20 years Hepcats - Celebrate with us!

Registration information

The workshops and the group dinner are exclusively for our club members – please register as a club member to secure your place. Everyone from the swing community is warmly invited to the public party afterwards: entry is free, just join us!

The Origins of the Dresden Hepcats

Twenty years ago, eight courageous dance enthusiasts with a great love of swing decided to found a club dedicated to their favourite hobby. Since then, ‘Dresden-Hepcats e.V.’ has been able to look back with pride on its colourful history, which has been shaped above all by the voluntary commitment of its dedicated members. Through dance classes, the regular organisation of social events and the provision of numerous workshops, swing has been tirelessly promoted as a dance sport and a dancing community has been lovingly built up in Dresden. Thanks to various collaborations and the cultivation of relationships within Dresden’s dance and music scene, the range of dance opportunities and the club’s activities have continually expanded. Even during times when in-person meetings were not possible, our connection to one another and to our beloved swing has remained unbroken thanks to creative ideas and digital activities.

Who are we today?

Today, we are a vibrant and diverse club with a membership that has now grown to 180, all of whom take to the dance floor together every week. Our dance scene is growing thanks to classes in an ever-increasing number of swing styles, and is brought together by a wide variety of social events, often featuring live music. Joint dance outings to the Dixieland Festival or the WeinBergKulTour also keep the community alive. Alongside a diverse range of workshops attracting participants from beyond Dresden’s borders, we have established Swingin’ Spring as a festival that can hold its own on the international stage. If that isn’t all good reason to celebrate, what is?!

Our anniversary celebration

That’s why we’d like to celebrate our anniversary in style. To this end, we’ve planned a afternoon of workshops followed by dinner, exclusively for our club members. In the evening, there’ll be a glamorous party with live music from the Perky Pollyvocs and, hopefully, the whole Dresden scene in attendance. To mark our anniversary, we’ve managed to secure one of our original founders, as well as a long-standing teacher, for the various activities on offer. And of course, there’s a dancer in the band too!

Perky Pollyvocs

Go on a journey back in time with the Perky Pollyvocs. It´s a three piece group presenting black rhythm & blues as well as white hillbilly and western swing music of the early 30s to the mid 50s, always making a bit of their own thing out of it - they call it "polyvocal swing". They feature names like The Ink Spots, Hank Penny, The Robins, Louis Armstrong, The Cats And The Fiddle, Chuck Miller and many more with songs about coffee & cake, sweets, smoking & spitting, cats, chicks, heaven & hell, egyptian dames and... love (as usual). Singing in harmony makes it a very special experience no matter if it's a trip into gospel or swingy stuff. And always keep an eye on the band as they goof around on stage like silly kids.

Dress code

Please come in a suitable dance outfit, preferably with a touch of glitz and glamour in the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby-style is definitely allowed, but of course not compulsory. We’re really looking forward to seeing you all and dancing into the next 20 years with you!

Photography and video recording

The taking of audio and/or video recordings during events or lessons requires the express consent of the dance teachers. The publication of audio and/or video recordings from lessons is the sole responsibility of the organiser, Dresden-Hepcats e.V.
By taking part in an event, participants consent to the use and publication of photographs and video recordings which may show them.