What to Pack for a Swing Dance Festival

We are one of the sponsors of Bosphorus Swing Festival, and every year we watch hundreds of dancers arrive for the best weekend of their year. This list comes from watching what the happiest, freshest dancers bring.

It is the packing list we give our friends: not everything you could bring, just the things that make a weekend comfortable.

Shoes: bring two pairs if you can

A festival is not one floor. It is a workshop room in the morning, a different venue in the evening, sometimes an outdoor party in between, and those floors will not behave the same way.

Two pairs with different soles covers you: one slippery pair for the good wooden floors, one with more grip for everything else. If you own a pair with a leather sole and a pair with neolite or rubber, bring both and decide each evening when you see the floor.

Two pairs also means fresh shoes every night. Alternating pairs between parties lets each one rest and dry, and your feet will feel the difference by Sunday.

If your only pair has a leather sole, the sole itself will cope; leather is durable and keeps its shape outdoors. Rain is the thing to watch, because wet ground can dull a leather sole's slide for the night. On a wet day, carry the shoes and change at the venue.

For your feet

More socks than days. It is the cheapest comfort upgrade there is: fresh socks before the evening party resets your feet completely.

Plasters, before you need them. A plaster at the first warm spot keeps the whole weekend comfortable, and a small tin in the dance bag rescues more evenings than anything else that size.

Give new shoes a few social nights before the festival. A made to order pair cut to your measurements settles in quickly, and arriving with shoes that already know your feet is a lovely way to start a weekend.

Clothes

One change of top per party, minimum. Everyone at the evening dance made the same calculation; the dancers who look fresh at midnight are the ones who packed for it.

A small towel in the dance bag. Layers rather than one warm thing, because workshop rooms run cold in the morning and hot by the second class.

The small things

A water bottle, because dancing is thirstier than it looks. Something to eat between the afternoon and the party, because festival dinner plans are famously optimistic. Deodorant in the dance bag, not the hotel room. And earplugs for sleeping, because festival accommodation is social in every direction.

The upgrade that changes the whole weekend

A second pair of shoes. Festivals serve up every kind of floor, and dancers with two soles to choose from glide through all of them: one pair for the fast wooden floors, one for everything else.

If you have been thinking about a second pair, a festival is the reason. Every pair we make is built to order in sizes 34 to 48, with the sole you choose. Order at least a month ahead so it arrives worn-in and ready.