Swing storms Brighton seafront as dancers perform on bandstand

Swing Patrol, a national Brighton-based dance organisation with more than 1,500 members, has organised the dances on Hove Bandstand, the last of which took place this weekend.

Describing the most recent bandstand dance, Scott Cupit, director of Swing Patrol, said: “It was such a magical evening.

“With the sun and the music and the number of people attending, which must have totalled about 300, everything came together just perfectly.

“We got really lucky with the weather and I think everyone who came really enjoyed themselves.

“Because it was so pleasant, a lot of people were able to head down to the beach afterwards for a barbecue, it was just a perfect day.”

Mr Cupit founded Swing Patrol in Melbourne in 1998, driven by a love of swing music.

The group first came to England when former banker Mr Cupit moved to London from Australia in 2009.

Mr Cupit gained national attention when he danced on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square for an hour, with hundreds of dancers gathering below him as part of the Living Statues exhibit..

Since then their dancers have appeared on Blue Peter and Call the Midwife, and even secured £65,000 of funding from Deborah Meaden after appearing on Dragons’ Den in 2014.

The group are about to celebrate their first anniversary of moving to Brighton from London with a special birthday dance at Hollingbury golf course on October 6.

Mr Cupit said: “We’re all passionate about swing music and it’s so great to see so many young people getting into an older style of dance.

“I think since coming to Brighton we’ve had a really good response, people here are very interested and as a city it’s a great place for swing.

“The bandstand dances provided the perfect retro setting to celebrate everything we like about the music that we love. We’ve had magnificent nights at the seafront all across the summer and we’re really excited to see what comes next.”