We are welcoming back Lennart!

It is impossible to capture the experience and influence that Lennart has brought to the Lindy Hop world today, but here is the best we have got. Lennart started to dance Swedish style jitterbug at Lasse Kühlers dance school in 1980 and became a member of newly formed Swedish Swing Society in 1981. In the early years he competed frequently at different places around Sweden and he also spent lots of hours dancing socially. Around this period of time he also became a member of the board of the Swedish Swing Society and was also an active part of organising the very first Herräng Dance Camp in August 1982. After getting his first impressions of African-American swing dancing in 1983 he was hooked and turned into one of the pioneers of the modern revival of Lindy Hoppin’. In 1984 he travelled to New York to meet and study with the late Savoy dancer Albert Minns, who he soon invited to Stockholm to teach and lecture. After Minns’ visit, Lennart, together with a few dance friends, formed Swedish swing dance company The Rhythm Hot Shots (later Harlem Hot Shots) in 1985 and started to study old film clips to learn more about not only the Lindy Hop but also charleston, tap, acrobatics and other things related to the African-American swing dance tradition. All this study resulted in the company starting to perform, teach and eventually turn professional. In 1986, Lennart got in contact with Frankie Manning and in 1987, Manning was invited to Stockholm to work with the company.

When The Rhythm Hot Shots started to receive some international recognition during the early 90s, Lennart was one of the primary dancers. The company toured extensively throughout the decade and was among a handful of other dancers and organisers that played an active part in bringing the dance back into the limelight. While also being a dancer in the troupe, Lennart also started to do lots of administration (especially for the Herräng Dance Camp which The Rhythm Hot Shots had become an active part of back in 1989), research, and film productions. In 2000 he was a part of introducing the Lindy Hop to Russian dancers and in 2004 he opened a swing dance studio named Chicago in central Stockholm.