ABOUT JOO-LEE
What I love most about dance is that it has the power to positively change your life in so many ways.
Dance has motivated me to stay fit and healthy in a way that feels fun and easy. It has exploded my social life and filled it with wonderful, like-minded friends.
And it’s also allowed me to fulfil my dream of bringing people together in a fun way that leaves them feeling accepted, connected and alive.
If we’ve not met before, I’m Joo-Lee Lewis, Founder and Dance Director at SwingFit Dance, creator of the DJam Swing Dance Festival and life-long dance lover! I’ve been dancing for over 30 years, established the Swing dance scene in the North of England over a decade ago, and now run a successful dance brand that spreads the joy of dance to women across the nation.
A DREAM TAKES ROOT...
My very first dance immersion was in ballet. I was 8, living in Singapore at that time, and that’s what little girls did – go to ballet! I didn’t love it, but I did love moving to music. Until, that is, I had a growth spurt and was told I was too tall, I wasn’t the right shape and I wasn’t pretty enough! And I remember feeling so confused – why do I need to be pretty and shorter to be a dancer? After that I knew ballet wasn’t for me and I didn’t dance again until I was 30.
Turns out sport wasn’t my thing either. When I was 9, I was at my school sports day and having a ball in the running races. I didn’t win, and often came last, but I was OK with that because I was having fun! But my parents, who had come to watch that day, were disappointed and embarrassed. Again, I didn’t understand. Why do we have to win? Why can’t we just come together and have fun with our friends?
The one place I got this feeling of friendship and togetherness was at Sunday School. I always left feeling connected and uplifted and knew THAT was what I wanted to create. So a dream began to form in my mind of one day bringing all my future friends together to dance for fun, in a way that is inclusive not competitive, and that makes everyone feel welcome.
And wouldn’t you know it, that is exactly what I do now through SwingFit!
FINDING MY BLISS...
I didn’t know as a teenage girl, when my love of dance was limited to watching old dance films with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, that one day I would lead a dance movement.
In fact, I only got back into dance when I was 30 because I needed some exercise in my life. Competitive activities weren’t for me, but I loved music (so much so I got a degree in it from Birmingham Conservatoire). Music always motivates me to move, so I signed up for a Charleston workshop, and I was hooked!
That first class reignited my passion again for all things dance and across the next 4 years I tried out every social dance style available. But it was Lindy Hop, an incredibly social dance that influenced later dances like jive, that really captured my heart and led to an explosion in my social life.
In 1999, in the days before virtual classes, I heard about this place in Sweden where you could learn Lindy Hop. I was a school teacher at the time, so I booked a ticket for the next holidays and off I went to Herrang for a week-long dance camp! And it was exactly what I’d been dreaming about.
It was community, meaningful connection and no competition. There were no certificates or awards at the end, we just danced because we loved dancing, sometimes till 6am in the morning! It was bliss.
After that I chased the Lindy Hop dance scene around the world and ended up running my own international Swing Dance Festival, DJam. It ran for 13 years and grew from 40 dancers in the first year to 400 dancers. Along the way I made some incredible friends around the world, and one of them, who lived in Budapest, was the catalyst to me starting SwingFit.
I was visiting him one weekend with my husband, Andy, and lamenting the fact there was no Swing dance scene where I lived in Durham to join in with when we returned from our dance adventures. And he simply replied: “If you love Swing dance, why haven’t you done anything about starting a Swing dance scene in your town? If you want this to happen you have to make it happen.”
So I did! It was scary but incredibly exciting when in 2007 I gave up my teaching job and became the person who established a thriving Lindy Hop dance scene in the North of England!
STARTING FROM SCRATCH...
At first, all I had was my passion for dance because I knew nothing about marketing and had very little business skills to speak of (which is why I can now ensure my SwingFit dance teachers avoid all the mistakes I made!)
When I ran my first class and 40 people came, I assumed those 40 people would just keep coming. Ah, no, they didn’t. I had no business systems, no way to capture their details and didn’t realise that was something I should do! It was quite the learning curve.
Then I got the chance to get involved with the NHS Arts for Wellbeing project that was assessing the impact of arts on mental health and wellbeing. For the next two years my classes were filled through referrals as a medically prescribed way to improve mental health and wellbeing. Which was fantastic! Until the project came to an end and I still didn’t know anything about marketing, I didn’t have a brand, and I still didn’t know where to start.
SWINGFIT IS BORN...
Then something unexpected happened. One day I was teaching a class of women who had stayed on with me as paying clients from the NHS project. Mid-class the sound system died but I lived nearby so I dashed home and picked up my CD player.
I got back, pressed play… and a mass protest ensued from my ladies!! “No! This stuff is too fast for us. We want your tunes Joo-Lee”. The CD played the kind of music you would find in a Zumba class, not the Swing tunes I know and love from Lindy Hop.
At last, the penny dropped, this was my unique offering to the world! My way of bringing together my love of dance and Swing music, and my deep desire to create meaningful gatherings that promote connection, companionship and community.
And so, SwingFit was born in 2010.
A FEEL-GOOD DANCE MOVEMENT...
Nowadays I feel incredibly grateful that I get to make a great living doing what I love – helping women to stay fit, have fun and create lasting friendships through the joy of dance.
Over the past decade I’ve taught thousands of women in my SwingFit classes and I still run 4 jam-packed classes a week and I love them! We dress up (when we have the occasional themed event), we laugh, and have a jolly good time staying fit as we move to our Swing tunes.
In 2019 I started mentoring women to become SwingFit teachers themselves, so they could help spread this meaningful, community-minded, connection-creating dance movement to more and more women around the nation, and eventually the world!
And finally, that childhood dream of mine has come true. Through SwingFit my instructors and I create welcoming, inclusive, non-competitive spaces that feel like everyone is dancing together, around our handbags, like you probably did back in the day 😉
And that is what is at the heart of SwingFit: Connection. Companionship. Community.
SwingFit instructors now run classes in the North of England as well as Victoria, Australia, and as we grow in numbers, the reach of SwingFit grows too – it’s exciting times!
Are you looking for more of that in your life and would love to get involved? Fantastic!
Here’s two ways you can do just that:
JOIN A SWINGFIT CLASS
And don’t worry if you’re ‘unfit’ or think you’ve got two left-feet, SwingFit is fun, easy to follow and caters to all fitness levels. Whether online or in-person, you can find a SwingFit class near you on this page. I guarantee you’ll receive a very warm welcome 🙂
BECOME A TEACHER
SwingFit is growing and we’re actively looking for women who share our ethos, love to dance and aspire to lead their own SwingFit class. To find out what’s involved and get started, take a look at our ‘Become a SwingFit instructor’ page & get started on a very exciting journey.
By the way, we were even chosen by the BBC to be part of their identity campaign!
SwingFit ladies always tell me they come for the fitness and stay for the friendship.
I hope myself or one of our SwingFit instructors get to show you a very warm welcome sometime soon.
See you on the dance floor!
Joo-Lee