CSF is an epic weekend of dancing with friends from around the country to fantastic local swing bands. All socials are included in the price of a full pass, or there will be door sales available.
Friday Night – Welcome Dance
with Backyard Davey
Kick off the weekend by catching up with your dance friends from around the country. A quick taster class before the band starts will help you wake up your dancing feet, and means you can even bring along a newbie friend to join in the fun!
Musically, we start at one end of the extreme, with the tiniest band in Christchurch, the fantastic Mr Davey Thorpe–otherwise known as Backyard Davey–who has been playing for us for years, and getting more and more into the swing of exactly what swing dancers love to have a fantastic night! Full of energy, he’s the most coordinated person you’ll ever meet and produces way more sound than you can ever imagine from one person. We are looking forward to kicking off the festival with him.
When & where: 8 to 11pm at Morrell and Co (280 Lincoln Rd)
Free taster class from 8-8:30 pm
Entry price: Free!
Food and drink: Please support the bar (no BYO)
Note: The floor at this bar is polished concrete so please wear appropriate footwear and take care of all your joints!
Saturday Night – ANZAC Vintage Ball
with Sideline Swing
Strut your stuff in your favourite vintage outfit or your fanciest ball clothes.
Classic Swingtown Rebels faves, Sideline Swing are a local Christchurch Big Band who make a big sound, and really know how to swing it. Full of fun, rhythm amazing vocals and dancing trumpets, they can often be found wandering into the dance floor to really jam with the dancers.
Continue dancing late into the night with your choice of Fast or Slow rooms, and tunes from our DJs.
When & where: 8 pm till midnight at Brazilian Beatz (407 Tuam Street)
Entry price: $30 (included in full pass)
Food & drink: BYO drinks. Tea, coffee & snacks provided.
Sunday Night – Quarantine Couture Party
with Ellesmere Big Band
What did you wear over lockdown? Bring your fanciest facemask, your comfiest couch-potato pants, or your wackiest work-from-home wear, as we celebrate how lucky we are in NZ to be able to dance together!
What better way to celebrate ANZAC day in style than to have a second live big band for our line up. Ellesmere Big Band are relatively new on the Swingtown rotation of bands but have wowed us each time we’ve booked them, with their fantastic performances of good classic four on the floor swinging jazz — just perfect for dancing. We are super excited to have them playing for us at CSF this year.
Continue dancing late into the night with tunes from our DJs, whether your late night jam is grooving in the Blues room or shaking out your late night wiggles to solid Swing songs.
When & where: 8 pm till late at Brazilian Beatz (407 Tuam Street)
Entry price: $30 (included in full pass)
Food & drink: BYO drinks. Tea, coffee & snacks provided.
Monday Morning – Beach Blues & Brunch
with Muddy Mama’s Blues Band
The heading pretty much says it all, and what’s not to love!! Along with Muddy Mama’s Blues Band, we will have the Crepes Creation food truck there for you to purchase some yummy brunch, plus a Shot Coffee cart (for those who need the caffeine after a late night on Sunday). It will all be at the Sumner Surf Lifesaving Club, a beautiful venue right on the beach front that has a lovely dance floor spilling out to some big open decks to dance your heart out to great live Blues, eat crepes, drink coffee and wallow in the (hopefully) sunshine – recommended even if blues dancing isn’t your thing, the music will be lovely. Definitely plan to stick around for Monday morning! And if you’ve volunteered, DJd or hosted for us this weekend don’t forget to bring your voucher from your registration pack to get yourself a yummy meal of crepes on us!
When & where: 10.30 am till 12.30pm, Sumner Surf Lifesaving Club (301 Main Road, Sumner)
Entry price: $20, or included in the price of a full pass. Food costs extra and the food carts both accept cash or EFTPOS.
I’m keen for an amazing weekend of social dancing! Where do I sign up?
See our venue locations in the map below, shown in blue, as well as some of the weekend lunch options near our workshops venue (Brazilian Beatz), shown in red: