At Lindy Bout, we celebrate the spirit of Lindy Hop by throwing down on the dance floor and affirming the kinship and solidarity of our community through African-American vernacular jazz dance. The Lindy Bout Event Directors hope to create a supportive competition environment animated by the music that is inspiring to competitors and spectators alike.

All competitors are responsible for reading, understanding and adhering to our general rules.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

*Special Notes*

We acknowledge that our communities have changed over the last few years and opportunities for competition and dancing have been limited. We’re all coming from different locations with different COVID restrictions, different scene activity, and differing levels of personal comfort since March 2020. We welcome you to these competitions, to participate at whatever level you are at now. 

The descriptions for the levelled competitions (Partner Draws and Strictlies) are now more flexible, and we encourage you to place yourself in the level that you feel most comfortable in now (even if it’s not the level in which you used to compete). So please read the match descriptions carefully.

Competing is hard. It’s not easy to put yourself out there, especially in these late-COVID times. But we’re in this together, supporting and encouraging each other no matter where we are in our dance journeys. 

Welcome back! And thank you for joining us.

P.S. If you would like to dance with taps please let us know so we can provide an alternative floor. Tap shoes are not permitted directly on the Performance Works floor.

Team Battle

Mapleweight

Inspired by our now-defunct DJ Battle and team dance battles held at events around the world, join with other dancers and register as a team.

• Each team must include a DJ (or DJs). 
• Each team must consist of 10-30 dancers. DJs count toward this number if they are dancing on the dance floor. 
• Teams must be at least 55% Canadian – however you decide to define that – as per CRTC rules. 
• Each dancer can only be on one team.
• You must have a team captain, who is responsible for your registration and all correspondence with the Event Directors. 
• There can be more than one team per city / region / province / jumble of cities / township / time zone / etc.
• Your team needs to have a “Canadian” name – whatever that means to you.

The deadline to register a team for the Mapleweight is February 25.

• You must submit names of at least 10 dancers in your team at the time of registration (i.e. TBD is not allowed, substitutions will be permitted within reason). 
• You can add more dancers to your team after registering. 
• Once you have registered your team, all team participants must register for Lindy Bout no later than February 25 or your team registration may be cancelled.

The format for the competition will not be finalized until the number of teams competing has been confirmed. The deadline to register is February 25, but it’s tremendously helpful to the Event Directors and to the other competitors if you register your team sooner than that. However, this is how we think the competition will likely be structured:

There will be two rounds. All teams will dance in both rounds.

The First Round

• Teams provide their own dj (or djs) and present two choreographies of 60-120 seconds long. (The time limit for the choreographies may change depending on the total number of teams entered.)
• The two choreographies will not be performed back to back; teams will take turns. 

The Second Round:

• Teams will dance battle-style to either djed or live music provided by Lindy Bout. The music played will be between 190 and 230 bpm. 
• Teams will dance to two songs (in 32-bar form). 
• In each song, teams will trade-off a chorus, then half a chorus, and then will dance in an all-skate. This means that, in the second round, teams will spotlight for 3 choruses total (or 12 phrases).
• Choreography and prepared sequences are allowed.

Judges and the audience will determine the Champion team.

We will contact the team captains in early March to confirm the format of the competition.

Note that tap shoes are not permitted directly on the Performance Works floor; please see our FAQ about tap shoes.

entry fee: $150

The Mapleweight is now closed. There is no waitlist.

Strictly Matches

Please read the descriptions for the Bare-Knuckle and Uppercut Bouts carefully and register you and your partner in the appropriate Bout. If you have any questions about which Bout you and your partner should register for, please contact us to have a discussion. Likewise, if you and your partner register for the Bare-Knuckle or Uppercut Bout and appear to not be suited to the level, we may contact you to discuss switching to the appropriate level.

Bare-Knuckle Bout (Advanced Strictly)

Register as a couple. The music played will be between 130bpm & 240bpm.

The Bare-Knuckle is for dancing partnerships who are more comfortable on the dance floor than off it, be it through dancing, teaching, performing, or competing. If you or your partner have been a Lindy Bout Barnburner or Bare-Knuckle Finalist you should probably register in this Bout. If you or your partner have placed or been a finalist in a major swing dance competition, you should probably be in this Bout.

entry fee: $15 per couple

Uppercut Bout (Open Strictly)

Register as a couple. The music played will be between 130bpm & 220bpm.

entry fee: $15 per couple

Featherweight (Medium Tempo Strictly)

Register as a couple. The music played will be between 130bpm & 180bpm.

The Featherweight is open to all levels of dancers.

If you are competing in either the Uppercut or Bare-Knuckle and the Featherweight matches, you must have different partners in each match. I.e. You cannot compete with the same partner in the Featherweight and either the Uppercut or Bare-Knuckle.

entry fee: $15 per couple

Featherweight is now closed and waitlisting.

Partner Draw Matches

In Partner Draw preliminary rounds, dancers dance to several songs and are randomly paired with a different partner each time. Dancers are judged as an individual dancer in the preliminary rounds.

In the final round, finalists are randomly paired with a partner and judged as a couple.

There are three levelled Partner Draws (Haymaker, Knockdown, Barnburner) and one open-level Partner Draw (Interregional). Please read the descriptions carefully and register yourself in the appropriate level.

If you have any questions about which Partner Draw(s) you should register for, please contact us to have a discussion. Likewise, if you register for a Partner Draw and appear to not be suited to the level, we may contact you to discuss switching to the appropriate level.

You may only register for each Partner Draw in one role (i.e. a lead or a follow).  You are welcome to enter up to two of the three levelled Partner Draw matches, but you can only enter once as a lead and once as a follow. Please note the restrictions for the Haymaker Partner Draw: dancers who are registered in the Knockdown or Barnburner are not permitted to register in the Haymaker.

Haymaker Partner Draw

Register as a lead or a follow. The music played will be between 130bpm & 190bpm.

If you are new to Lindy Hop, this is the place to start your competition journey! This match is designed for dancers new to competing, new to Lindy Hop or returning to Lindy Hop. The following dancers are usually not permitted to register in this Partner Draw: dancers who regularly teach swing dance lessons and dancers who have been in the Lindy Bout Haymaker Partner Draw finals twice. Dancers who are registered in the Knockdown or Barnburner are not permitted to register in the Haymaker.

entry fee: $15 per dancer

The Haymaker is now closed for FOLLOWS only. There is no waitlist.

Knockdown Partner Draw

Register as a lead or a follow. The music played will be between 140bpm & 210bpm. 

Dancers in this match should be comfortable with a wide variety of tempos and likely have some competition or performance experience. Lindy Bout Featherweight and Bare-Knuckle Champions should probably not register in this Partner Draw. If you have placed or been a finalist in a major swing dance competition, you should probably not be in this Partner Draw. Finalists in this match will not be allowed to compete with their “regular” partner in the finals (i.e. the dancer that they regularly train, perform, or compete with).

entry fee: $15 per dancer

The Knockdown is now closed and waitlisting for FOLLOWS only.

Barnburner Partner Draw

Register as a lead or a follow. The music played will be between 120bpm & 230bpm. 

This is for dancers who are more comfortable on the dance floor than off it, be it through dancing, teaching, performing, or competing. If you have placed or been a finalist in a major swing dance competition, you should probably be in this match. If you are a former Lindy Bout Featherweight, Barnburner, or Bare-Knuckle Finalist you should probably enter this Partner Draw. Finalists in this match will not be allowed to compete with their “regular” partner in the finals (i.e. the dancer that they regularly train, perform, or compete with).

entry fee: $15 per dancer

The Barnburner is now closed and waitlisting for FOLLOWS only.

Interregional Partner Draw

Now for something different! Get down on the dance floor like it’s your best friend’s small-town Canadian wedding. This Match focuses on how well dancers can make a dancing partnership work, regardless of the musical style. 

Register as a lead or a follow and dance with partners from different geographic regions. You will be judged by how you dance with your partner to the music chosen.

In the preliminary round you will be randomly paired with partners from different geographic regions than yourself. You will be judged as an individual dancer. Finalists will be randomly paired with a partner from a different geographic region and judged as a couple. Both rounds will be to djed music. Be prepared for any type of dancin’ music.

entry fee: $15 per dancer 

The Interregional is now closed and waitlisting for FOLLOWS only.

More Jazz Matches

Solo(ish) Jazz (Social Solo Jazz)

Register as an individual. During the preliminary round, you will be judged as an individual. You will dance in small groups to foster a spirit of competitive interplay — be sure to dance your best and inspire others to bring their best to the competition too. In the finals you will be randomly paired with another dancer and judged as a pair. Music played will be suitable for a range of African-American vernacular jazz dances.

Finalists in this match will not be allowed to compete with their “regular” partners. (i.e. the dancer that they regularly train, perform, or compete with).

entry fee: $15 per dancer 

Solo(ish) Jazz is now closed and waitlisting.

All That Jazz

The spirit of Montreal Swing Riot lives on at Lindy Bout – many thanks to the organizers for lending us this competition. Long live Montreal Swing Riot!

Register as an individual or a couple; everyone will be judged in the same division. Dancers will show their versatility and ability to adapt to different genres of jazz music (New Orleans trad jazz, Latin jazz, bebop, boogie woogie, etc.). Dancers will dance to live music in both the preliminary and final rounds.

entry fee: $15 per dancer or $30 per couple

Choreography Match

Your choreography music must be submitted to the Match DJ by April 15, 2023. It is your responsibility to ensure that we receive your music. Please email your music as an MP3 or M4A file to lindybout@vernacularjazzdancesociety.ca. You must label your file with the competition name, dancer or team name, and song title using the conventions below. We will not accept files that do not follow the naming conventions.

• For Short & Sweet — SS_FirstnameLastname_SongTitle.mp3 where “FirstnameLastname” are the first and last names of the person that registered your entry and “SongTitle” is the name of your song. Example: SS_DawnHampton_TheLightIsOn.mp3

Short & Sweet

One dancer registers as a solo dancer or on behalf of a group of two to five dancers. Dancer(s) will perform an original choreographed vernacular jazz (e.g. Lindy Hop, Charleston) routine to a selection of pre-recorded music between 60 and 120 seconds in length. You must edit your music to cut or fade. Bring your own pre-recorded pre-edited music. You can choose any part of a song to perform to. You may compete in a maximum of two Short & Sweets.

entry fee: $15 per dancer

Short & Sweet is now closed and waitlisting.