Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024 At The Summertown Speakeasy

Featuring live swing music from Malcolm Earle-Smith & His Band

Saturday October 19th 2024 from 8:00pm to 11:00pm

The Cherwell School North Site, Marston Ferry Road, Oxford, OX2 7EE

Entrance – Members £18.00 – Non-Members £22.00

The Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024 promises to be a great night out for dancers. Join us to celebrate the approaching new season with suitable spookiness. On October 19th The Summertown Speakeasy will open it’s doors for a very special night.  We call it The Dark Academia Swing Ball. To mark this occasion we have one of the most highly respected group of Jazz Swing musicians in the country. Malcolm Earle-Smith brings his band to play live throughout the evening for your dancing pleasure & entertainment. You may also have heard a rumour that there will be special guest star appearances.  These rumours are true and Ewan Bleach will be  joining Malcolm onstage for an All-Star performance.  It all means that this is an event you must not miss, as it will be very special.

Malcolm Earle-Smith & His Band Playing Live

Playing live at The Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024 will be Malcolm Earle Smith & His Band. Malcolm has worked with Kenny Baker, The late and very great John Dankworth, Henry Lowther, Liam Noble, Bryan Ferry, Martha Reeves and many others. His credits include playing on the Soundtrack album for The Great Gatsby motion picture in 2013 which starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
His career began at the Guildhall School of Music. After graduation, he joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, occupying the lead trombone chair for two years.

He also works with dancers to develop musicality. Malcom views the live music experience as an ongoing conversation between the musicians and the dancers. As such he has appeared and worked with many top International dance teachers in the UK.
We are very pleased to welcome Malcolm and his band to the Summertown Speakeasy and know that they will bring something very special with them. The band will also feature some very special guests who normally perform at top dance spots in London. It is definitely a live performance you do not want to miss.

Make sure you book your tickets early.  Consequently, we expect this event to sell out. You can find the booking form at the bottom of this page.

What is the Dark Academia Swing Ball?

Note from Editor: We tried to get Halloween but the venue wasn’t available, so this is what we came up with!

It is a time for magical, and all manner of super-natural creatures who normally hide in the Dark Shadows of The Dreaming Spires. We invite you to join in and celebrate their spookiness with an evening of Jazz Swing & Dancing.

Some will emerge from deep, dark, forbidden basements and cellars of the ancient buildings of Oxford.  Others will cross portals from parallel dimensions, across time and space. Some of these may even cross the boundary between The Living & The Dead! It is a night to let your imagination run riot and pick an outfit to suit!

(It’s also ok not to dress up if that fills you with fear, but for those who do like to dress up, this is a great opportunity!)

It is the Big Saturday Dance Night Out, Oxford’s newest regular Swing Dance Social Dance Night. This month we send a call throughout the nation for all Wizards and Witches of Dark Academia to don their finest robes and celebrate the approaching season with us in Oxford on the 3rd Saturday in the month. The Summertown Speakeasy will open it’s doors for a night of music, swing dancing, glamour and intrigue.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for our booking form.

Entry price & Booking for The Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024

Entry is £18 for Summertown Members and £22 for Non-Members.
The Pre Booking period to buy tickets online has now completed. We do still have tickets left and you can purchase these at the door when you arrive. We recommend you arrive early to avoid a queue.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE ON THE DOOR

We accept cash and contactless forms of payment on the door.

The Big Dance Night Out

Join us on Saturday 19th October for music and dancing as we open the doors to our ballroom. We are looking forward to it, when we welcome you for a great night out. As you enter you will see the stage to your right and a dance floor in front of you. Then to your left you will find a raised platform with a seated area. It is set out in a cafe style layout with refreshments to help yourself.

Our inspiration has been the great ballrooms of the Jazz Age. Consequently we have tried to recapture a bit of vintage glamour and create a dance night for Lindy Hoppers and other swing style dancers. Our aim is that it will be somewhere you want to come back to again and again.

We have a car park for exclusive use by our dancers. It has space for 76 cars and is free to use. We also have contingency and a second car park if we fill the first one up. Consequently we think we have everyone covered. As long as you avoid the centre of town and reach us via the ring road, you should also avoid the various traffic reducing measures in place in Oxford.

Dig out your Saturday night party outfits and join us for the big dance night out.

How to find The Dark Academia Swing Ball

If you approach along Marston Ferry Road from Headington & Marston. Head towards the Banbury Road junction, the turning is on the right just before you reach the junction.
If you approach from Banbury Road. Take the turning for Marston Ferry Road and the entrance will be a left turn into the school. It’s about 0.2 miles so keep an eye out for the turning.

Problems with Sat-Nav

Apparently, there is an issue using the postcode with Sat Nav that directs you wrongly. This is due to a shared postcode. If you are using Sat Nav please ensure you enter “Cherwell School NORTH Site” on Marston Ferry Road.

Please note. If you attend our weekly Wednesday night classes, you are going to the other site on the opposite side of the road. The Summertown Speakeasy is at the North Site, not the South Site. If you go to the South site you will be on the wrong side of the road. Hopefully that wont be too confusing for everyone. We will make plenty of announcements at class to hopefully remind everyone.

Maps to help you find The Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024

You can also find exactly where we are by searching for Summertown Speakeasy on Google Maps.
If you use What3Words the address is ///decks.bride.clues.
The Dark Academia Swing Ball 2024 With Malcolm Earle-Smith & His Band Playing Live Jazz Swing

Swing Dance Summertown Membership

You can also purchase membership for £30 per year so that if you were planning to make The Summertown Speakeasy a regular event in your calendar, membership will save you money. Your membership card also entitles you to reduced admission for any of our dance classes (Currently on a Wednesday night) and any of our events. We like to think that Membership has its privileges and means that the more you dance with us, the cheaper everything becomes.

You can purchase Membership on the door at any of our events and you will immediately start to save money on your dancing.

For events where spaces are limited, such as our Blenheim Palace social dances, we also provide preferential access to members, so there is more to enjoy from Membership than just one event. Membership can be purchased at any time in the calendar and runs from the start of the term you purchase it to the start of the corresponding term the following year.
You can find more details about The Summertown Speakeasy on our dedicated event page.