Dublin’s swing scene: ‘I thought I had landed in heaven’

When I first mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about getting involved with Dublin’s swing community, she put down her cup of tea, turned to me and said: “You’re thinking of doing what?!”

A swift clarification that I was talking about swing dancing saw her relax. “It still has the whiff of a man in the midst of a midlife crisis,” she warned.

Swing is an umbrella term for a variety of partner dance styles including Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa and Collegiate Shag, among others, that emerged around 100 years ago from the pulsating big band swing jazz and social dance scenes cultivated by the African American community in Harlem, New York. As per its name and origins, it’s at its most authentic when performed in front of a live swing jazz band. The problem with Dublin is that live jazz venues, never mind those with the additional space for a dance, are rare to non-existent. But members of the scene here have been taking matters into their own hands (and feet).

Swing dancers taking part in a social dance at Mind the Step cafe in Dublin city centre. Photograph: Natalia Campos

Martha Martinho moved from her native Portugal to Ireland in 2013. A contemporary dancer for 10 years, she fell “feverishly in love” with Lindy Hop the first time she saw it. She thought she hit the jackpot when she discovered Dublin was hosting a Lindy Exchange – a festival of social dancing and live jazz that rotates around the cities of Europe – on h