Hepcat Swing

Ballroom Blues 2 (Close Embrace)
2025-03-10 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-03-03 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-02-24 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Hepcat Swing Studio, 42 Erb St. E., Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 1L6, Canada
6 weeks of classes (Every Monday Feb 24 – Apr 1)
6:30-7:30pm
Prerequisite Ballroomin’ Blues 1. No partner necessary.
This class will continue with the concepts taught in Ballroomin’ Blues 1. It will focus on a new kind of connection, the close embrace, which makes the dance even smoother and easier to follow! Come and glide with us across the dance floor as we learn to connect, flow, and work together to create a beautiful, groovy dance! The skills learned in this dance will help to improve all of your swing dance styles.

Teachers: Connie and Julie-Anne

Lindy Hop 1
2025-03-05 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-26 20:30 - 21:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Feb 26 – Apr 3)
8:30-9:30pm
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.

Teachers: Dylan and Catherine

Lindy Hop 2
2025-03-05 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-02-26 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Feb 24 – Apr 3)
7:30-8:30pm

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.

Lindy Hop 4A
2025-03-05 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-02-26 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Feb 26 – Apr 3)
6:30-7:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 3 or you permission from the teacher.
Drills for Skills! This class is focused on high quality connection, movement and Lead/Follow skills. It is not a move based class, but drills based. It will help you develop into a top-notch dancer, one who is smooth on the dance floor, has the capabilities of improvising and adding musicality to their dance, who looks graceful or funky. This is a great class for those continuing their Lindy Hop journey as well as experienced dancers who may not have taken lessons for years, but would like to clean up their moves.

Teachers: Jeff and Amy

Lindy Hop 5D
2025-03-04 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-25 20:30 - 21:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Feb 25 – Apr 2)
8:30-9:30pm
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).

Teachers: Julie-Anne and Jeff

Lindy Hop 4B
2025-03-04 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-02-25 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Feb 25 – Apr 2)
7:30-8:30pm
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 Julie-Anne

Weekly Monday Night Dances
2025-03-03 19:30 - 22:00, 2025-02-24 19:30 - 22:00, 2025-02-10 19:30 - 22:00
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.

Balboa 2
2025-02-25 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Feb 25 – Apr 2)
6:30-7:30pm
Prerequisite: Balboa 1. Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner.
Balboa is a stand-alone dance that falls under the Swing Umbrella of dances. It is danced to very fast swing music. Taking this class is perfect for beginner dancers who would like to learn to do a partner dance. Or, it would be a great opportunity for experienced dancers who’d like to learn a new dance style to switch to when the music gets too fast to dance Lindy Hop.

In this series, we will build on the basics of Balboa. The class will include a variety of moves in both Pure-Bal and Bal-Swing.
Teachers: Antoine and Tori

Dance Practica
2025-02-18 19:00 - 20:30
This Practica is open for those students who have already completed all the Lindy Hop level 5s offered by Hepcats Studio.

What is a Practica, you might ask? Well, a Practica is an idea I am “borrowing” from my Argentine Tango Days – basically it means to practise. It can involve, but is not limited to:

practising techniques and steps you have learned in class (for any style of dance we teach at Hepcats
self-directed
there will be teachers present to answer questions when you get stuck (think of it as a group private lesson – which for only $10 is a huge deal!)
work with other like-minded people interested in continuing to improve their dancing
request songs/styles of music or different tempos of music
bring a video of a move you want to work on
take advantage of the studio/floor and mirrors (instead of having to find a space in your own home

And of course:

lots of fun!

Student Dance!
2025-02-17 19:30 - 22:00
Along with being our Weekly Monday Night Dance, this dance invites all the students from the past session to come to join our weekly dance for free!
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.
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! For those taking lessons, you can get into that night’s dance for free.

Admission
DJ’ed Dances: $10 General admission; $8 Members and students
Live Music Dances: $12 General admission; $10 Members and students
*Admission payments will be taken at the door.

Yoga for Dancers
2025-02-12 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-05 20:30 - 21:30
6 Weeks of Classes (Every Wednesday Jan. 8 – Feb 12)
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 1
2025-02-12 19:30 - 20:30, 2025-02-05 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Jan. 8 – Feb 12)
7:30-8:30pm
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.

Teachers: Dylan and Amy

Lindy Hop 3
2025-02-12 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-02-05 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Wednesday Jan. 8 – Feb 12)
6:30-7:30pm
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: Connie and Dylan

Lindy Hop 5C
2025-02-11 20:30 - 21:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Jan. 7 – Feb 11)
8:30-9:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 4, or permission from the Teacher. 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).

Teachers: Jeff and Tori

Lindy Hop 4A
2025-02-11 19:30 - 20:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Jan. 7 – Feb 11)
7:30-8:30pm
Prerequisite is Lindy Hop 3 or you permission from the teacher.
Drills for Skills! This class is focused on high quality connection, movement and Lead/Follow skills. It is not a move based class, but drills based. It will help you develop into a top-notch dancer, one who is smooth on the dance floor, has the capabilities of improvising and adding musicality to their dance, who looks graceful or funky. This is a great class for those continuing their Lindy Hop journey as well as experienced dancers who may not have taken lessons for years, but would like to clean up their moves.

Teachers: Jeff and Tori

Balboa 1
2025-02-11 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Tuesday Jan. 7 – Feb 11)
6:30-7:30pm
Prerequisite: None. Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner.
Balboa is a stand-alone dance that falls under the Swing Umbrella of dances. It is danced to very fast swing music. Taking this class is perfect for beginner dancers who would like to learn to do a partner dance. Or, it would be a great opportunity for experienced dancers who’d like to learn a new dance style to switch to when the music gets too fast to dance Lindy Hop.

In this series, we will begin with the very basics of Balboa and work through enough material to get you dancing comfortably to a full song. The class will include moves such as: the Up Hold Basic step, the Down Hold Basic step, Scoot, Break Turn, Crossovers and other Bal-Swing Moves. We will also learn about proper connection, pulse and how to lead and follow Balboa. During all of this, we will go over the history of Balboa and why we are still dancing it today.

Ballroom Blues 1
2025-02-10 18:30 - 19:30
6 weeks of classes (Every Monday Jan. 6 – Feb. 10)
6:30-7:30pm
No dance experience necessary! Although this is a partner dance, you do not need to bring your own partner.
In an era when Swing was king, a moderate tempo blues was a welcome opportunity for dancers to slow down, catch their breath… and maybe take someone else’s breath away with some smooth and stylish moves!
In this class, students will learn the Ballroom Blues fundamentals of pulse, posture and partnership. This style of dance walks and strolls rather than rocks and rolls. Step variations and turns will be explored and students will use these to navigate the dance floor with confidence. We will learn fancy turns, promenade, a dip and how to match our dancing to the music (musicality). Come on out and see what all the fuss is about!

Teachers: Antoine and Julie-Anne

Swing Rueda Workshop
2025-02-09 13:00 - 17:00
Swing Rueda is a round or wheeled group dance that is adapted from the salsa rueda. Everyone moves in unison to the Lindy Hop figures that are called. There are plenty of partner passes and switches throughout the dance.

Class 1: 1:00-2:00pm Foundations
Learn the basic structure and flow of the dance. Review swings outs, cross body leads, circles, turns, and start your first partner passes and switches.

Class 2: 2:15-3:15pm New Fun Fancy Figures
Expand your swing rueda repertoire including figures never taught in KW. Traffic jam, turn style, reverse, coca-cola and more.

Class 3: 3:30-4:30pm Charleston Rueda
We are taking swing rueda to a whole new level by incorporating Charleston figures. Transition to basic charleston, dame, double kick, slide, swap and more.

Practice: 4:30-5pm

Classes are $25 each, or $50 for the whole event. For members it’s $40 for the whole event or $20 per class.
