Dancing Classrooms presents... Swing Uptown! 

Dust off your dancing shoes and ring in the new year with a fun, virtual swing dance masterclass.

As one of the core dance forms taught in the Dancing Classrooms beloved program, Swing brings immeasurable joy to thousands of students across the US each year! Join us for a fabulous swing dance masterclass led by our senior teaching artists and swing pros Akemi Kinukawa and Felix Pitre. Featuring live jazz music from the Summer Camargo Swing Band, featuring alumni of Carnegie Hall's National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Out of an abundance of caution, this masterclass will be shared virtually via livestream -- it will be a memorable mid-winter night of swing. You can shake it from home! (Prefer to dance in person? Due to demand we are offering up to 50 in-person tickets for a lucky bunch to join us in person at Riverside Church to be a part of the livestream!)  

The Masterclass:

Swing Dance through the Eras with Dancing Classrooms Senior Teaching Artists, Akemi Kinukawa and Felix Pitre
We'll kick off the evening with a lesson (no experience needed), dancing through some of the basic steps of 20s swing, the 30s Charleston, and more! 

Shim Sham Demo with Akemi and Felix
The Shim Sham is the epitome of community. We'll learn this iconic, communal dance as the band revs up with the classic tune, "Stompin' at the Savoy." 

Live Music, Dancing, & Virtual Toast to 2022!
Dance the night away with all the new steps you learned to the tunes of The Summer Camargo Swing Band! 

Swing Uptown Masterclass Host Committee: 

Carrie Shea Steinmetz, Chair of the Board
Patrice Tanaka, Vice Chair of the Board
Harry Chung, Treasurer of the Board
Arielle Lapiano, Chair of the Development and Events Committee
Hilary Wolf Bayer
Yang Chen
John J. Entwistle
Sheila A. Hoerle
Lorraine Peoples
Tyrone Bazelaire
Patricia Koyce
Slava Takhalov

About our Featured Guests:

Dancing Classrooms Senior Teaching Artists and Swing Dance Pros

Akemi Kinukawa (DC Senior Teaching Artist) began working for Dancing Classrooms in 2011 and by the end of the year was nominated “Rookie of the Year.” She is originally from Japan where she didn’t have any chance to explore the art of social dancing. It was when she was welcomed into the Lindy Hop dance community in Washington, D.C. that her life changed dramatically. For this reason, she is passionate about sharing social dancing with children. She also works as a Lindy Hop choreographer and instructor. Her work, from dance pieces to dance theater, champions Lindy Hop’s spirit by educating on its history and cultural context, furthering the legacy of inclusivity. Highlights of her career include performing at the opening night of Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing in 2017 as well as performing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in 2016. Learn more!

Felix Pitre (DC Senior Teaching Artist) has worked with Dancing Classrooms as a Teaching Artist since 2009. He has taught elementary, middle and high school students across the NYC Metro Area, bringing his love and appreciation of dance, and in particular the Lindy Hop, to all of his classes. Felix has studied Lindy Hop and other vernacular Jazz dances with numerous instructors, nationally and locally throughout NYC, including the late great Frankie Manning, Roddy Caravella, Bill Kline, Matt Bedell and Laura Jeffers. His career as a performer includes opening for Jennifer Hudson, and dancing in various troupes including the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers, the Lindy Hop All-Stars and The Twilight Toe Tapping Syncopaters. Learn more!

The Summer Camargo Swing Band

Summer Camargo (Band Lead & Trumpet), 20, a trumpet player at the Juilliard School, will be starting her third year of college majoring in Jazz Studies and is a part of the Jerome Greene Fellowship.

Summer, born and raised in Hollywood, Florida, has been a member of the prestigious Grammy Band, Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and was named a National YoungArts Foundation Merit winner, and Honorable Mention in Jazz Trumpet, as well as Merit winner in Jazz Composition. Summer was also Downbeat Magazine’s Outstanding Student Jazz Performance Award recipient. At the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Essentially Ellington Festivals, she received Outstanding Trumpet Soloist Awards, and in 2018, Summer won the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Soloist Award and the Dr. J. Douglas White Student Composition Contest. She was honored to have the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra record her first, original big band chart, Leap Froggin’. Summer also participated in the Vail Jazz Workshop, Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival Gala and played as a guest artist at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala and the Midwest Clinic. In 2020, Summer was honored to be a panelist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz Congress, joined the Ulysses Owens, Jr. Big Band, was featured in FENDI’s Anima Mundi project in New York City and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Big Band Holiday concert, was the recipient of the the Laurie Frink Grant, and was awarded with an Outstanding Trumpet Soloist Award at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s inaugural Jack Rudin Championship. Recently, Summer placed third for the International Trumpet Guild’s 2021 Ryan Anthony Trumpet Memorial Competition, was commissioned by the University of North Carolina in Greensboro to write an original big band composition for their jazz program, and performed as a guest artist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Wynton at 60.” Summer is a proud Conn Selmer/Bach artist. Watch Summer play her original big band chart, Leap Froggin'.

Miles Lennox (piano) is a Jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer from Sunrise, Florida who began playing piano at the age of 7. He studied at the Dillard Center for the Arts with Christopher Dorsey and Stephen Scott. Currently, he studies at the Manhattan School of Music with Marc Cary. Lennox was the winner of the 2019 Essentially Ellington Big Band Composition Contest where his composition, “Open Windows”, was performed and recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He was a 2018 and 2019 winner in YoungArts for Jazz Piano and Jazz Composition in 2019. He received an “Outstanding Piano” award in 2018 and 2019 in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Big Band Competition. Lennox was also a finalist in the 2018 Miami Downtown Jazz Piano Competition. Lennox recently released his debut album, “Something to Say”, which features 11 original compositions. Lennox has performed with artists such as Sean Jones, Kurt Elling, Jon Faddis, Vincent Gardner, Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goines, Nat Adderley Jr., Stefon Harris, amongst many others. 

Ilai Macaggi (trombone) is a 19 year old Jazz Trombonist from Henderson, Nevada. Ilai started playing trombone through his middle school band program and continued Practicing the art form through his time at Green Valley High School. Through his time playing, Ilai has had the privilege of performing with groups such as the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and NYO Jazz, as well as playing at events such as the Regional Essentially Ellington festival based in Las Vegas, the Jazz Education Network Conference, and the Next Generation Jazz Festival. He is currently a sophomore at The Juilliard School as a Jazz Trombone major. Ilai’s future goals include being a band leader, sideman, composer and educator. He hopes to one day start a non-profit organization revolving around jazz education.

Domo Branch (drums) is a Drummer, Producer, from Portland, Oregon. Attending Manhattan School of Music. He Performs around the US and has toured Europe multiple times. He has performed with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, and Dianne Reeves. He has also done work with students giving clinics, motivational speaking, and public speaking. 

Kevin Oliver Jr. (sax/clarinet) was born in Atlanta, Kevin Oliver, Jr, is a bandleader and saxophonist currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at The Juilliard School. Kevin started performing at the age of 11.

While at Juilliard, Kevin has had the opportunity to play at a wide range of venues such as Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Paul Hall, Dizzy’s Club and Jazz B in Brazil. As a bandleader, Kevin has led bands at the Velvet Note and Gallery 992 in Atlanta and in New York City at Williamsburg Music Center and at Massawa as the final guest of NADIA’s Amplified Currents festival. As a sideman, Kevin has performed with fellow alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, trumpeter Etienne Charles, the Mwanzi Harriott Quintet, and with Rhonda Thomas on the main stage of the 2019 Atlanta Jazz Festival.

Kevin was a part of the inaugural year of NYO Jazz directed by Sean Jones and played concerts at Carnegie Hall and across Europe alongside Dianne Reeves and a big band of some of the brightest young musicians around the country. Some notable venues on that tour included Usher Hall (Edinburgh), Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), and Konzerthaus (Berlin) just to name a few. He was also selected as a YoungArts Finalist for 2019. 

Jayla Chee (bass) is a New York bass player originally from Belmont, California in the Bay Area. At age 20, she is currently an undergraduate junior at the Juilliard School studying with Gerald Cannon. Before moving to New York, Jayla played regularly with acclaimed Bay Area Artists such as Andrew Speight and Vince Lateano. In her early career she had many opportunities to play at prestigious venues such as The Monterey Jazz Festival, the SFjazz Center, and the Black Cat. Alongside her professional engagements, she also participated in some of America’s top youth jazz programs. Some of these included Carnegie hall’s National Youth Orchestra, the NextGeneration Jazz Orchestra, and Youngarts. These programs gave Jayla the opportunity to travel and perform in Brazil, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. After moving to New York she quickly became engrained into the scene and has already performed with Evan Sherman and her own group as well as many other local musicians at venues like Smalls, Ginny’s and others. Jayla has shared the stage with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, and Allison Miller. On top of her major musical influences, Herbie Hancock and Elis Regina, Jayla derives immense inspiration from Nature. Her passion for natural gardening, hiking, and studying plants is very apparent in her art and personality. 

COVID-19 Precautions:

Out of an abundance of caution, in light of the recent rise of Covid cases, event will be presented as a hybrid masterclass. Throughout the pandemic, Dancing Classrooms has remained adept and swift to pivot and offer virtual, hybrid, socially distanced in-person programming. This January, we are eager to err on the side of safety and are thrilled to dance together, digitally. The majority of tickets to this event will be available for a suggested donation of $25 and include a virtual link to tune in to the masterclass on January 28, 2022. 

An limited amount of in-person tickets, no more than 50 tickets, will be available for a suggested donation of $50 per person, to attend the livestream in-person and take the masterclass with Felix and Akemi, on camera. To purchase an in-person ticket, proof of Covid vaccination OR negative COVID-19 PCR test will be mandatory 72 hours prior to the class and upon entry into the venue, Riverside Church. Learn more and submit your proof and attestation here no later than January 25, 2022. Masks will be required throughout the venue. 

Learn more about Dancing Classrooms' COVID requirements.