much fun we are having!
Important note: Please use our Facebook or Instagram pages to confirm whether the dance is happening for a given week (it’s faster for us to update our social media than this website, so we often make announcements there first).
Admission
General Admission: $10
Members and Students: $8
*Admission payments will be taken at the door.

Yoga for Dancers
2025-04-08 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-15 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-22 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-29 18:30 - 19:30
6 Weeks of Classes (Every Tuesday Apr 8 – May 13)
An approachable, beginner friendly yoga class designed specifically for dancers. Come to this class to develop strength, balance, flexibility, and control – skills that will directly improve your dancing.
Alicia teaches accessible, safe, slow flow/Hatha yoga. Poses are not about how flexible we are, but a tool to safely explore and expand our breath and range of motion. There will be a time for relaxation at the end of each class.
Bring your own mat, and 2 yoga blocks.

Lindy Hop 5E - Musicality
2025-04-08 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-04-15 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-04-22 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-04-29 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Apr 8 – May 13)
7:30-8:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 4, or permission from the Teachers. Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner to class.
Each time this level of Lindy Hop is offered, it changes to meet the needs of the students. Some of the topics may include: rhythmic variations, connection, swivels, breaks, musicality, fancy footwork, 6/10/12/14 count moves, ochos, crossovers, grapevines, different connection points (wrist, shoulders, hips, ankles).
Musicality:
Have you ever heard a song and wondered which type of dance you should dance to it? Have you ever looked at dancers on the floor and wondered how they always seem to make their moves look like they perfectly match the music? In this class you will learn how to do this and so much more!
Teachers: Julie-Anne and Antoine

1940's Charleston
2025-04-08 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-04-15 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-04-22 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-04-29 20:30 - 21:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Apr 8 – May 13)
8:30-9:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 1 or 2 is encouraged, but not necessary. Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner to class.
Partnered Charleston is a dance from the 1940s which is danced to faster swing music. In this class, you will learn side-by-side Charleston, with emphasis on timing, kicking, posture, and clear weight shifting. This series will give you a good selection of movements to help you dance to those faster songs where Lindy Hop might not be as comfortable.

Teachers: Dylan and Tori

Lindy Hop 4B
2025-04-09 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-16 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-23 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-30 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Apr 9 – May 14)
6:30-7:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 4A or permission from the teachers.
In this class we will continue to elevate your 4A skills like the high quality connection, movement and Lead/Follow skills you have been mastering. We will now take all these wonderful building blocks and apply them to connection isolation – which brings us to every Follows’ favourite embellishment: SWIVELS! Leaders don’t worry, we’ve got you covered too. The applications for you are how to enter on 2 and creating your own style. But, that’s not all! An added bonus for both Leads and Follows is a new move called switches!

Teachers: Jeff and Catherine

Lindy Hop 3
2025-04-09 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-04-16 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-04-23 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Apr 9 – May 14)
7:30-8:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 2 or the ability to comfortably dance several swing out variations. No partner necessary.
Lindy Hop 3 will pick up where level 2 left off. Are you looking for a challenge? A way to update your swing dancing with new moves? A way to dig deeper into your connection and musicality? Then this course is for you! This is a great class for experienced dancers as well as those continuing their Lindy Hop journey!

Teachers: Jeff and Amy

Lindy Hop 2
2025-04-09 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-04-16 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-04-23 20:30 - 21:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Apr 9 – May 14)
8:30-9:30pm

Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 1 or the ability to comfortably do a swing out from open and closed. No partner necessary.
This class will teach you several new variations on swing outs and fancy new moves. It will also continue to teach the history of Lindy Hop dancing, as well as musicality and connection techniques. This is a great class for experienced dancers who would like to refresh their dance vocabulary or brush up on their technique.

Mind Body Connection
2025-04-13 13:00 - 16:00
Shaidon Woods’ Musicality, Movement, and Styling workshop is a three-hour session designed to enhance dancers’ connection with their own movement and improve partnerships. Through exercises isolating the six body blocks—feet, legs, hips, ribs, shoulders, and head—participants develop control over techniques like rotation, balance, and counterbalance. One activity involves shifting side steps in a 16-count sequence, strengthening leg engagement and body awareness for dynamic movement adaptability. Another exercise challenges dancers to experiment with staccato and legato arm styling while maintaining core connection, improving spatial awareness and stability. These drills refine individual movement to prevent disruptions in partnered dancing. In the final hour, participants apply their refined techniques to foundational moves such as the Sugar Push, Tuck Turn, and Swing Out. With his background in ballroom and Latin dance, including East Coast Swing and Jive, Shaidon emphasizes the mind-body connection, ensuring dancers achieve balance, control, and, most importantly, enjoyment in every partnership.
Shaidon Woods discovered his love of Dancing watching his parents, Michael and Yvette Woods (swing social dance champs) and brings a wealth of dance and acrobatic training of over 15 years. He has a minor in Modern Dance from Western, where he truly learned to discover the human body in all of its shapes, momentum, dynamic, control and more. His background of professional performance and choreography on stage and on film, both national and international, reflects years of putting the study of kinesthetic control into action. He’s so excited to partner with Hepcat Swing Studios for this workshop and to be a part of contributing to the musicality of movement and styling within the community of Kitchener/Waterloo.
1pm – 4pm
3 Classes
Full Event = $50 (non-member), $40 (member)
Single Class = $25 (non-member), $20 (member)

Lindy Hop 1
2025-04-14 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-21 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-04-28 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Monday Apr 7 – May 12)
6:30-7:30pm
No dance experience necessary! Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner.
This is a great class to get started with partnered swing dancing and social dancing in general! We will go from the very basics of Lindy Hop and work through enough material to get you dancing comfortably. We will also learn some history of the Lindy Hop and why we are still dancing it today. Taking this class would be a great opportunity for experienced dancers who’d like to refresh their basics or learn a new role.
