WHAT'S ON

WTF Thursdays: The Shed

The Shed is a lab, an alternative dance training, and a space for guided collective research based on the language of Jazz.

The Shed is a lab, an alternative dance training, and a space for guided collective research based on the language of Jazz. Artists work alongside each other in the studio to develop their own movement practices, and figure out how to be themselves in motion.

The Shed encourages critical, embodied thinking around the history (and present) of social dance and social change. How do we connect physically to other dancers, their cultures and our own? How can dance go beyond just making shapes?

Angela’s facilitation brings decades of embodied knowledge in social dance, vernacular jazz, and Lindy Hop. She is there to guide, share, and support artists at all points in their movement journeys.

Why “The Shed”?

The name comes from the term “Woodshedding”, which is attributed to Tap Dance Legendary Charles “Honi” Coles who practised in a room by himself for a year and came out with the “fastest feet in the world”. It is a slang term generally used amongst musicians. Find out more here.

Who is The Shed for?

Folk, Modern Jazz, Tap Dance, Hip Hop/ House, Tango, Flamenco Anyone who is interested in Jazz and the Music

Event details

30 January 2025

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Free, booking required

Please note, we are on the second floor, accessed by a staircase only. Regrettably the studios are not wheelchair accessible.

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About the Host

Angela Andrew (she/her)

Angela Andrew is a performer, teacher and producer specialising in dance and arts from the Jazz era. She is self-taught starting her dance story on the streets of Hackney where she was born and raised. The combination of her musical family background, classical music training, love for jazz and her passion for dance made for a natural progression to search for the roots of present day street-dance, the Lindy Hop.She started lindy-hopping in 1991 having an already established dancing and teaching path. She is often called a “mid-timer” on the international Lindy Hop scene: renowned for unique yet grounded teaching style, mentoring of new teachers, pioneering out-of-the box events.Her passion drives her to continue to spread and develop the Lindy Hop; her emphasis on the soul and roots of the dance. Her aim is for the Lindy Hop to be recognised for its duality: as a contemporary dance art form and as a popular Street / Club dance.

Instagram: @cookiesjammin

About the Styles

Lindy Hop and Vernacular Jazz

Lindy Hop and Vernacular Jazz (often grouped under the term “Swing”) are African-American dance forms originating in the late 1920s Jazz Era. For the most part, it was developed in ballrooms across the USA – most notably The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York. The dances’ popularity peaked in the mid-1940s and was featured often as a speciality act in many Hollywood movies such as Hellzapoppin’. Original dancers Al Minns, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller seeded the resurgence in the late 1980’s.

The uniqueness that Vernacular Jazz and Lindy Hop bring to the dance sphere is its aspects of solo, partnered and group improvisation and coordination. Steeped in a history of resilience and resistance, African American Vernacular Jazz is an artform is valuable to any dance practice.

Accessibility

Please note, we are on the second floor of a warehouse building, accessed by a staircase only. We regret that we cannot currently adequately support wheelchair users and those for whom stairs are a barrier.

We are committed to removing other barriers to access. If you would like to talk to us about your access needs, please contact: frances@chisenhaledancespace.co.uk. Read more about our commitments to anti-ableism as part of our Artist Community Culture Documen

About WTF Thursdays