Meet The Team
Since the troupe was established in 2013, we’ve had 70 wonderful dancers being part of the team. Here’s an introduction to our current team members.
How Do We Train?
Our training sessions are high-level solo jazz classes, focusing on vernacular jazz dances of the 20s, 30s and 40s.
Cultural values of African American vernacular Jazz, such as community, musicality and improvisation are nurtured during training.
Our training sessions start with warm up jazz circles involving improvisation and interaction. We have a number of drills that focus on flexibility, strength, balance, spinning and stamina.
Our development training focus on musicality, rhythm, tempo, storytelling and choreography. Education and styling training sessions focus on studying legendary Black jazz and tap dancers, such as Norma Miller, Mabel Lee, John Bubbles, Al Minns and Leon James, Josephine Baker, and Marie Bryant. When we have upcoming competitions and performances the training sessions focus on learning choreography, routine development, formations, and performance.
Starlings Legends
All our past team members have made the troupe such a joy to be part of. Their talent and dedication were the reasons for our successes over the past decade. We especially want to thank our previous troupe founders and leaders. Check out this amazing bunch:
Visit our Gallery page to meet our team members over the years.
What Else Do We Get Up To?
Community Performances
We’ve had the joy of sharing performances at swing dance community events across Greater London, Surrey, and Essex.
We’ve also performed at events hosted by the Royal Aeronautical Society, Penguin Random House, London Borough of Camden, Crossrail Place Roof Gardens, Olympia London, the Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show and lots more.
Community Classes
The London Starlings can offer classes for community events.
We have taught families at street festivals, the Musical Museum, London Transport Museum, and London’s Spiegaltent. We have also taught online classes for the Jazz Centre UK.
Competitions & Awards
We’ve competed at many swing dance festivals in the UK and Europe, including the European Swing Dance Championships, Savoy Cup, Balkan Lindy Hop Championships, London Throwdown, London Jump, and via video entries to the International Lindy Hop Championships (ILHC). Take a look at all our award winning performances here.
Past Performances
Visit our YouTube channel to watch some of our community and competition performances!
Gallery
Visit our Gallery of Starlings past and present in some of our many performances over the years.
The London Starlings 