Our dances strive to be friendly and inclusive; events don't require you to bring a partner or have any dance experience. We welcome all ages, we are queer and diversity friendly, and covid-cautious (most events require masks, some require vaccination), most events are not-for-profit.

Other styles of dance in Boston

Blues dance is closely related to both Swing Dance and Fusion Dance, and Fusion also often borrows from Ecstatic Dance, Contact Improv, Hip-Hop, Tango, and Zouk. There are communities for all of these forms in the greater Boston area. We list some swing events here and may add others as organizers continue to network...

Boston Area Swing Resources (East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop, Chicago Stepping, Balboa, and West Coast Swing)

• The Have To Dance calendar lists swing and blues dance events in the greater Boston area.
• Boston Balboa runs the Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon (BoaSA) dances about monthly, and also does workshops.
• East Coast/Lindy Hop Dances, Lessons, Practices:
  • Monday Night Practice (Facebook) is open on a limited schedule, dancing Lindy Hop one or two Mondays per month (as of Fall 2023)
  • Boston Swing Central in Cambridge often features live music and runs Friday nights
  • JP Jitterbugs runs a variety of dances usually in or near Jamaica Plain; some have live music, some are outdoors, all are fabulous.
  • Boston Lindy Hop teaches classes on Lindy Hop, Charleston, and Vernacular Jazz
  • Lindy Hopcats is a practice group friendly to Lindy Hoppers at all levels, helping dancers develop new skills and exchange ideas.
  • Atomic Lindy runs pop-up Lindy Hop "Dance Bomb" events, no fixed schedule
  • Lindy Bomb Squad performs at various events around town, their facebook group is a great for finding out about live music events, one-off dance events, and more
• The Red Velvet Steppers is a group that does Chicago Steppin' a partner form that branched off of Swing in the 1960s via Chicago Bop.
• West Coast Swing (WCS) Dances and events:
  • Dance Boston runs West Coast Swing dances in Lexington on Tuesday evenings
  • The Dancing Fools runs West Coast Swing dances in Somerville on Wednesday evenings
  • Kadanse Studio in Woburn holds a WCS night 1st Saturday of each month.
  • Dirty Water West Coast Swing happens on the 2nd Saturday each month in Somerville.
  • Boston Westie runs a WCS social on 4th Saturdays of the month in Wakefield.
• Annual events:
  • Winter: Kind of A Big Deal Weekend East Coast/Lindy Hop swing event
  • Spring: Boston Tea Party, the only national crossover swing weekend, featuring both East Coast/Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing, and often Balboa and Blues as well
  • Spring: NEFFA the New England Folk Festival Association weekend, is a large event mainly focused on folk dances like Contra Dance, Balkan, Square Dance, English Country, and performances like Morris, but does often include some Blues and Fusion events.
  • Summer: Beantown Camp week long Summer camp, East Coast/Lindy Hop
  • Fall: Dirty Water Lindy and Blues, East Coast/Lindy Hop

About Blues and Fusion dance in Boston

The Boston area has two sister blues dance organizations, Bluesy Tuesy in Cambridge and Blues Union in Union Square in Somerville. Before the pandemic, both dances had a lesson and dance each week, since Spring 2022 we've been experimenting with formats as we rebuild. The two dances share an outstanding pool of instructors and DJs; several of Boston's blues instructors are nationally and even internationally renowned.

There are four currently active fusion dance groups: Second Sun Rising, a monthly founded in 2016, Wandering Fusion Festival (a pop-up event that happens in parks and museums when the mood strikes), Eclipse, started as a monthly in 2019 and now running twice a month, and Balter Dance, which has a focus on teaching and performance.

Blues and related dance Other Places

Western Massachusetts has a fusion dance! Bread and Roses hosts dances the second Friday of each month, find their event postings in their Facebook group

BluesCal.com is a web site that lists blues dance events around the world, FusionCal lists fusion dance events, and DanceCal.com lists blues, fusion, swing, and solo jazz events. These sites list special events like workshop weekends, dance camps, and so on, not regular weekly or month events.

The Blues Experiment is a series of week-long residential blues dance workshops held in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina. Several current and former Boston based instructors are key faculty members. Applications open in September, the event takes place in April.