Roaring 20s 1920s Jazz Age Dance Weekend June 5-6-7
SCHEDULE AND PRICING
Early Bird special for whole weekend, $110 paid by April 23rd, 11:59pm, Toronto time, $85, full-time student, payable online

TEACHERS
Simon teaches and loves Lindy Hop, 1920s dances, Ragtime dances, 19th century dances, traditional Viennese Waltz, Polka and Cross-step Waltz. He also teaches and loves Air Steps, lifts, drops, dips, floorials, and thinks this is some of the best and most fun stuff in dance.
Simon has been teaching dance for over 20 years, co-founded Toronto’s Lindy Hop scene in late 1995 and 96, has taught many classes and workshops, has presented many live band swing dance parties, has organized many dance workshop weekends since the mid 1990s, and has attended many workshops with the world’s most highly regarded Lindy Hop teachers.
Simon is the coordinator of Swing Toronto and of Waltz Toronto.
Cheryl Henry started dancing Lindy Hop in March 2000. After learning this dance was created by African-Americans, she has been relentless in her research and teaching of early Afrocentric dance styles. She has had the honour to meet and study with international Lindy Hop, Tap, Jazz, and music Masters Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Chester Whitmore, Chazz Young, Skip Cunningham, Jeni LeGon, Dawn Hampton, Sugar Sullivan and Barbara Billups, as well as, their students Paulette Brockington, Ron Parker, Steven Mitchell, and many others. Cheryl’s keen interest in 19th and early 20th century vernacular dances also led her to workshops with Richard Powers and Angela Amarillas which included Waltz, and with Chad Fasca and Midori Asakura to learn Peabody. Cheryl has choreographed for and performed on local, provincial and international stages. She is eager to continue learning, teaching and collaborating on the majestic dances and music history of the African Diaspora.
VENUE
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
This will be a regular home for Saturday Night Swing every 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month!
Very close to Chester subway station.
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
Upper Hall Entrance: Walk straight through the playground to the doors you see in the below photo.


DETAILS

7:00pm – 11:00pm
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
Prior dance experience is not required, but already being able to do some kind of dancing is helpful for this all levels beginner friendly workshop. No need to bring your own dance partners.
Learn 1920s Two Step and Shimmie, which were super popular in the 1920s, when everyone danced!
Stay for Jazz Age DJ’d Dance that follows the workshop.
1920s Two Step is a smooth, fun, easy-to-learn version of Polka (“Polka without the hop”), which was sometimes mixed with Shimmie Dancing. These dances are vernacular, improvisational, playful, free spirited and open ended.
Two Step was extremely popular from the 1890s through the 1920s. We will teach 1920s style Two Step.
Two Step can also be part of 1920s Jazz Age vernacular Fox Trot, by far the most popular dance of the 1920s and the Jazz Age, done from fast and Jazzy to slow and graceful (it is something quite different from contemporary Ballroom Fox Trot).
Note to Swing Dancers: Two Step is a precursor to swing dancing, and is where the triple step in Lindy Hop and swing dancing comes from. The first known swing dance,Texas Tommy Swing, from which Lindy Hop and other swing dancing developed, is, according to for example dance historian Richard Powers, an Afro-American reworking of Two-step/Polka.
NEED A PARTNER?
A partner is NOT required. It is common for people to attend by themselves. Partner rotation is allowed and encouraged in all lessons. You may register on your own or with a partner. Nevertheless, if you still seek a partner, please post that at the Facebook event.
You can also ask people at Swing Toronto dances and such. You could also click the buttons above for help.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 5, 2026
7:00pm – 11:00pm
Two Step & Shimmie Workshop
7:00pm – 9:45pm
1920s Jazz Age Dance Party
9:50pm – 11:00pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular
($44.25 + $5.75 HST)
Full-time students with ID
($30.97 + $4.03 HST)
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
$40 F/T student for the workshop, lesson and dance party (4-10:30pm))
Special offer: $40 for everything 4pm to 10:30pm if you took Vicky’s Rockabilly Jive workshop before


DJ(s) TBA
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 5, 2026
Lindy Hop Beginner Lesson
Teachers: TBA
Lesson included with admission.
6:15pm – 7:15pm
Dance Party
9:50pm – 11:00pm
DETAILS
Absolute beginners are welcome!
Let’s 1920s Two Step and Shimmie all over the floor after the Friday Night Workshop.
DJ(s) TBA
with the Drew Jurecka Jazz Manouche Ensemble
PRICE
Same prices online and at door. Lessons included.
Prices are per person. HST included.
Event package pricing TBA
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.

2:00pm – 4:45pm
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
Prior dance experience is not required, but already being able to do some kind of dancing is helpful for this all levels beginner friendly workshop. No need to bring your own dance partners.
Learn Peabody (Swing Walk), one of the super popular dances of the Jazz Age and Swing Era, including at the amazing Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York City, the epicenter of Lindy Hop and Swing Dancing in the the Swing Era!
Peabody (Swing Walk) is a very engaging and distinctive traveling partner dance, usually done to fast music, but adaptable to a wide range of tempos. The basic is just walking (it is a form of “One Step,” with roots going back at least as far as the 1910s), but it can also include syncopations, and can, if you like, be danced slow-slow quick-quick.
Note to Lindy Hoppers and Swing dancers: “All of the Lindy Hoppers” at the Savoy in the 1930s and Swing Era did Peabody, including Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, widely considered the greatest and most influential Lindy Hop performance group of all time. As well as dancing Peabody socially, Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers included Peabody in their dance shows, before the highlight of their shows which was Lindy Hop with air steps.
Simon & Cheryl’s main teachers for Peabody are the very wonderful Chad Fasca and Midori Asakura. You can see them doing Peabody & Charleston in the above video (the traveling dancing is Peabody). In the other video you can see Frankie Manning & Norma Miller, of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, showing the Peabody (Swing Walk) they danced at the Savoy in the Swing Era.
NEED A PARTNER?
A partner is NOT required. It is common for people to attend by themselves. Partner rotation is allowed and encouraged in all lessons. You may register on your own or with a partner. Nevertheless, if you still seek a partner, please post that at the Facebook event.
You can also ask people at Swing Toronto dances and such. You could also click the buttons above for help.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, June 6, 2026
2:00pm – 4:45pm
Peabody Workshop
2:00pm – 4:45pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular
($44.25 + $5.75 HST)
Full-time students with ID
($30.97 + $4.03 HST)
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
$40 F/T student for the workshop, lesson and dance party (4-10:30pm))
Special offer: $40 for everything 4pm to 10:30pm if you took Vicky’s Rockabilly Jive workshop before

DJ’d music during band breaks.
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Doors
5:40pm – 6:00pm
1920s Partner Charleston Beginner Lesson
Teacher(s): Cheryl Henry & Simon Threlkeld
Lesson included with admission.
6:00pm – 6:30pm
Jazz Age Fox Trot & One Step Beginner Lesson
Teacher(s): Cheryl Henry & Simon Threlkeld
Lesson included with admission.
6:30pm – 7:40pm
Swing Dance Party
7:45pm – 11:00pm
DETAILS
Absolute beginners are welcome!
Roaring 20s Jazz Age Saturday Night Swing!
Theme: 1920s Jazz Age Garden Party
Learn super popular easy-to-learn dance crazes of the Roaring 20s Jazz Age! Stay for the Dance Party ft Ben Harvey and his Ornamentals!
Good music for Lindy Hop and Swing, and for 1920s traveling dances.
Traveling dances go on the outside track. Non-traveling dances in the middle. Like at the Savoy and other ballrooms in the Jazz Age and Swing Era.
Learn vernacular Jazz Age Fox Trot and One Step, from fast & jazzy, to slow & romantic. This was by the far the most popular dancing of the 1920s and Jazz Age, when everyone danced. It is fun, free-spirited, open-ended, improvisational and easy to learn. The basic step is just walking.
Fox Trot in the Jazz Age was a broad concept. It could include One Step, Two Step, and alternating between slow and quick steps. It is not modern ballroom Foxtrot.
The swing music from the Jazz Age and Swing Era that is played at swing dances today, is almost always described, on the original records and sheet music, as music for Fox Trot. (Because that is what people mostly danced then, including to swing music.)
Learn 1920s solo and partnered Charleston. It was a huge dance craze in the mid 1920s, and is done around the world today.
The roots of these dances and the music they go with is African American.
with the Drew Jurecka Jazz Manouche Ensemble
DJ’d music during band breaks.
PRICE
Same prices online and at door. Lessons included.
Prices are per person. HST included.
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.


2:00am – 8:00pm
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
PREREQUISITE
Prior dance experience is helpful for this all levels beginner friendly workshop, but is not required. No need to bring your own dance partners.
DETAILS
Learn Waltz in the style of the 1920s, including at least one 1920s turning basic (rotating with your partner as you travel around the room)!
Waltz was very popular in the 1920s and Jazz Age.
NEED A PARTNER?
A partner is NOT required. It is common for people to attend by themselves. Partner rotation is allowed and encouraged in all lessons. You may register on your own or with a partner. Nevertheless, if you still seek a partner, please post that at the Facebook event.
You can also ask people at Swing Toronto dances and such. You could also click the buttons above for help.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Saturday, June 6, 2026
2:00am – 8:00pm
1920s Waltz Workshop
2:00pm – 4:45pm
Jazz Age Waltz Dance (w snacks)
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Jazz Age Blues Dance (w snacks)
6:30pm – 8:00pm
PRICE
Prices are per person. HST included.
Regular Admission 2pm to 8pm
($53.10 + $6.90 HST)
Full time student with ID 2-8pm
($35.40 + $4.60 HST)
Dance only 5pm – 8pm
Dances only 5-8pm f/t student
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.
$40 F/T student for the workshop, lesson and dance party (4-10:30pm))
Special offer: $40 for everything 4pm to 10:30pm if you took Vicky’s Rockabilly Jive workshop before


DJ(s) TBA
Vaccination proof NOT required. Masks optional.
VENUE
Upper Hall
Enter the Upper Hall from Hampton Avenue, just south of Danforth.
St. Barnabas on The Danforth Anglican Church
175 Hampton Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 2Z3
SCHEDULE
Sunday, June 7, 2026
Lindy Hop Beginner Lesson
Teachers: TBA
Lesson included with admission.
6:15pm – 7:15pm
Jazz Age Waltz Dance
Teacher(s): Cheryl Henry & Simon Threlkeld
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Jazz Age Blues Dance
Teacher(s): Cheryl Henry & Simon Threlkeld
6:30pm – 8:00pm
DETAILS
Absolute beginners are welcome!
Jazz Age Waltz & Blues Supper Dance
Part of Toronto’s Roaring 20s Jazz Age Dance Weekend
Theme: Jazz Age Garden Party.
Photo Ops & Props.
Jazz Age style attire is encouraged but optional.
The first half of the dance features 1920s Waltz music, and the second half 1920s Blues music, including later recordings of 1920s tunes. Most of the dancing taught on the weekend is suitable or adaptable to Blues music, in our opinion.
Some snacks will be served (included with admission).
Supper options:
– You may bring supper and have it at the hall. (There are many restaurants nearby on “The Danforth.”)
– Please do not bring peanuts or shellfish to the hall, because the venue has a peanut and shellfish-free policy.
Decor:
The 1920s Jazz Age style décor for this party, and the Saturday Night party, includes Art Deco designs, and a big nod to 1920s Egyptomania.
DJ(s) TBA
with the Drew Jurecka Jazz Manouche Ensemble
PRICE
Same prices online and at door. Lessons included.
Same prices online and at door. Lessons included.
Prices are per person. HST included.
*Swing Toronto partners with Stripe for payment processing.
SWING TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news about our dances, workshops, courses, and events! You can unsubscribe at any time. We will not spam you.

