Annual Festival
The Mess Around
8-10 January 2027
The Hague’s international swing dance festival. Three days of workshops, live bands, and unforgettable parties.
Overview
What to Expect
Connect, get silly, and be playful: let’s do the Mess Around!
This is not your ‘standard’ festival weekend, the Mess Around goes beyond a funky solo move or that amazing song by Ray Charles. Explore the wide range of possibilities and playfulness in your dance, focusing on how we interact and connect in a weekend full of games, grooving, and goofing.
Be prepared to explore how solo, partner dancing, and group dancing can boost your ability to connect with other dancers around you and feel the dance floor as a whole. We are welcoming upcoming and established international teachers to guide you along the way. Together with their support and some fun surprises and challenges during the party, we will invite you to sometimes break away with your solo moves, deepen connection or dance with more than one person at the same time.
Tune in with the musicians, sync with one of the many rhythmic layers, and become a part of the ‘musical organism’ that’s filling the space. There will be live workshops during the weekend.
The Mess Around is all about having fun. Get ready for some stealing, switching, jamming, and who knows what we will come up with. The festival will allow you to safely explore all those groovy possibilities in your body.
International Teachers
Learn from world-class instructors in Lindy Hop, and Solo Jazz workshops for all levels.
Live Bands
Dance to swinging live jazz every night. Multiple bands across three days of non-stop rhythm.
Live Music Workshops
Musicality workhops on Friday for all visitors, and on Saturday for full pass holders.
Amazing Community
Connect with dancers from across Europe in a warm, welcoming, inclusive atmosphere.
Tracks
Passes & Tracks
Pick your pass, then find the workshop track that matches your level.
Party Pass
All parties will take place at the Korzo Theater.
Friday and Saturday we will be featuring the Toulouse Hot Club with two different repertoires. This French band will break the ice on Friday with a musicality workshop, which is included for both party pass and full pass holders.
On Sunday afternoon Gumbo Night will bring a taste of New Orleans to close off the festival. They draw their inspiration from Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Funk.
Full Pass
Everything that’s included in the party pass.
+ 6 hours of classes
- 2x1.5h lindy hop classes
- 1.5h solo
- 1.5h musicality class with live music.
Workshop tracks are included with the Full Pass.
Shining Starfish
ImproversReady to show your shine? Let’s do it!
Is this your level? → Show less ↑
- You're beyond the beginner stage, feeling confident on the social dance floor.
- This might even be your first international festival!
- You've got the basics down - 6 & 8-counts, Lindy circle, Charleston, and swing outs. Improvisation and rhythm incorporation are still challenges, but you're eager to learn.
- In partner dance, you might mainly focus on your partner and figures, leaving you with less headspace for self expression and improvisation.
- You might already have some solo dancing experience.
This track is perfect for improving your skills and your connection with your partner, your groove and musicians!
Jiving Jellyfish
IntermediateYou certainly bounce around with the tides as well as on the dance floor!
Is this your level? → Show less ↑
- After some years of swing dancing, it is a part of your life. You’ve often gone to socials and have likely attended Lindy Hop festivals before.
- Comfortable with slow and medium tempos, you effortlessly execute swing outs and various Lindy moves. While you enjoy improvisation, mastering rhythms into your movement requires focus. With a broad vocabulary of Lindy moves, you're exploring connection, styling, musicality, and rhythm variations.
- In partner dance, it’s you, your partner, and above all the music. You take opportunities to mix up moves, steal and mess around.
- You visit your local dance nights and parties and have also attended some other festival(s).
- Experience in solo dancing is advised.
This track offers a mix of conceptual and moves-based classes for dancers at your level, providing new material and creative challenges.
Offbeat Octopus
AdvancedClap your eight hands together! With your shiny shell and agile moves you are ready for a true challenge.
Is this your level? → Show less ↑
- You’re effortlessly improvising with your own unique style and deepening your understanding of rhythm.
- With quite a lot of dance experience, you navigate all tempos with ease and are fluent in basic improvisation and don’t hesitate to show your solo jazz.
- Regularly attending social dances, workshops, and international Lindy hop festivals, you're comfortable with any swing out variations and have a broad and diverse Lindy move repertoire.
- In partner dance, both leads and follows take responsibility in shaping the dance, taking inspiration from your partner, dancers around you, and the layers in the music. There is headspace for self expression and improvisation.
- Experience in solo dancing is highly recommended.
- You visit your local dance nights and parties and attend other festivals.
This track offers conceptual and moves-based classes to inspire growth and challenge advanced dancers.
Teachers
International Teachers
Learn from some of the world's finest swing dance instructors.
Marion and Sylvain
Lindy HopMarion and Sylvain started dancing together in 2014, after meeting a mutual friend near a swing event. They both became very passionate about Lindy Hop and Marion even wrote a Masters thesis on it.
Read full bio → Show less ↑
Together, they have created their own Lindy Hop scene in Tours called Jumpin’Jazz, where they organise regular classes and parties, sharing their love of jazz music and dance.
They are devoted to both the social and performance aspects of the dance and are driven by their curiosity about the many ways it allows for individual and shared expression. In social dancing, they focus on creating an inclusive space in which both partners contribute actively, regardless of their 'dance role'. In a performance context, they enjoy creating original choreographies that reflect their personal style and artistic vision.
Thanh Thanh Nguyễn
Solo JazzThanh Thanh Nguyễn (she/her) always connects to movement in different forms. Stumbling upon Lindy Hop in 2016 at Saigon Swing Cats in Vietnam, she has since embarked on an incredible journey, letting her passion for dance be her life’s compass.
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In 2021, Thanh Thanh relocated to Europe, where she continued to hone her dance craft, deepen her understanding of African-American roots of movements and broadened her perspective on the Jazz continuum.
She is now happily based in Paris, ready to share her dance wherever the rhythms take her. In the classes, she teaches authentic jazz moves while also encouraging everyone to find their own expressions through self-awareness and improvisation.
Charlotte and Dafa
Lindy HopDafa is a passionate Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz dancer based in Berlin. He started dancing in 2019 at Cat’s Corner Beijing, and since then, swing has taken over his life! From beginner to teacher, his journey is full of joy, curiosity, and inspiration from vintage clips.
Read full bio → Show less ↑
He brings warmth, knowledge, and a love for sharing the dance floor with everyone around him.
Charlotte discovered Lindy Hop in 2018 and has been inspired by it ever since.
Based in Berlin, she sees herself primarily as a social dancer. Her dancing is rooted in respect for the Afro American origins of Lindy Hop and shaped by improvisation, connection, and joy. In class, she encourages students to explore their individuality and approach the dance with curiosity.
Live Music
Dance to Live Jazz All Weekend
Every night has a live band — the heart of the festival.
Toulouse Hot Club
Friday + Saturday
Born in 2018 out of a desire to energise the Lindy Hop dance community, the Toulouse Hot Club is a unique and unconventional act in the swing and jazz scene! Bringing together six musicians playing twelve instruments on stage, they perform a diverse repertoire ranging from Swing and Rhythm & Blues to the distinctive sounds of New Orleans.With the aim of delivering music that is intergenerational, accessible, and popular, Toulouse Hot Club performs everywhere from streets and bars to large dance halls and jazz festivals, showcasing numerous original compositions, unique arrangements, and distinctive covers. They will also be leading a live workshop on the Friday night, thereby helping to strengthen the bond between the music and dance worlds!
Gumbo Night
Sunday
For over 10 years, Gumbo Night has been a household name at the Amsterdam club De Nieuwe Anita—and by now far beyond—where New Orleans aficionados and party animals alike get their fill. Intended as a homage to the vibrant birthplace of Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, and Funk, and artists like Louis Armstrong, Allen Toussaint, and The Meters, the cream of the crop of the Dutch (and sometimes even international!) music scene meets on stage. Immerse yourself in the sound and atmosphere of New Orleans in all its glory.
DJ Jassy Vineyards
Friday
DJ Jassy Vineyards has been DJing swing jazz for the past two years, playing at social dances and events across several cities in the Netherlands. Also the organizer of Rozenhop, a monthly swing social in Eindhoven. He mostly spins numbers from artists of the swing era, bringing together classic big-band sounds and small-group jazz, while fostering a flowing dance atmosphere and responding to the energy of the dance floor.
DJ Chris Dance
Sunday
Home Scene: The Hague. Favorite Genres: Blues (female vocals), Rhythm & Blues, Funk, Hokum blues and late night tunes.My passion for blues music grew alongside my love for blues dancing. Over the past few years I've had the pleasure of DJing at numerous events across Europe.I draw inspiration from legendary female blues artists such as LaVern Baker, Koko Taylor, Big Maybelle, and Ruth Brown. I am at my happiest when I see dancers enjoying the music I play, especially when they connect with the lyrics (definitely a lyrics nerd) and accents in the songs.
Venue
Venue & Getting There
Everything you need to know about the festival location.
Venue
Dates
Getting There
Throwback to the 2026 edition!
Curious what’s awaiting you in January 2027? Check out our aftermovie and some of the photos from last year to get a taste of the amazing parties, inspiring classes and goofy interactions!
