I first started swing dancing (Lindy Hop) in the fall of 2002 when the swing dance scene had just begun. I founded Sugar Swing in 2005, and dancing became my full-time career since 2009. Sugar Swing is one of Canada’s larger swing dance schools and one of only a few companies that has a facility dedicated to swing dancing.

Birkley has a strong work ethic and relentless passion for jazz music and swing dance. He has gained years of experience in a variety of roles through swing dance; dancer, instructor, team coach, deejay, choreographer, performer, music coordinator, events organizer, and studio owner. His specialties predominantly relate to Lindy Hop and solo jazz dance, and in more current years Tap and Balboa.

A son of teacher/farmer parents, he grew up on a farm in rural Alberta with siblings Amy, Evan, and Ben before moving to Edmonton to complete a degree in Electrical Engineering. After working this career for a few years, he felt this career was not for him, and instead pursued his thriving business in Lindy Hop instead. He met his spouse Jenna in 2006 and precious cat Nova in 2020. His side projects include owning/operating a few rental suites, refinishing hardwood floors, home renos & construction, and computer things.

Career Highlights:

• Show producer/director/choreographer, Swing Showcase, Edmonton Fringe Festival (2018, 2019)
• Staff deejaying at Herrang Dance Camp, Sweden (2012 to 2017)
• Workshop instructor, Winnipeg (2013), Saskatoon (2014, 2017), and St. John’s, NL (2016)
• Competition DJ, Lindybout, Vancouver (2011 to 2013)
• Choreographer/performer for featured numbers at the Winspear Centre for Music with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (2012-2019)
• Lindybout champion (2015)
• Dance and band coordination for the Royal Alberta Museum’s closing party (2015)
• Founder and Director of two annual dance weekends: Lindy Harvest (2009-present), and Summer Solstice Swing Dance Festival (2013-present).

Above all else, Birkley is very proud of his role in building Edmonton’s thriving swing dance community. He simply wants to see rhythmic art grow and thrive in Edmonton, with more and more people getting into vernacular jazz, swing music, and dancing!

A little side story…

Truth be told, Birkley actually tried out Lindy Hop for the first time in winter 2001 for a semester at the University of Alberta and in fact attended the first Lindy Hop classes the ‘scene’ had ever run. He didn’t fall in love with it right away, and after a few months, abandoned the dance entirely for 16 months. Later, after walking past a promo booth, his old instructor Carl recognized him, called him out, and convinced Birkley to try it again — promising a fruitful extracurricular activity that involved girls. It took Birkley yet another two semesters to actually get hooked. A road trip to a major swing dance event called Camp Jitterbug in Seattle, Washington in May 2003 sealed the deal: after that, he was hooked and never looked back.

Event organizers:

A condensed version of this bio can be found on the CV page.

The stage is the performer’s place to share and express their love for the art, to give the audience a worthy experience. In Vernacular Jazz (Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz) there is so much excitement, energy, and joy that must be seen! I’m no stranger to that stage, and after 10 years of performing, I’ve had the honour to entertain thousands of people over the course of a hundred different engagements. Notable local engagements have included performing at the Winspear Centre, the Alberta Legislature, Royal Alberta Museum, Fort Edmonton Park, and at Edmonton City Hall.

Check out the latest videos of Birkley performing.

Performing Partners

Krystal Moss is Birkley’s long time friend and colleague in the swing world; they dance and perform extremely well together, and they often pair together for engagements that require professional, experienced performers. Their highly skilled expertise in Solo Jazz, Balboa, Lindy Hop, 20’s Charleston, and Slow Drags makes them a true force on stage. Recently, at the Lindybout competitions in Vancouver, Birkley and Krystal together won a prestigious contest that highlighted all five of these different dance styles.

Lindy Harvest, Royal Alberta Museum’s “HelloGoodbye” Party, Summer Solstice Swing Dance Festival, Sweet Bal Jam, and Sugar Swing’s New Year’s Eve are some examples of major events that Birkley has created and organized from start to finish. With an attention to detail, Birkley seeks out the best artists available, given his budget, to deliver a quality experience to the event’s guests so that they want to stay for the entire event, and then come back next time!

An event will be successful if the organizers places the utmost value on a fun, engaging experience for the participants. Event organizing experience, along with strong social connections, always guarantees success for an event organizer because they are always able to project accurately the participation numbers, facility and entertainment costs, and ensure their marketing campaigns are a success.

Birkley believes in three life mottos when organizing events: “learn to do by doing” (the 4H motto), “many hands make like work”, and “fit the right person for the job”. With strong critical thinking and problem solving skills (he used to be an engineer, after all), good connections in the arts communities (especially musicians, performers, and dancers), and well over a decade of event organizing experience, Birkley has consistently stayed in the black while also creating fantastic events that people clamour to come back for.

I grew up constantly organizing events while a member of a mostly rural youth organization called 4-H, followed by various events for the U of A Engineering Students Society (ESS) while in post secondary school. Events I organized included curling bonspiels, leadership conferences, ski trips, and even pub crawls. I’ve also been involved several times as a youth camp counsellor at week-long summer camps, and took on treasurer and presidency roles throughout my years at my local & regional 4-H groups and at the U of A ESS. As I started swing dancing, I quickly became VP and later became a two-term president of Swing-Out Edmonton in its early days. This eventually led to the formation of Sugar Swing, which I saw as a great opportunity to grow swing dancing in the entire city of Edmonton, and not just the U of A campus.

A great instructor will perceive students’ needs in order to impart inspiration, technical training, and the essence of the dance. Over a decade of teaching dance, I’ve learned how to skillfully share my passion for dancing! This includes Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, Drags, and Solo Jazz. I find Lindy Hop to be a colourful, joyful, and expressive dance form that is especially empowering.

I enjoy teaching beginners and veteran dancers alike; I’m willing to teach any individual or group, no matter the skill level, for nearly any situation required. These engagements typically include dance workshops, beginner lessons, private lessons, intermediate to advanced classes, performance team coaching, and group classes of any size.

Lindy Hopping since 2002, Birkley has made a career out of dance instruction. He is an accomplished dancer of Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz, Balboa, Slow Drags, and Charleston, and studies Tap on the side. Having taught over a thousand classes since he began teaching in 2004, including dance workshops across Canada, he has become very passionate about sharing the roots and soul of vernacular jazz & swing: it is a rhythmic art full of joy and self expresssion. With a membership of over 200 dancers, Birkley runs the Sugar Swing Dance Club, established in 2005. With it, he directs the 12-person and 20-person performance teams Mad Cat Swing and Mad Kittens, helping to cultivate the most advanced dancers in Edmonton. In his spare time, he studies old dance clips and collects music for deejaying. In the classroom, you’ll find Birkley to be a very effective instructor – he is personable, chooses great concepts to learn, enjoys delivering technique, keeps his students entertained, and commands the class with clear directions.

In terms of teaching style, Birkley approaches each class and individual with a fresh set of eyes, and draws from a big bag of tricks. Some individuals need encouragement and confidence, while others require focus on the nitty gritty fundamentals. Other dancers need to learn rhythm and how to express themselves; others want to be inspired through spicy variations, patterns and improvisation. Birkley ultimately wants every lesson to be fun and engaging, and to help students build skills toward better self-expression. It’s his duty and privilege to impart the core values and roots of this dance.

When teaching partner dancing such as swing or Lindy Hop, Birkley likes to have a proficient teaching partner he knows well for better demonstration and a more immersive learning experience for the students. Please contact him for his preferred partners. In some situations such as a workshop, team coaching, or private lesson, he can work solo or with a local dancer. For solo dance classes, he’s happy to either fly solo or play off a teaching partner.

Birkley can work with nearly any teaching situation and turn it into a fun experience while also imparting concrete dance skills. He’s taught several dance workshops regionally, and regularly teaches 8-15 hours a week locally and at his studio, Sugar Swing.

Typical Engagements

• Individual private lessons
• Team coaching
• Weekly classes
• Private group lessons
• Drop-in group lessons

Teaching Proficiencies

• Lindy Hop
• Solo Jazz
• Balboa
• Charleston
• Jive/Jitterbug/East-Coast Swing

Specific Content

Birkley has broken down the following routines from original video footage and has retaught them several times:

• Keep Punchin’ Big Apple Contest
• Tranky Doo
• California routine
• First Stops routine
• Al Minns & Leon James Shim Sham
• Dean Collins Shim Sham

Other Specialties

While considered a sufficient dancer in some other dance forms, though not a master, he’s willing to teach or demonstrate these following specialties:

• Cakewalk
• Black Bottom
• 1920’s Charleston
• Break-away Charleston
• Rhythm Tap
• Slow Drags

Current Engagements

Coaching at Sugar Swing

• Mad Cat Swing (weekly)
• Mad Kittens (weekly)
• Big Time Groove (1/month)

Weekly Classes at Sugar Swing

• Swing 1
• Lindy Hop 2
• Lindy Hop 3
• Solo Jazz 1 & 2
• Balboa 1
• Drop-In Classes (1/week)

Social dancing requires excellent music choices appropriate for the occasion. My expertise in dancing Lindy Hop and Balboa has helped me cater to the needs of these dancers. With over 12 years of deejay experience and countless logged hours of deejaying, I’ve learned to read a crowd and easily deliver the music that makes them want to dance.

Birkley is passionate about vernacular jazz music, especially with fitting the best music for each jazz dance, whether Lindy Hop, Balboa, Slow Drags, or Charleston. He works hard to keep the floor swinging out, and loves bringing fresh tunes for dancers to enjoy.  He has been a staff DJ at Herrang Dance Camp the past four years, along with a number of events locally and nationally (CSC, Lindybout). Birkley has been deejaying Lindy Hop for more than 10 years, hailing from Edmonton, Canada. He is the owner of Sugar Swing, the main Lindy Hop studio in his city; also, as deejay coordinator, Birkley is in charge of scheduling local swing deejays for three dance socials per week at his studio. He handles all swing band bookings (1-2 times a month), trains new deejays, and has created in-depth deejay guidelines for his trainees. His purpose and passion is to bring the best and most inspiring music to every floor he deejays.

While Birkley favours music from the 1930’s and 1940’s, he has love affairs with all eras of dance music, including funk, soul, 1950’s, New Orleans rhythms, and even pop! Having strong opinions about swing music and the art of Lindy Hop and vernacular jazz dancing doesn’t keep him from enjoying other dance music and dance styles.

More broadly, Birkley is often in the role of music coordinator. At his own studio, he schedules deejays locally for three dances a week and has developed detailed guidelines, policies, and training material for his deejays. He also hires bands 1-2 times a month for these events and has created guidelines to help bands play effectively for Lindy hoppers. Each year Birkley has the honour of assembling an all-star band for Edmonton’s annual Summer Solstice festival by hand-picking five or more world-class swing musicians.

Highlighted Event Experience

• Herrang Dance Camp (Sweden) – staff deejay at this world-renowned camp for the last four years
• Lindybout (Vancouver)
• Canadian Swing Championships (Montreal)
• Mini Balboa Fest (Vancouver)
• Prairie Lindy Exchange, i.e. PLEX (most years)

Deejay Proficiencies

• Lindy Hop socials
• Balboa dances
• Slow Drag nights
• Competition deejaying
• DJ training
• DJ coordination

Other Deejay Specialties

As a versatile deejay who is often tasked with theme nights and specialized dance forms, he can certainly bust out an evening’s worth of the following music styles:

• Trad Jazz, Charleston, & New Orleans music
• Funk parties
• Soul dances
• 50’s Rock & Roll
• 1980’s and 1990’s pop music
• Top 40’s
• Electroswing

Mentorship

Through his studio Sugar Swing, Birkley has mentored some of the finest deejays in Western Canada, who’ve gone on to win several Lindybout (Vancouver) deejay contests! He continues to train deejays from the ground-up to spin for Lindy Hoppers and also specialty sets such as Balboa or Slow Drags. Furthermore, Birkley has created valuable documentation (guidelines, policies, and tips & tricks) relating to swing deejays that have been used in other scenes such as Montreal and Calgary.

Music Director

Birkley is responsible for all music that gets played at his studio. Through Sugar Swing, Birkley oversees three social dances every week, hires live music 1-2 times per month, and hosts special weekend events (workshops and exchanges) 3-4 times per year. These dances can call for a variety of requirements that typically include tons of great swing music. Themed nights also may call for specialty sets like Funk and Soul, 50’s Rock n Roll, and Top 40’s.

While working closely with trombonist and band leader Brad Shigeta, along with his experience of hiring bands dozens of times, Birkley has developed musician’s guidelines for bands to play at his venue. These guidelines have successfully helped to unify the needs and wants of dancers with the musicians, creating consistently better-than-average to excellent experiences for both dancers and musicians alike!

Along with being Artistic Director of the Mad Cat Swing performance team and the Sugar Swing Dance Club, Birkley’s past clients for choreography have included the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Victoria School for the Arts, and Dance Fusion (Sherwood Park). He is consistently required to come up with unique routines for a varying number of people, situations, and skill levels, in a typically short amount of time. His works have gained high praise; a notable achievement has been their presentation on stage of Edmonton’s illustrious Winspear Centre each year for the past four years.

As team director of Mad Cat Swing, Sugar Swing’s premier performance team, Birkley has broken down several routines from original footage by masters of Lindy Hop, and retaught them to his team. These include the Tranky Doo, Keep Punchin’ Big Apple Contest, Al Minns & Leon James Shim Sham, Dean Collins Shim Sham, the California routine, and the First Stops routine.

From time to time he’s called upon to create choreography for school-aged dance students and wedding couples — demonstrating an ability to choreograph for all skill levels.

Original Works

• Edmonton Winspear Centre
  • Charleston Christmas ¹²³  (2015)
  • Carioca ¹ (2014)
  • St James Infirmary & Christopher Columbus ¹ (2014)
  • In The Mood (2012)
• Sugar Swing Dance Club
  • Clambake Carnival ³
  • Mad Kittens Lindybout team choreo ² (2015)
  • Mad Cat Chorus (2012)
• Personal endeavors
  • Partnered Big Apple Contest ²  (2015)

Collaborators

1. Krystal Moss
2. Sydney Alessandrini
3. Turlough Myers

Re-creations

The following choreography and routines, created by original masters of Lindy Hop, have been fully broken down by Birkley and may be divulged

• Keep Punchin’ Big Apple Contest
• California routine
• First Stops routine
• Tranky Doo
• Al Minns & Leon James Shim Sham
• Dean Collins Shim Sham
• Frankie 100 “Lindy Chorus”