Montreal Street Dance Uprising: Rekindling the Jazz-Street Dance Connection

Get Ready to Swing with the Riot Revival!

After a brief hiatus, Montreal Swing Riot is back with a vengeance! This electrifying dance festival, founded in 2012 by Alain Wong and Geneviève St-Laurent, is set to ignite the scene once more. In a recent conversation, the co-founders reminisced about their decision to temporarily pause the event and the inspiration that brought them back.

"We'd said our peace. That was the conclusion Alain and I reached after the fifth edition of Montreal Swing Riot in 2017. We'd scaled the heights of the festival, and on a personal level, we both felt the need to focus on our families," shared Geneviève St-Laurent, a dance enthusiast and full-time psychoeducator. It was by mutual agreement that they put an end to this festival celebrating lindy hop.

The original vision of these two comrades was to offer Montreal's ballroom a distinctive event "rooted in discovery, cultures, and sharing." Initially, the event combined an afternoon competition between jazz dancers and street dancers, aiming to open the community's eyes to the contemporary dance scene and similar cultures.

As the years passed, the competition grew, forging partnerships with major events like Just For Laughs and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. "Our event has become so popular that people still talk about it, even eight years after it ended!" marveled Alain Wong. "Friends who've traveled have even heard about it as far away as Peru, it's crazy!"

To make their grand comeback, the duo pondered their return's purpose. "What do we want to convey? Why are we back now? By attending numerous events both locally and globally, observing the vitality of the Montreal scene, we realized: 'We need to do this again!' We recalled the numerous international jazz dancers and Montreal artists we wanted to collaborate with. So we said: 'Let's go! We have new things to share.' And we're fortunate that our entire original team has re-joined us, making this return impossible without them."

This year's event promises to be a blend of the old and the new, with reinforced partnerships with the Montreal International Jazz Festival, dance battles, and interactive workshops. "There are different themes, blues, New Orleans, etc. This format allows festival-goers an immersive experience: learning a dance style, watching a competition, then moving on to listen to the jazz groups at the Festival. It's all free and astonishing!" said Alain Wong.

Among the fresh touches, a show at the Théâtre de Verdure is an exciting opportunity for the organizers, aiming to make the festival more accessible. "Our goal is to have everything be free and accessible to everyone, as we believe the audience would be there. But unfortunately, we self-fund. So, we can't open everything to everyone, but this new collaboration is already a significant step, as the theater can accommodate 2,000 people!" explained M. St-Laurent.

Finally, social dance evenings and competitions like All That Jazz will wrap up the festival. "This year, we're inviting professional street dance artists to this competition," said M. Wong. "Dancers must select partners from the finalists to then face off in two-on-two duels and express themselves through various jazz styles. It's quite an innovative format within our community."

For Geneviève St-Laurent and Alain Wong, the primary focus is on "connecting the past to the present." Indeed, they believe that jazz dances, which originated in the 1930s, particularly in Harlem, New York, are still vibrant today. "We find thriving communities of lindy hoppers everywhere, like in Barcelona, Melbourne, or Seoul," stated M. St-Laurent. Montreal Swing Riot aims to honor the roots of jazz, Afro-American cultures, and black dances while merging in street dance, a more modern and inspiring expression.[1][2]

What is Lindy Hop?

Lindy hop is an Afro-American street dance born in jazz clubs and balls, notably the Savoy Ballroom, in Harlem, New York, in the late 1920s. It's danced in couples, mixing improvisation and rhythmic variations. Acrobatics can sometimes be added to this style during a competition or performance context. Lindy hop is part of the larger swing dance family, like balboa and boogie-woogie, and danced to jazz music from the swing era of the 1930s-1940s, by great orchestras like Count Basie. Today, lindy hop's roots can be found in other dance styles, like house or breaking.[2]

Sources:[1] Enrichment Data: Link[2] Enrichment Data: Lindy Hop Definition

Aside from dancing, the co-founders of Montreal Swing Riot are passionate about exploring various aspects of culture, such as fashion-and-beauty, food-and-drink, home-and-garden, and relationships.
In their free time, Geneviève St-Laurent and Alain Wong enjoy traveling to different countries to immerse themselves in local cultures and traditions.
Alain Wong is a pet parent to a beloved dog, and he often integrates his love for animals into the Montreal Swing Riot event, such as by partnering with organizations to raise awareness for pet adoption.
While planning the reinauguration of the Montreal Swing Riot, the co-founders considered incorporating activities like shopping and sports workshops or competitions to attract a broader audience.
The co-founders mused that it would be intriguing to organize a dance battle themed around cars, perhaps incorporating vehicles into the choreography or using car engines' rhythm as inspiration for the music.
Geneviève St-Laurent and Alain Wong are keen observers of the weather and often discuss how changes in the weather might affect the upcoming Montreal Swing Riot event, making necessary adjustments to ensure the safety and comfort of the participants.