As a ‘partnerless’ partner dancer – I’ve struggled to feel like a ‘real’ dancer. Or a ‘real’ artist. I wrote this story a couple of years ago as an opening piece of storytelling for ‘The Wallflower & Other Stories’ – a brilliant evening featuring one of my favourite collaborators, Cat Foley, and her amazing one woman show about the Wallflower and her journey to the dance.

When the pandemic placed me in Toronto for such an unexpected period of time – it felt fitting to rework the story of my first lindy hop class into something about then and now, firmly grounded Toronto after a long time away. Everyone who contributed to this project was a legend – but I wish to express my deep gratitude to Nyree MacPherson for her guidance, vision and exceptional prompts. I would not have made something so uplifting and beautiful without her encouragement and skill. Thank you friend.

I’ve never made anything like this and I’m really proud of what we accomplished. I state it in the description of the video – but it is remarkable to listen to this beautiful piece of music and to think how those musicians were also by themselves in their homes playing to themselves. Go treat yourself and buy the album on Bandcamp – it’s money well spent.