Stompin' The Blues

22/06/2026

Anna and Alain are back at the Castle (Aldgate East) with more Chicago Triple at Stompin' the Blues tomorrow!

💨 We’ll have the aircon on full blast, making it literally as well as metaphorically one of the coolest places to be! 😎

🕖 Class 1 (7pm)
Playing with compression and stretch in Chicago Triple (there is a specific way). We recommend you take this class, whatever your level.

🕗 Class 2 (8:15pm)
Chicago Triple transitions. How to smoothly and comfortably transition between different modes within the dance

✨Social dancing from 9:15pm.
Come and dance, hang out, chat, connect and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us, with music provided by DJ Alain 💙

💧🪭 Don’t forget to bring water and maybe a fan if you’re travelling by public transport - it’s extra important to stay hydrated in this weather!

15/06/2026

Join Anna and Alain at the Castle for Chicago Triple at Stompin' tomorrow! As part of our month on Chicago Blues music, we will nerd out on Chicago Triple, an approach to dancing the shuffle rhythms in blues music. The more you understand the few rules and many subtleties of this game, the more you will be able to make it your own and create your own style and variations.

🕖 Class 1 (7pm)
Playing with stretch and compression in Chicago Triple (there is a specific way). We recommend you take this class, whatever your level.

🕗 Class 2 (8:15pm)
Chicago Triple foundational nerdery: making our basics solidly bluesy, improving how our dance looks and feels, and allowing further exploration.

✨Social dancing from 9:15pm.
Come and dance, hang out, chat, connect and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us, with music provided by DJ Alain 💙

08/06/2026

We have an exciting week at Stompin the Blues at The Castle - we have live music from Marcus Bonfanti for the after-class social, and two classes on the incredibly versatile dance Chicago Triple with Anna and Ryan.

🕖 *Class 1 (7pm)*
Join Anna and Ryan to learn/ revise the (eponymous) footwork and basics of Chicago Triple.

🕗 *Class 2 (8:15pm)*
Anna and Ryan will build on the first class, using the mechanics of Chicago Triple to build and harness momentum to create a fun and engaging dance. Do also join for class 1 if you need to revise your footwork and basics, or if this dance is new to you!

🎶 *Live music from 9:15pm*
Join us for live music for social dancing from the fabulous Marcus Bonfanti!

Here’s a little clip of Marcus on a previous visit to Stompin’ to see what you have to look forward to!

https://www.swingpatrol.co.uk/classes/aldgate-stompin-the-blues/

02/06/2026

Stompers! For the next month we will be focusing on Chicago Blues. Chicago Blues has a long history, from the early 20th Century to the present day, and you’ll frequently encounter it both with live bands and DJs. Over the next five weeks, we will be giving you tools to interpret the music within your dancing. This week, join Anna and Ryan to learn how to identify and dance to Chicago Blues.

🕔 Class 1 (7pm)
We will be practicing variations that allow individual expression to the music.

🕔 Class 2 (8:15pm)
We will be using these to explore using call and response in your dancing.

🌟Social dancing from 9:15pm.
Come and dance, hang out, chat, connect and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us 💙

🚇 Don’t forget to check your travel plans during the strike. No service is expected on the Circle line, Piccadilly line, the Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate, and the Central line between White City and Liverpool Street. Service is expected across all other Tube lines. Buses, DLR, Elizabeth line, London Overground and trams will be running as normal but are expected to be busy.

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25/05/2026

Join Anna and Ryan at the Castle on Tuesday to explore the funkier side of blues in the final instalment of Stompin’ the Blues’ Rhythms and Grooves series! Funk features frequently in more modern blues styles and has a fun, playful and party feel

Class 1 (7pm)
We’ll be looking at some of the shuffle rhythms and other basics and look at how to make them funkier while maintaining a cool blues aesthetic

Class 2 (8:15pm)
We will look at a specific dance called funky butt that works really well to this style of blues music and at cool moves that work within the framework of this dance

Social dancing from 9:15pm.
Come and dance, hang out, chat, connect and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us

Bootsy describes and demonstrates his basic funk formula. Once you ...

18/05/2026

Join Anna and Ryan at the Castle on Tuesday to explore some Latin blues as the next instalment of Stompin’ the Blues’ Rhythms and Grooves series! Latin blues covers a range of styles and a range of rhythms, and can be fun, playful, gooey, sultry, and so much more - so there’s a lot to explore!

🕖 Class 1 (7pm)
We’ll be focussing on the tresillo, one of the most common rhythms found in Latin blues, and how we can embody it in our dancing. We will also start exploring hip movement in the context of Latin rhythms and how it affects the look, feel and flow of our dancing.

🕗 Class 2 (8:15pm)
We will build on what we learnt in class 1 to create a feeling of flow, fluidity and seamless continuity in our dancing. To get the most out of this class, you will need familiarity with the content covered in class 1, so do join us for the first class as well if that content is new to you or you’d like a refresher.

✨Social dancing from 9:15pm.
Come and dance, hang out, chat, connect and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us 💙

Here’s a little video of Anna and Ryan having a warm up dance to a gorgeous Latin blues played by Big Mama’s Door’s at their soundcheck at last month’s Blues at the Ritzy to give you an idea of what the class will cover.

10/05/2026

🎶 Join Anna & Alain this Tuesday and discover how comfortable, grounded, and expressive slow blues can feel. 💙

By slow blues, we mean a specific rhythmic structure that gives dancers the freedom to improvise, connect, and create beautiful textures together. 🎶 In class, we’ll break down this rhythm so you can really hear it, feel it, and dance with it more comfortably.

🕖 Class 1 (19:00)
We’ll work on the horizontal “grind” movement pattern — an essential element of blues dancing — and explore simple rhythmic variations to make your dancing feel richer, smoother, and more musical.

🕗 Class 2 (20:15)
We’ll go deeper with these tools and concepts. If you’re not yet comfortable with the grind movement, we strongly recommend taking Class 1 first to review the fundamentals before joining Class 2.

✨ Social dancing from 21:20. Come learn, dance, connect, and enjoy a beautiful evening of blues with us!

🎧 As a little bonus, here’s a beautiful piece to whet your appetite:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4RKjCTIUIKNW2MLdjEIKJo?si=bcde1b231e61489e

Screamin' Jay Hawkins · A Portrait of a Man and His Woman · Song · 1987

05/05/2026

Tonight we’ll be starting a new theme for the month at Stompin’ the Blues: Jukin’ Rhythms and Grooves. Each week in May we will focus on a different rhythm found in blues music and how we can groove to it.

Tonight Anna and Alain will focus on shuffle.

1️⃣ Class 1: shuffle basics - we will explore shuffle as a rhythm and learn a range of shuffle steps. Join for this class to dive into understanding the rhythm and to expand your shuffle footwork vocabulary.

2️⃣ Class 2: we will work on our ability to identify the shuffle in the wild and build on our existing movement vocabulary by adding some style and shape.

See you tonight at the Castle!

28/04/2026

Tonight is our last week of our ballroomin’ moves and technique month at Stompin’, and Anna and Alain will be teaching axis turns.

Class 1: learn the basics for a simple axis turn. Do join us for this class if this is a new skill or not one that is comfortably in your repertoire.

Class 2: build on the skills taught in the first class to create more complex and dramatic axis turns. Join for this class if you can already confidently execute a simple axis turn, or have attended the first class.

Here’s a clip of what you can expect - hope to see you later!

Class 1: 7.00-8.00
Class 2: 8.15-9.15
Social dance and practice from 9.15

14/04/2026

Join Anna & Ryan on Tuesday at The Castle for the next in our ballroomin’ skills and moves series at Stompin’!

In the first class at 7pm you will learn/ reinforce your comfortable and functional close embrace skills - including redirecting the partnership and smoothly disconnecting from and reconnecting with our partner during a dance.

The second class at 8:15pm will build on these skills, creating and redirecting momentum using catches and redirects.

The ability to change direction and to smoothly separate from and reconnect with your partner are essential for the more technical skills taught in the second class, so please come along to the first to learn/ polish up on those so that we can cover more ground and complexity in the second class.

See you tonight!