Ahoj Shag!
Ahoy-hoy, shag dancing enthusiasts!
We’re excited to welcome you back to Shag Republic, which will open its gates again on September 15-17, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic!
Spend a weekend in the heart of Europe with excellent teachers, exciting and fun parties, fantastic Czech bands and of course lots of shag dancing!
Contact email: shagrepublic@gmail.com
About us
This year we bring you 2 levels of Collegiate Shag workshops and 2 levels of St. Louis Shag! Simplified in the number of levels but allowing more opportunities to create a schedule according to your preferences. Want more shag classes? Take more Shag Labs or choose two full passes aka well-known “killer” COMBO 😉
Teachers
Meet our 2023 teaching ambassadors - aka teachers from countries such as Spain, Lithuania, the USA, Poland, Germany or the Czech Republic.
SANDY & MINN (Sandy Lewis and Minn Vo)
⭐️ Based in Barcelona, Sandy Lewis was born and raised in South Louisiana dancing to Cajun and Zydeco music. After moving to Spain, she began swing dancing and immediately fell in love with Collegiate Shag. Her style is joyful, free-spirited, and a little rascally when the mood strikes. And her teaching style follows suit. You’ll learn while laughing — the lesson always comes with a wink, a smile…and maybe some swear words in between. She believes in empowering dancers to be themselves and encourages people to let their inner shagger shine on the dancefloor.
Sandy is one of the founders of the Barcelona Shag Society, which seeks to bring Collegiate Shag dance and culture to the community through monthly dances and lessons. She’s also the founder of the Shag Train, a weekly online community-based training session that brings people together from all over the world to dance and learn about the history and culture of swing dancing. When she’s not dancing, you can find her emceeing various swing festivals around Spain and being a kick-ass mom at home. Her favourite colour is red, and according to her son, her hair is fantastic.
⭐️ Minn Vo is LA’s premier dance competitor and one of the most versatile performers today. He has made his mark in television, commercials, film, and music videos. Inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in 2004, Minn covers all areas of Vernacular Jazz Dance. Styles covered are Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, Air Steps, and Collegiate Shag, among others. Minn has an extensive influence on the contemporary movement of urban street dance. He studied and worked with Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Nicholas Brothers, Ray Harsh, and Leonard Reed. Since 1997 his competition background encompasses a long history of 1st place titles in local, national, and world competitions.
KASIA & MICHAŁ (Katarzyna Dybowska and Michał Oblaciński)
⭐️ Michał and Kasia fell in love with swing dancing in 2005, successfully launching the Lindy Hop scene in Warsaw in 2009.
From the very beginning, they spent most of their spare time travelling around the world first learning and later also teaching the happiest of all dances both locally and internationally.
Since they came across Collegiate Shag in 2014 they are spreading their love for it all around Poland and Europe supporting its global revival everywhere they go. Alongside their students, they started the Collegiate Shag fever in Poland.
On a day-to-day basis, Michał and Kasia teach weekly Lindy Hop and Collegiate Shag classes and run the Warsaw Shag Team dance troupe in their SWINGOUT.PL Swing Dance Studio.
In swing dancing, they are looking for a perfect balance of a general dance technique, natural and functional movement, leading and following skills but also some childish craziness, musicality, fun and raw energy.
SIMONA & JAMES (Simona Pogosian and James D Farrell)
⭐️ Simona is one of the first swinging fellows that brought lindy hop to Lithuania back in 2004, and hasn’t stopped since. She fell in love with the diversity of movement and dived into everything that the swing world has to offer: from Lindy Hop, Balboa, Solo jazz to St Louis Shag.
But more than anything, Simona’s a wild soul. Authentic, sensual, joyful, creative, and awake in her dancing. You’ll see this girl playing and mixing bits of different cultures and dances, be it hip-hop or salsa. There’s always someone wondering “What’s that move she just did?”, cause it ain’t no charleston you’ve seen before, it’s something else.
On the dance floor, Simona’s having the time of her life. She believes that dancing is a shortcut to happiness and freedom to be your true self. Therefore, in class, she teaches how to find your own uniqueness, dance with joy, and spice the moves up.
⭐️ James is a skilled swing dance teacher, social dancer, choreographer, and competitor whose life has revolved around dancing for the last decade.
It was in 2015, after his first St Louis Shag class, that James became captivated by the rhythmic and expressive nature of Shag. From that day on, he eagerly seized every opportunity to dance and share the joy of Shag across Europe.
James teaches dance classes weekly, where he places a strong emphasis on nurturing creativity and versatility in his students, as well as passing on what he’s learning about jazz history and the cultural heritage of Black American social dances.
James also plays tenor banjo and ukulele and loves to dance to the top-shelf hot jazz bands that play in Berlin.
⭐️Nastya & Vlad (Anastasia Feoktistova and Vlad Kuznetsov)
Anastasia (Nastya) and Vladislav (Vlad) run Groovy Cats Swing Dance Club. Their experience contains many years of intensive practice, teaching, and performing in several swing dance styles: Collegiate Shag, Boogie Woogie, and Lindy Hop. Vlad has been dancing swing for over 15 years and over 9 years in a couple with Nastya.
Nastya and Vlad represented the Czech Republic several times at the annual Shag competition at the Balboa and Shag Weekend in Munich and won it five times in a row. They taught the Collegiate Shag workshops in Brno, Pilsen, Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, and Bucharest. Currently, they organize irregular workshops and train a regular Collegiate Shag group.
Bands
Who will we be stomping our feet to this year?
- AppenDixie
- Letenský Dixieland
- Swing Session
Schedule
Shag Labs
Shag Labs are 1-hour special masterclasses focused on specific topics that will spice up your dancing!
- Shag Lab 1: SLS basic variations (teachers TBA, open level)
- Explore the variations of your SLS basic!
- Shag Lab 2: Flashy entries/exits (Sandy & Minn, Advanced level)
- Learn how to start or end the dance with style
- Shag Lab 3: Breaks and solo (Sandy & Minn, at least Intermediate level)
- Don’t be afraid to dance solo in a couple dance, it’ll spice your dance up!
- Shag Lab 4: Musicality (Nastya & Vlad, open level)
- How to express your musicality in Shag dance
- Shag Lab 5: Solo shag (Nastya & Vlad, open level)
- Do you want to level up your dancing? Just come by yourself and enjoy some cool solo moves
- Shg Lab 6: CS rhythm (Kasia & Michał, open level)
- You are familiar with double rhythm, but what about single or triple rhythm in Shag? You can also add it to your SLS
- Shag Lab 7: Kick variations (Nastya & Vlad, at least Intermediate level)
- Find out how to lead and follow the different kick variations!
- Shag Lab 8: Dips and tricks (Nastya & Vlad, at least Intermediate level)
- More cool stuff to be used as breaks? Yes, please!
- Shag Lab 9: One chorus choreo (Kasia & Michał, Advanced level)
- A little choreo with advanced figures!
Levels
- Beginners
- Here we mean real beginners with 0 to 3 months of experience. Your spot in the beginners‘ classes will be secured once you register for this level. No audition is required.
- Intermediate +
- You are familiar with the shag basic and some of its variations, and at least a few basic figures. You have attended some courses and a few workshops and you might have attended one or more shag festivals. You will be divided into less or more advanced levels according to the audition on Friday afternoon from 15.15 – 16.00.
Shag Labs Levels
- Open level
- Beginner-friendly classes, but anyone is welcome to attend.
- Intermediate +
- Minimum requirements: You feel comfortable with the shag basic and its variations, and you know the technique of the basic figures well and know how to use them in social dancing. You are not afraid of the faster tempo.
- Advanced
- Requirement: You are an experienced dancer with a wide knowledge of the shag figures, you play with various rhythms and you know the technique well. ‘Speed’ is your second name, and you even learn quickly.
Auditions are not required for Shag Labs. However, there are indicated levels for the Shag Labs in the class schedule and you assess yourself which level is suitable for you.
Passes
- CS/SLS full pass: 4 hours classes + 2 hours Shag Labs + all 3 parties
- Party pass: all 3 parties
- Shag Lab: 1 hour each
- Shag COMBO: 4 hours CS classes + 4 hours SLS classes + 4 hours Shag Labs + all 3 parties
Prices
CZK | EUR | |
CS/SLS full passes | ||
Early bird | 4200 | 180 |
Late Bird | 4600 | 195 |
Party pass | 1800 | 80 |
Shag Lab | 450 | 20 |
Shag COMBO | ||
Early bird | 6600 | 280 |
Late Bird | 7400 | 310 |
Early bird prices are available only for the first 30 FULL PASS registrations!
Classes location
Centrum Loreto – Štorchova 1555/5, 180 00 Praha 8 – Libeň
Parties venues
- Friday – Galerie Lucerna, Štěpánská 61, 116 02 Praha 1 – Nové Město
- Saturday – KZ Domovina, Na Maninách 1525/32a. Praha 7 – Holešovice 170 00
- Sunday – Centrum Loreto, Štorchova 1555/5, 180 00 Praha 8-Libeň
Link to our Registration web : lektory.app/shag-republic-2023