Friday Night Swing Time
When it’s Friday Night It’s Swing Time Up At Oxford with Nikki Santilli
From Friday 17th October 2025
To Friday 5th December 2025
Beginner’s Class 6:00pm
Improver / Intermediate Class 7:00pm
The Oxford University Club, 11 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ
£6 OUDC Members & £11 NOn-OUDC-Members
Friday Night Swing Time offers a night of Swing Dance. Firstly, it provides classes that teach you The Lindy Hop and other Swing Dances of The Jazz Age. It is provided as part of a collaboration and partnership between Swing Dance Summertown and Oxford University Dancesport (OUDC). The classes are taught by professional dance teacher, dancer and choreographer, Nikki Santilli.
The collaboration brings the oldest and most established name in Oxford’s Ballroom dancing scene together with the region’s largest and most popular Swing Dance Society. The result is a brand new dance class that enables us to collectively provide professional teachers to the dancers of Oxford. There has never been a weekly class like this in Oxford before and we are very happy to work with OUDC to bring Nikki Santilli to Oxford to teach it.
Most Importantly, The class is open to both members of the public and OUDC Members. Consequently, it is a real mix of Town & Gown, bringing everyone together.
About Swing Dancing & Lindy Hop
Swing dance developed in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. It is rooted in African-American communities and found a home in the vibrant jazz scene of Harlem. Harlem had The Lindy Hop, California had Balboa and the Carolinas had Collegiate Shag. These all developed from The Charleston which was one of the first dances styles that embraced the new Jazz music of the 20th Century.
Friday Night Swing Time will take you on a journey through Swing Dance and enable you to become part of one of the most vibrant dancing traditions around today.
At the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York, dancers created the Lindy Hop. It developed from Charleston and blended improvised dance partnerships with Jazz rhythms and breakaway steps. As swing jazz orchestras grew popular, swing dancing spread nationwide. Its joyful energy and syncopated movement reflected the music itself. Even today, swing dancing continues as both a social dance and a cultural celebration of jazz heritage.
About Nikki Santilli
Nikki works professionally full time as an Authentic Jazz Dance Teacher, a performer, and a choreographer. It is not an exaggeration to say that Swing Dance is her life and courses through her veins. She has been teaching in London for the past 20 years, and also teaches at the popular Rock Bottom’s Dance Weekender. This enabled her to teach alongside Internationally respected teachers such as Jenny Thomas, who also choreographs for BBC Strictly Come Dancing. Nikki brings with her a wealth of experience and passion as both a dancer and academic which makes these classes very exciting.
Nikki Santilli teaching Friday Night Swing Time
Friday night swing time is a unique dance class in Oxford. It starts just after the working day on Friday night at 6:00pm. The class itself enables the members of OUDC to learn swing dance alongside the general public. It is taught at a professional level which means it really is a class you do not want to miss.
Join Nikki, OUDC & The Summertown Gang at Friday Night Swing Time
Starting on Friday 17th October, Swing Time will run every week. There is a Beginner’s Class at 6:00pm which will last for an hour. This will cover the basics of Swing Dance and introduce you to the basic moves. Then at 7:00pm there is a more advanced class that will focus on some of the more intricate step patterns and shapes. These are the moves that give the dance it’s vibrant quality and make you stand out on the dance floor. Consequently, this is the class where you will really learn to swing out. As a result, this is a class you will not want to miss. It doesn’t matter what level or experience you are, Swing Time has it all.
Come along to class for a fun evening.