First Ever LGBTQIA+ Talks at Lindy Focus

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At Lindy Focus this December in Asheville, there were two talks focused on LGBTQIA+ people in lindy hop, the first at any major lindy hop event ever, as far as we know. We were fortunate enough to be there for both sessions and to help stream them to Facebook. For those that could not attend, we’ve shared the videos and slide decks from both sessions here.

Session 1: LGBTQIA+ History and Influence in Harlem and the Jazz Era

This session was led by Adam Browzowski, sharing his research into the intersections of LGBTQIA+ culture and Harlem during the jazz age. Here is the video archive from that session.

[Apologies for the wrong orientation at the beginning of the video. It gets corrected at the 1.00 mark.]

You can follow along with Adam’s slide deck, here.

Two books that Adam referenced during his talk were Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940  by George Chauncey (2008) and Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance by A.B. Christa Schwarz (2003).

Session 2: Coming Out on the Floor: The LGBTQIA+ Experience in Lindy Hop Today

The second session was led by Jacie Moninghoff and Adam Browzowski, focused on the current experiences of LGBTQIA+ dancers in the lindy hop scene. Here’s the video archive:

You can follow along with Jacie’s slide deck here.

For those interested in learning more, there is an LGBTQAI+ Swing Dancers Network group on Facebook. The group is “a safe space for LGBTQAI+ people, other non-binary people or same gender or same-sex dancers, ambi-dancers and switch dancers, and our friends and allies.” Its purpose is to “exchange information, find out about each other, share events, and keep up to date on issues important to our communities relating to the dances and music we love.”