We are a non-profit community offering LindyHop & Solojazz classes as well as lots of social dancing events. Hepcats Copenhagen is a non-profit organisation in Copenhagen, Denmark, that has existed since 2006 organising weekly classes in swing dances (Lindy hop and authentic jazz). HepCats Copenhagen also host weekly social dances on Thursdays and Sundays along with live swing music events and con
certs, national and international dance camps and more. When you take part in a beginners workshop or our Thursday classes, you also become member of Hepcats Copenhagen – a membership that lasts for approx half a year (Spring season: February to August, Fall season: September to January). The membership gives you discount / access to our classes and to other events that we are involved in. Hepcats Copenhagen host Lindy Hop beginner workshops, classes on Thursdays and weekend workshops with special themes, teachers from abroad etc. Our “mission” is to offer classes in Lindy Hop and other swing dances and to broaden the knowledge of swing dancing and swing music in Copenhagen. Revenue from classes and membership is used to arrange or support other events, including live concerts and international workshops. Our main focus is on Lindy Hop, but on occasion we also organize workshops in authentic jazz or other dance styles that we think will help our members improve their dancing. We have approximately 450 members (and more than 180 students every Thursday) and a teachers group of about 25 - more or less - active teachers. We rely heavily on our members volunteering to help organize workshops, parties and concerts, as we have no paid staff, and therefore all administration and practical stuff is done on a purely voluntary basis. The "top" of the organisation is an elected board of five people (plus two substitutes).
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ABOUT THE HEPCATS COPENHAGEN COMMUNITY
What is a Danish community (forening) really about? In Hepcats Copenhagen we have a lot of different cultures and backgrounds and that is why we would like to tell you what Hepcats Copenhagen is all about. ..
In the past 200 years Denmark has had its very own special type of assembly; ‘Foreningen’. For me it is as Danish and precious as cardamom cakes for Christmas, the concept of “hygge” and lighting a candle in the middle of a sunny afternoon. A community is a rallying point for a group of people with something in common. It is a so-called ’identifying’ community in which the members’ lives are intertwined across professional and social backgrounds. The barriers, that naturally exist between strangers, crumble and the borderline between public and private relations and the distinction between business and pleasure disappears. All communities have been started by a small group of fiery souls, who had a passion in common and the survival of the community depends solely on its members. The members are the ones who breathe life into the community and it is the contribution of same members that decides the community’s level of activity. In other words, if the members do nothing; nothing happens. Although communities are subject to a certain set of rules, it is the voluntary work and the willingness to contribute that drives it. But community life is fragile; fiery souls risk being extinguished if there is too much resistance or not enough support. Hepcats Copenhagen is a community in which the members have in common that we want to explore and spread the knowledge of Lindy Hop and Authentic Jazz dance in Copenhagen. Many of our members contribute every week to keep the community active. Everyone from the board, who keeps the overview, the teachers, who provide inspiring lessons, the dj’s providing dance-friendly music, the volunteers manning the doors to all the members who attend classes and social dance week after week. No matter the role you have in the community, you are important; without you the community would not exist. Let us support each other and remember to greet each other with a smile both on the dance floor in social contexts as well as on the internet in administrative contexts. Community life can be tough, hard and administratively heavy work, but at the same time it is so life-affirming and warm-hearted to invest time, energy and love in a social context that creates a joy of life, smiles and new friendships across all boundaries. Welcome to our small community. We hope you will feel at home.
