Herräng Dance Camp (commonly abbreviated HDC, officially Herräng Dance Camp Aktiebolag) is the largest annual dance camp that focuses on

lindy hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the African-American communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of ...

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, and balboa. It is held annually in July in

Herräng Herräng () is the northernmost locality in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden, with 422 inhabitants in 2010. It is located 40 kilometres north of the municipal seat Norrtälje along the coast of Singöfjärden, a bay on Roslagen. ...

, Sweden, and focuses both on instruction and dancing. Swing era dancers that have presented at the camp include Al Minns,

Frankie Manning Frank Manning (May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009) was an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founders of Lindy Hop, an energetic form of the jazz dance style known as swing. Biography Manning was b ...

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, Chazz Young, and

Dawn Hampton Dawn Hampton (June 9, 1928 – September 25, 2016) was an American cabaret and jazz singer, saxophonist, dancer, and songwriter. Hampton began her lifelong career as a musical entertainer touring the Midwest as a three-year-old member of the Ha ...

. While the camp is occurring, infrastructure is added to the village to accommodate the dancers. This includes several cafes; a full cafeteria serving buffet-style meals; a shop for dance supplies, accessories and daily essentials; bicycle rental; housing of various standards; and nightly entertainment.

History

The first Herräng Dance Camp was held for one week, starting on 1 August 1982, and was organized by the Swedish Swing Society, a swing dance organization based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It was attended by around 25 participants and was entirely taught by John Clancy from New York. Attendance increased to nearly 100 students in its second year. For the following five years, the camp grew in popularity in and around Sweden, and was only attended by Swedish dancers. It eventually gained an international following. Frankie Manning attended the camp for the first time in 1989.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrang Dance Camp Lindy Hop Dance festivals in Sweden Music festivals in Sweden Culture of Stockholm County Norrtälje Municipality 1982 establishments in Sweden 1980s establishments in Stockholm County