thumb|Catrine Ljunggren and Lennart Westerlund performing at Masters of Lindy Hop and Tap, Century Ballroom, Seattle, Washington, 2009.
The Hot Shots is a collective name for two closely related Swedish dance companies based in Stockholm, Sweden: The Rhythm Hot Shots and the Harlem Hot Shots. The Hot Shots specialize in faithful reproductions of African-American dance scenes in American films from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Dances that they perform include Lindy Hop, Tap dance, Cakewalk, Charleston, and Black Bottom. The members of the Hot Shots are also respected dance instructors and accomplished social dancers. The goals of The Rhythm Hot Shots and the Harlem Hot Shots are the same.
On 6 May 2005, all of the current and previous members of the Hot Shots celebrated 20 years by performing "20 Years With the Hot Shots" at Södra Teatern in Stockholm.
The Rhythm Hot Shots
The Rhythm Hot Shots (TRHS, officially The Rhythm Hot Shots Dance & Show Handelsbolag or TRHS Dance & Show HB) is a Swedish performance dance company founded in 1985 and dissolved in 2002. Members of The Rhythm Hot Shots were instrumental in the 1980s and 90s Lindy Hop revival.
Members
11px| Founding member
{| <!--class="wikitable"-->
|-
| 1985–1986
| 11px|
| Lena Ramberg
|-
| 1985–1988
| 11px|
| Anders Lind
|-
| 1985–2002
| 11px|
| Lennart Westerlund
|-
| 1985–2002
| 11px|
| Catrine Ljunggren
|-
| 1985–2002
| 11px|
| Eddie Jansson
|-
| 1985–2002
| 11px|
| Eva Lagerqvist Jansson, née Eva Lagerqvist
|-
| 1986–199?
|
| Ewa 'W' Staremo Burak, née Ewa Staremo
|-
| 1988–1989
|
| Lars Lundberg
|-
| 1990–1994
|
| Martin Wedby
|-
| 1991–1994
|
| Anita Kankimäki
|-
| 1993–1995
|
| David Dalmo
|-
| 1994–2002
|
| Ulrika Larsdotter Ericsson, née Ulrika Ericsson
|-
| 1997–2002
|
| Åsa Palm
|-
| 1997–2001
|
| Benedikt "Beni" Furrer
|-
| 199?–2001
|
| Ulrika Thulin
|-
| 1998–2002
|
| Mattias Lundmark
|-
| 2000–2002
|
| Hanna Zetterman
|-
| 2002
|
| Frida Segerdahl
|-
| 2002
|
| Sakarias Larsson
|}
Collaborators
Other dancers, including former members, have performed with The Rhythm Hot Shots on various occasions.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Dancer
! Performance
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 1990
| style="vertical-align: top" | Harold Nicholas
| style="vertical-align: top" | Come to Broadway (production)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 1996
| style="vertical-align: top" | Norma Miller
| style="vertical-align: top" | Jumpin´ at the Jubilee (production)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 1997
| style="vertical-align: top" | Kenneth & Helena Norbelie
| style="vertical-align: top" | Swing Camp Catalina (dance camp)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 2000
| style="vertical-align: top" | Diane van Haaren (née Thomas)
| style="vertical-align: top" | What is this Thing called Swing? (USA tour)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 2001
| style="vertical-align: top" | Angela Andrew, Chazz Young
| style="vertical-align: top" | Herräng Swing Bus (Europe tour)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 2002
| style="vertical-align: top" | Angela Andrew, Chazz Young
| style="vertical-align: top" | Herräng Swing Bus (Europe tour)
|}
(Incomplete)
Harlem Hot Shots
The Harlem Hot Shots (HHS, sometimes spelled Harlem Hotshots) is a Swedish dance company formed in autumn 2002 that includes several members of The Rhythm Hot Shots.
Members
11px| Founding member
{| <!--class="wikitable"-->
|-
|2002–present
|11px|
| Frida Segerdahl
|-
|2002–present
|11px|
| Sakarias Larsson
|-
| 2002–present
|11px|
| Fatima Teffahi
|-
| 2005–present
|
| Jenny Deurell
|-
| 2008–present
|
| Rikard Ekstrand
|-
| 2008–present
|
| Jessica Lennartsson
|-
| 2008–present
|
| Frida Borg
|-
| 2008–present
|
| Pontus Persson
|-
| 2012–present
|
| Fredrik Dahlberg
|-
| 2012–present
|
| Mimmi Gunnarsson
|-
| 2014–present
|
| Gabriella Rosati
|-
| 2016–present
|
| Nils Nygårdh
|-
| 2016–present
|
| Patrik Pettersson
|-
| 2017–present
|
| Lizette Rönnqvist
|-
| 2018–present
|
| Frida Häggström
|-
| 2002–2011
|11px|
| Lennart Westerlund
|-
| 2002–2007
|11px|
| Hanna Zetterman
|-
| 2002–2007
|11px|
| Mattias Lundmark
|-
| 2002–2007
|11px|
| Åsa Palm
|-
| 2002–2007
|11px|
| Daniel Heedman
|
|-
| 2002–2004
|11px|
| Johanna Müller
|}
Collaborators
Other dancers, including former members of the Hot Shots, have performed with the Harlem Hot Shots on various occasions.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Dancer
! Performance
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 2003
| style="vertical-align: top" | Ria DeBiase
| style="vertical-align: top" | Spirit of Swing (USA/Canada tour)
|-
| style="vertical-align: top" | 2004
| style="vertical-align: top" | Angela Andrew, Mike Faltesek
| style="vertical-align: top" | Herräng Swing Bus (Europe tour)
|-<!--
| style="vertical-align: top" |
| style="vertical-align: top" |
| style="vertical-align: top" | -->
|}
(Incomplete)
History
Anders Lind began studying at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden in 1978 and became interested in swing dance as a student. He became a member of the Swedish Swing Society (SSS, formed in 1978), a dance club that originally focused on competition and show. The Swedish Swing Society initially recruited dancers from Lasse Kühlers dance school. So when Lennart Westerlund started to dance at Lasse Kühlers dance school in 1980, he was recruited into the Swedish Swing Society in 1981, where he met Anders Lind. Lennart Westerlund, Catrine Lunggren, Anders Lind, and Lena Ramberg started to dance together in a small performance group as a part of the Swedish Swing Society in 1983.
Anders Lind became interested in searching for the history of the dance and in autumn 1983, he found a copy of "Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance" by Marshall and Jean Stearns in an unknown library in Dansmuseet (dance museum). Excited about the discovery, he copied three chapters of the book and handed them out to his fellow SSS members. Prior to finding "Jazz Dance", everyone believed that Jitterbug was a dance that originated from the 1940s. They learned from the book that Jitterbug was originally called Lindy Hop and originated in Harlem, NY during the end of the 1920s.
At the age of 15, Eddie Jansson and Eva Lagerqvist started dancing at Lasse Kühlers dance school, where they met each other in 1983. After one year at the dance school, they joined the Swedish Swing Society. Eddie and Eva and another couple formed a group called Dance Freaks in spring 1984. Dance Freaks performed together one time before splitting up.
"Jazz Dance" listed several films that included Lindy Hop sequences. When A Day at the Races was shown in a theater in Stockholm, Anders and Lennart went to watch the movie. They found the dance sequences so exciting that they returned with a video camera to record all of the dance scenes. When Hellzapoppin' was shown at the KTH student theatre, they were in awe by the dancing in the film. The speed, acrobatics, and skill of the dancers was like nothing they had ever seen before. They started discussing a trip to New York City to find someone who could teach them how to dance the same way.
In April 1984, Anders Lind, Lennert Westerlund, and Henning Sörensen (Secretary for the Swedish Swing Society) travelled to New York City seeking Al Minns, a surviving member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers that Anders had found in "Jazz Dance". While in Stockholm, Anders Lind had found a copy of the New York City yellow pages and torn out the pages listing dance schools. When they arrived in NYC, Anders Lind decided to call the dance schools that taught Lindy Hop. As luck would have it, the first dance school he called also happened to be the one that Al Minns taught it. They ended up meeting Al Minns two days later at a nightclub.
Count Basie had just died and his band members as well as the artists and dancers that had worked with him had planned a memorial dance in his honor at The Red Parrot, a nightclub in New York City. Anders Lind learned about the event and the three Swedes showed up at the nightclub and found Al Minns dancing Lindy Hop there. Al Minns had started teaching at Sandra Cameron Dance Center in 1982 and invited them to his dance class. Anders Lind also took the opportunity to take some classes with Norma Miller. When they returned to Sweden, Henning recommended to the board members of the Swedish Swing Society to invite Al Minns to Stockholm to teach and give lectures. Despite having a fear of flying, Al Minns traveled to Sweden in October 1984 for a 5-day workshop and brought a different approach to the dance with him. He told them to "Forget counting, just listen!".
During the summer of 1984, the Swedish Swing Society arranged for the SSS performance group to perform for a few shows during the Stockholm Jazz Festival. The group asked Eddie and Eva to join them and for their first performance, the three couples performed on the main stage in front of 2000 people while accompanied live by The Harlem Blues & Jazz Band. The performances were very successful and afterwards the three couples considered working together in the future, perhaps at a professional level.
After months of discussion, Lennart Westerlund, Anders Lind, Eddie Jansson, Catrine Ljunggren, Lena Ramberg and Eva Lagerqvist decided to form a dance company in the summer of 1985 when The Harlem Blues & Jazz Band returned to Stockholm. They called themselves The Rhythm Hot Shots. Lennart danced with Catrine, Eddie danced with Eva, and Anders danced with Lena.
Al Minns was invited back to Stockholm in 1985 but he became too ill to travel and died on 24 April 1985. From Al Minns, TRHS learned that Frankie Manning, another surviving member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, was also living in New York City. In 1986, Lennart contacted Frankie Manning and in 1987, invited Frankie to Sweden for the first time to work with the dance company.
Before Frankie Manning visited Sweden, The Rhythm Hot Shots had learned how to Lindy Hop by watching old movies in slow motion, such as Hellzapoppin' and A Day at the Races.