{"id":4338,"date":"2023-11-21T05:54:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T05:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/?page_id=4338"},"modified":"2023-12-12T05:15:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T05:15:41","slug":"about-swing-patrol","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/about-swing-patrol\/","title":{"rendered":"About Swing Patrol"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"4338\" class=\"elementor elementor-4338\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-fc043a7 elementor-section-height-min-height elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-items-middle wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"fc043a7\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-319ab76\" data-id=\"319ab76\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-93b8f6b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"93b8f6b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-large\">ABOUT SWING PATROL<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-da8501d elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"da8501d\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-bb364f8\" data-id=\"bb364f8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-da23c37 elementor-nav-menu__align-center elementor-nav-menu--dropdown-mobile elementor-nav-menu__text-align-aside elementor-nav-menu--toggle elementor-nav-menu--burger elementor-widget elementor-widget-nav-menu\" data-id=\"da23c37\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;layout&quot;:&quot;horizontal&quot;,&quot;submenu_icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;&lt;i class=\\&quot;fas fa-caret-down\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/i&gt;&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;},&quot;toggle&quot;:&quot;burger&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"nav-menu.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<nav aria-label=\"Menu\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu--main elementor-nav-menu__container elementor-nav-menu--layout-horizontal e--pointer-underline e--animation-fade\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-1-da23c37\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu\"><li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4237\"><a href=\"#about\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\">About<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4239\"><a href=\"#our_journey\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\">Our Journey<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4240\"><a href=\"#history\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\">History of Swing dancing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-toggle\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Menu Toggle\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"elementor-menu-toggle__icon--open eicon-menu-bar\"><\/i><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"elementor-menu-toggle__icon--close eicon-close\"><\/i>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<nav class=\"elementor-nav-menu--dropdown elementor-nav-menu__container\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-2-da23c37\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu\"><li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4237\"><a href=\"#about\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\" tabindex=\"-1\">About<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4239\"><a href=\"#our_journey\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\" tabindex=\"-1\">Our Journey<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-4240\"><a href=\"#history\" class=\"elementor-item elementor-item-anchor\" tabindex=\"-1\">History of Swing dancing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ba400cd elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"ba400cd\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2f1d813\" data-id=\"2f1d813\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e27696e elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"e27696e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"about\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-caff570 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"caff570\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">About us<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fd9bb66 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fd9bb66\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" id=\"what-is-swing-dancing?\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"lead\">Swing Patrol is a well-known and unique community of hundreds of swing dancers, featuring a first class <a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/teachers\/\">teaching team<\/a>, a dedicated admin and volunteer team and what we think (bias acknowledged) are the most passionate group of <a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/events-socials-new\/\">social dancers<\/a> in the world. The curator of this fun-loving family is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swingpatrol.co.uk\/about-scott-cupit\/\">Scott Cupit<\/a>\u00a0who is responsible for the vision and leadership of Swing Patrol.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"lead\">Our amazing teachers run\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/classes\/\">weekly classes<\/a> and occasional <a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/workshops\/\">workshops<\/a> teaching Lindy Hop and other swing dances all over Melbourne<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swingpatrol.co.uk\/\">.<\/a>\u00a0So whether you want to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swingpatrol.co.uk\/about\/im-new-explain-things\/\">learn to dance<\/a>, come and have a boogie in our regular <a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/events-socials-new\/\">socials and events<\/a>, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/corporate-entertainment-hire-us\/\">hire our team<\/a>\u00a0for your event, we hope to see you soon!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-56bc486 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"56bc486\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-574b82d\" data-id=\"574b82d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8b2f8c8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8b2f8c8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">At a glance<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f27dbe elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1f27dbe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\r\n \t<li>Weekly classes at venues across Melbourne.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Social dancing.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Swing dance balls in Melbourne.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You can hire us for your event.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-7bb93cf elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"7bb93cf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e8f1cdc\" data-id=\"e8f1cdc\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7bf814e elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"7bf814e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"our_journey\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-869a529 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"869a529\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Our Journey<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b23e0a9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b23e0a9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClaudia Funder and Scott Cupit founded Swing Patrol in 1998 and now head up wonderful swing dance communities Melbourne, Sydney, London and Berlin.\r\n\r\nWhere do we start? well, Claudia taught numerous dance styles including Latin, Ballroom, Rock and Roll and Lindy Hop, but was a little frustrated with the dance as the scene wasn\u2019t growing as quickly as her passion would like! There was, however, a small group learning Lindy Hop from a range of overseas teachers who came to Melbourne each year. Teachers who included luminaries of the day, such as the Rhythm Hot Shots. They formed a group called \u201cVic Lindy Hop\u201d and employed Rob Bloom to come down from Sydney to teach regular workshops.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, Scott had seen Lindy Hop at Disneyland and at a huge News Years Eve Swing Ball in Washington DC. He was hooked! Upon arriving back in Australia, Scott phoned every dance school in the Yellow Pages. Almost none of them had heard of Lindy Hop, or advised that it was not taught in Australia. This wasn\u2019t true, of course, as Lindy was being taught in small pockets around Melbourne and had a solid community in Sydney.\r\n\r\nThen Scott went web surfing and found Claudia\u2019s email on a Sydney web site. Scott and Claudia teamed up, with Scott becoming Claudia\u2019s swing crazed and passionate student. To this day Claudia still has that original email sent to her from Scott.\r\n\r\nMelbourne was so different back then, with Sydney being the largest swing scene in Australia and Scott and Claudia battled to find anywhere to dance regularly in Melbourne. We would scour the papers and find any thing that said \u201cjazz\u201d to go and dance. The few Lindy Hoppers there were, would follow the musicians such as Ron Trigg, the Pearly Shells and the Moovin\u2019 and Groovin\u2019 Orchestra around Melbourne. There was no large swing dance community to speak of and almost no one really even knew what swing dancing was.\r\n\r\nThis whole thing just started with a genuine and breath-taking passion and love for the dance. We just wanted other people to dance with and we NEVER dreamed Swing Patrol would become known as the largest swing school in the world. Many times we stand back and just marvel at what has happened.\r\n\r\nWith Claudia\u2019s strong dance teaching background and Scott\u2019s strong marketing background, we started talking about sharing the dance we loved so much. In April 1998, Swing Patrol became a registered business and on Tuesday August 5th, the first 23 original students turned up to the Rising Sun Hotel in South Melbourne. We taught on carpet, dressed our students in swingy vests and spent most of the time drinking rather than dancing. These were great times; the venue was carpeted and we dressed up in full swing gear every week to teach.\r\n\r\nStudents loved the new style of teaching and word seemed to spread quickly. Our focus was simply the joy of the dance! After a few months over 100 students were attending our first venue. We took some big risks early on and spending our own money on the first flyers and marketing campaign.\r\n\r\nEvery weekend, we would letter box drop together. We would have around 3,000 flyers printed almost weekly and promise each other that we wouldn\u2019t stop until they were all in letterboxes. Sometimes we would still be out putting flyers in letterboxes at 2am, calling to each other across the street.\r\n\r\nThe only way to really grow swing was to entrust some of the teaching to others and in 1999 Swing Patrol announced its first teaching team, which consisted of its most promising students. Many amazing people soon followed and it was the quality of people on the team that played a massive role in Swing Patrol\u2019s growth. Every person that can say they are (or were) a \u201cSwing Patrol teacher\u201d has been absolutely pivotal in our story and we will be eternally grateful for all the faith they have put in us. They have allowed us to lead them and the aim was always to provide a win\u2013win situation where we have hopefully given our team many great opportunities. While we have in turn been rewarded with great teaching, unrivalled loyalty and some life long friendships.\r\n\r\nIt would be untrue to say there haven\u2019t been tough times and we have made many mistakes. What has made Swing Patrol strong though, is that we have learnt and learnt quickly. We have made some brilliant strategic decisions mixed with some bloopers! We reflect today on all these times and love the learning and experiences.\r\n\r\nNinety nine percent of the journey has been an absolute thrill and we have LOVED it. We have met some of the most inspiring people one could meet, and we think we have the best team in the world.\r\n\r\nSwing Patrol now has one of the most experienced teaching teams in the world, and first class troupe dancers, who all share the dance across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, London and Berlin.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3e6b537 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"3e6b537\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5539b29\" data-id=\"5539b29\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d428777 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"d428777\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"history\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8b49401 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8b49401\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">History of swing dancing<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-14d1e89 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"14d1e89\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"lead\">Ensuring our dancers were aware and passionate about the history of the dance is mandatory and we fondly think of two really special weekends where we immersed ourselves in the history of the dance. Read about our time with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swingpatrol.co.uk\/life-times-jean-veloz\/\">Jean Veloz<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0and the incredible time we had when we arranged\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swingpatrol.co.uk\/life-times-norma-miller\/\">Norma Miller<\/a>\u00a0to be part of our community as part of her European Tour.\u00a0 Read more about the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/about-swing-dancing\/\">history of swing dancing here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"lead\">Swing dancing is generally (though not always) a partnered, social dance which means we learn and dance with lots of different people. It\u2019s a great way to make new friends while learning a new skill and getting fit!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABOUT SWING PATROL ABOUT us Swing Patrol is a well-known and unique community of over 1,500 swing dancers featuring a first class\u00a0teaching team, a dedicated admin and volunteer team and what we think (bias acknowledged) are the most dedicated and passionate group of\u00a0social dancers\u00a0in the world. The curator of this crazy family is\u00a0Scott Cupit\u00a0who is responsible for the vision and leadership of Swing Patrol. Our amazing teachers run\u00a0weekly classes\u00a0and\u00a0workshops teaching Lindy Hop and Blues all over Melbourne.\u00a0So whether you want to\u00a0learn to dance, come and have a boogie in our weekly\u00a0socials and events, or\u00a0hire our team\u00a0for your event, we hope to see you soon! at a glance Weekly classes at venues across Melbourne Social dancing Swing dance balls in Melbourne You can hire us for your event our journey Claudia Funder and Scott Cupit founded Swing Patrol in 1998 and now head up wonderful swing dance communities Melbourne, Sydney, London and Berlin. Where do we start? well, Claudia taught numerous dance styles including Latin, Ballroom, Rock and Roll and Lindy Hop, but was a little frustrated with the dance as the scene wasn\u2019t growing as quickly as her passion would like! There was, however, a small group learning Lindy Hop from a range of overseas teachers who came to Melbourne each year. Teachers who included luminaries of the day, such as the Rhythm Hot Shots. They formed a group called \u201cVic Lindy Hop\u201d and employed Rob Bloom to come down from Sydney to teach regular workshops. At the same time, Scott had seen Lindy Hop at Disneyland and at a huge News Years Eve Swing Ball in Washington DC. He was hooked! Upon arriving back in Australia, Scott phoned every dance school in the Yellow Pages. Almost none of them had heard of Lindy Hop, or advised that it was not taught in Australia. This wasn\u2019t true, of course, as Lindy was being taught in small pockets around Melbourne and had a solid community in Sydney. Then Scott went web surfing and found Claudia\u2019s email on a Sydney web site. Scott and Claudia teamed up, with Scott becoming Claudia\u2019s swing crazed and passionate student. To this day Claudia still has that original email sent to her from Scott. Melbourne was so different back then, with Sydney being the largest swing scene in Australia and Scott and Claudia battled to find anywhere to dance regularly in Melbourne. We would scour the papers and find any thing that said \u201cjazz\u201d to go and dance. The few Lindy Hoppers there were, would follow the musicians such as Ron Trigg, the Pearly Shells and the Moovin\u2019 and Groovin\u2019 Orchestra around Melbourne. There was no large swing dance community to speak of and almost no one really even knew what swing dancing was. This whole thing just started with a genuine and breath-taking passion and love for the dance. We just wanted other people to dance with and we NEVER dreamed Swing Patrol would become known as the largest swing school in the world. Many times we stand back and just marvel at what has happened. With Claudia\u2019s strong dance teaching background and Scott\u2019s strong marketing background, we started talking about sharing the dance we loved so much. In April 1998, Swing Patrol became a registered business and on Tuesday August 5th, the first 23 original students turned up to the Rising Sun Hotel in South Melbourne. We taught on carpet, dressed our students in swingy vests and spent most of the time drinking rather than dancing. These were great times; the venue was carpeted and we dressed up in full swing gear every week to teach. Students loved the new style of teaching and word seemed to spread quickly. Our focus was simply the joy of the dance! After a few months over 100 students were attending our first venue. We took some big risks early on and spending our own money on the first flyers and marketing campaign. Every weekend, we would letter box drop together. We would have around 3,000 flyers printed almost weekly and promise each other that we wouldn\u2019t stop until they were all in letterboxes. Sometimes we would still be out putting flyers in letterboxes at 2am, calling to each other across the street. The only way to really grow swing was to entrust some of the teaching to others and in 1999 Swing Patrol announced its first teaching team, which consisted of its most promising students. Many amazing people soon followed and it was the quality of people on the team that played a massive role in Swing Patrol\u2019s growth. Every person that can say they are (or were) a \u201cSwing Patrol teacher\u201d has been absolutely pivotal in our story and we will be eternally grateful for all the faith they have put in us. They have allowed us to lead them and the aim was always to provide a win\u2013win situation where we have hopefully given our team many great opportunities. While we have in turn been rewarded with great teaching, unrivalled loyalty and some life long friendships. It would be untrue to say there haven\u2019t been tough times and we have made many mistakes. What has made Swing Patrol strong though, is that we have learnt and learnt quickly. We have made some brilliant strategic decisions mixed with some bloopers! We reflect today on all these times and love the learning and experiences. Ninety nine percent of the journey has been an absolute thrill and we have LOVED it. We think we have the best jobs in the world; the best team in the world and have met some of the most inspiring people one could meet. Swing Patrol now has one of the most experienced teaching teams in the world with first class troupe dancers who share the dance every weekend across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, London and Berlin. history of swing dancing Ensuring our dancers were aware and passionate about the history of the dance is mandatory and we fondly think of two really<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4338","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About Swing Patrol - Swing Patrol Melbourne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/about-swing-patrol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About Swing Patrol - Swing Patrol Melbourne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ABOUT SWING PATROL ABOUT us Swing Patrol is a well-known and unique community of over 1,500 swing dancers featuring a first class\u00a0teaching team, a dedicated admin and volunteer team and what we think (bias acknowledged) are the most dedicated and passionate group of\u00a0social dancers\u00a0in the world. The curator of this crazy family is\u00a0Scott Cupit\u00a0who is responsible for the vision and leadership of Swing Patrol. Our amazing teachers run\u00a0weekly classes\u00a0and\u00a0workshops teaching Lindy Hop and Blues all over Melbourne.\u00a0So whether you want to\u00a0learn to dance, come and have a boogie in our weekly\u00a0socials and events, or\u00a0hire our team\u00a0for your event, we hope to see you soon! at a glance Weekly classes at venues across Melbourne Social dancing Swing dance balls in Melbourne You can hire us for your event our journey Claudia Funder and Scott Cupit founded Swing Patrol in 1998 and now head up wonderful swing dance communities Melbourne, Sydney, London and Berlin. Where do we start? well, Claudia taught numerous dance styles including Latin, Ballroom, Rock and Roll and Lindy Hop, but was a little frustrated with the dance as the scene wasn\u2019t growing as quickly as her passion would like! There was, however, a small group learning Lindy Hop from a range of overseas teachers who came to Melbourne each year. Teachers who included luminaries of the day, such as the Rhythm Hot Shots. They formed a group called \u201cVic Lindy Hop\u201d and employed Rob Bloom to come down from Sydney to teach regular workshops. At the same time, Scott had seen Lindy Hop at Disneyland and at a huge News Years Eve Swing Ball in Washington DC. He was hooked! Upon arriving back in Australia, Scott phoned every dance school in the Yellow Pages. Almost none of them had heard of Lindy Hop, or advised that it was not taught in Australia. This wasn\u2019t true, of course, as Lindy was being taught in small pockets around Melbourne and had a solid community in Sydney. Then Scott went web surfing and found Claudia\u2019s email on a Sydney web site. Scott and Claudia teamed up, with Scott becoming Claudia\u2019s swing crazed and passionate student. To this day Claudia still has that original email sent to her from Scott. Melbourne was so different back then, with Sydney being the largest swing scene in Australia and Scott and Claudia battled to find anywhere to dance regularly in Melbourne. We would scour the papers and find any thing that said \u201cjazz\u201d to go and dance. The few Lindy Hoppers there were, would follow the musicians such as Ron Trigg, the Pearly Shells and the Moovin\u2019 and Groovin\u2019 Orchestra around Melbourne. There was no large swing dance community to speak of and almost no one really even knew what swing dancing was. This whole thing just started with a genuine and breath-taking passion and love for the dance. We just wanted other people to dance with and we NEVER dreamed Swing Patrol would become known as the largest swing school in the world. Many times we stand back and just marvel at what has happened. With Claudia\u2019s strong dance teaching background and Scott\u2019s strong marketing background, we started talking about sharing the dance we loved so much. In April 1998, Swing Patrol became a registered business and on Tuesday August 5th, the first 23 original students turned up to the Rising Sun Hotel in South Melbourne. We taught on carpet, dressed our students in swingy vests and spent most of the time drinking rather than dancing. These were great times; the venue was carpeted and we dressed up in full swing gear every week to teach. Students loved the new style of teaching and word seemed to spread quickly. Our focus was simply the joy of the dance! After a few months over 100 students were attending our first venue. We took some big risks early on and spending our own money on the first flyers and marketing campaign. Every weekend, we would letter box drop together. We would have around 3,000 flyers printed almost weekly and promise each other that we wouldn\u2019t stop until they were all in letterboxes. Sometimes we would still be out putting flyers in letterboxes at 2am, calling to each other across the street. The only way to really grow swing was to entrust some of the teaching to others and in 1999 Swing Patrol announced its first teaching team, which consisted of its most promising students. Many amazing people soon followed and it was the quality of people on the team that played a massive role in Swing Patrol\u2019s growth. Every person that can say they are (or were) a \u201cSwing Patrol teacher\u201d has been absolutely pivotal in our story and we will be eternally grateful for all the faith they have put in us. They have allowed us to lead them and the aim was always to provide a win\u2013win situation where we have hopefully given our team many great opportunities. While we have in turn been rewarded with great teaching, unrivalled loyalty and some life long friendships. It would be untrue to say there haven\u2019t been tough times and we have made many mistakes. What has made Swing Patrol strong though, is that we have learnt and learnt quickly. We have made some brilliant strategic decisions mixed with some bloopers! We reflect today on all these times and love the learning and experiences. Ninety nine percent of the journey has been an absolute thrill and we have LOVED it. We think we have the best jobs in the world; the best team in the world and have met some of the most inspiring people one could meet. Swing Patrol now has one of the most experienced teaching teams in the world with first class troupe dancers who share the dance every weekend across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, London and Berlin. history of swing dancing Ensuring our dancers were aware and passionate about the history of the dance is mandatory and we fondly think of two really\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/about-swing-patrol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swing Patrol Melbourne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-12T05:15:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/about-swing-patrol\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/about-swing-patrol\\\/\",\"name\":\"About Swing Patrol - Swing Patrol Melbourne\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-21T05:54:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-12T05:15:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/about-swing-patrol\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/about-swing-patrol\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/about-swing-patrol\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About Swing Patrol\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/\",\"name\":\"Swing Patrol Melbourne\",\"description\":\"Fun, Friendly Swing Dance classes\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/swingpatrol.com\\\/melbourne\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"About Swing Patrol - Swing Patrol Melbourne","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/swingpatrol.com\/melbourne\/about-swing-patrol\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"About Swing Patrol - Swing Patrol Melbourne","og_description":"ABOUT SWING PATROL ABOUT us Swing Patrol is a well-known and unique community of over 1,500 swing dancers featuring a first class\u00a0teaching team, a dedicated admin and volunteer team and what we think (bias acknowledged) are the most dedicated and passionate group of\u00a0social dancers\u00a0in the world. The curator of this crazy family is\u00a0Scott Cupit\u00a0who is responsible for the vision and leadership of Swing Patrol. Our amazing teachers run\u00a0weekly classes\u00a0and\u00a0workshops teaching Lindy Hop and Blues all over Melbourne.\u00a0So whether you want to\u00a0learn to dance, come and have a boogie in our weekly\u00a0socials and events, or\u00a0hire our team\u00a0for your event, we hope to see you soon! at a glance Weekly classes at venues across Melbourne Social dancing Swing dance balls in Melbourne You can hire us for your event our journey Claudia Funder and Scott Cupit founded Swing Patrol in 1998 and now head up wonderful swing dance communities Melbourne, Sydney, London and Berlin. Where do we start? well, Claudia taught numerous dance styles including Latin, Ballroom, Rock and Roll and Lindy Hop, but was a little frustrated with the dance as the scene wasn\u2019t growing as quickly as her passion would like! There was, however, a small group learning Lindy Hop from a range of overseas teachers who came to Melbourne each year. Teachers who included luminaries of the day, such as the Rhythm Hot Shots. They formed a group called \u201cVic Lindy Hop\u201d and employed Rob Bloom to come down from Sydney to teach regular workshops. At the same time, Scott had seen Lindy Hop at Disneyland and at a huge News Years Eve Swing Ball in Washington DC. He was hooked! Upon arriving back in Australia, Scott phoned every dance school in the Yellow Pages. Almost none of them had heard of Lindy Hop, or advised that it was not taught in Australia. This wasn\u2019t true, of course, as Lindy was being taught in small pockets around Melbourne and had a solid community in Sydney. Then Scott went web surfing and found Claudia\u2019s email on a Sydney web site. Scott and Claudia teamed up, with Scott becoming Claudia\u2019s swing crazed and passionate student. To this day Claudia still has that original email sent to her from Scott. Melbourne was so different back then, with Sydney being the largest swing scene in Australia and Scott and Claudia battled to find anywhere to dance regularly in Melbourne. We would scour the papers and find any thing that said \u201cjazz\u201d to go and dance. The few Lindy Hoppers there were, would follow the musicians such as Ron Trigg, the Pearly Shells and the Moovin\u2019 and Groovin\u2019 Orchestra around Melbourne. There was no large swing dance community to speak of and almost no one really even knew what swing dancing was. This whole thing just started with a genuine and breath-taking passion and love for the dance. We just wanted other people to dance with and we NEVER dreamed Swing Patrol would become known as the largest swing school in the world. Many times we stand back and just marvel at what has happened. With Claudia\u2019s strong dance teaching background and Scott\u2019s strong marketing background, we started talking about sharing the dance we loved so much. In April 1998, Swing Patrol became a registered business and on Tuesday August 5th, the first 23 original students turned up to the Rising Sun Hotel in South Melbourne. We taught on carpet, dressed our students in swingy vests and spent most of the time drinking rather than dancing. These were great times; the venue was carpeted and we dressed up in full swing gear every week to teach. Students loved the new style of teaching and word seemed to spread quickly. Our focus was simply the joy of the dance! After a few months over 100 students were attending our first venue. We took some big risks early on and spending our own money on the first flyers and marketing campaign. Every weekend, we would letter box drop together. We would have around 3,000 flyers printed almost weekly and promise each other that we wouldn\u2019t stop until they were all in letterboxes. Sometimes we would still be out putting flyers in letterboxes at 2am, calling to each other across the street. The only way to really grow swing was to entrust some of the teaching to others and in 1999 Swing Patrol announced its first teaching team, which consisted of its most promising students. Many amazing people soon followed and it was the quality of people on the team that played a massive role in Swing Patrol\u2019s growth. Every person that can say they are (or were) a \u201cSwing Patrol teacher\u201d has been absolutely pivotal in our story and we will be eternally grateful for all the faith they have put in us. They have allowed us to lead them and the aim was always to provide a win\u2013win situation where we have hopefully given our team many great opportunities. While we have in turn been rewarded with great teaching, unrivalled loyalty and some life long friendships. It would be untrue to say there haven\u2019t been tough times and we have made many mistakes. What has made Swing Patrol strong though, is that we have learnt and learnt quickly. We have made some brilliant strategic decisions mixed with some bloopers! We reflect today on all these times and love the learning and experiences. Ninety nine percent of the journey has been an absolute thrill and we have LOVED it. We think we have the best jobs in the world; the best team in the world and have met some of the most inspiring people one could meet. 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