Dance Hall Revival in New Cross

Jon writes:

I run a monthly dance hall revival night at The Amersham Arms, New Cross called 'Let Me Off Downtown!'. It's a essentially a live music night featuring my band King Candy & The Sugar Push  There's a swing dance class from from Balham/Brixton based dance organisation Swingland and then the rest of the night is live swing music from the 30s & 40s.

It's only the second night this coming Sunday 19th and hopefully after the success of the first it'll become a regular fixture in the diaries of all the retro music and dance fans around New Cross and Brockley.

We're trying to cultivate an old dance hall culture akin to that of the Harlem Lindyhop (swing dance) scene in New York from the 1930s/40s. You don't have to dance to enjoy yourself at our night - a lot of people come specifically to do that but there's plenty of music and showmanship to savour too!!

It's really a great night - quality musicianship, thrilling dancers, a real 'scene' as it were... At the moment the vast majority of the social dances on the Lindy hop circuit are in North London, it's interesting to see this night bring them all down to the south! All the band members are based around Brockley, Greenwich and Crystal.Palace.