Swing and you're winning

First came Swingers - the film. Then those Gap ads. Tonight, arriving at the 100 Club for a Monday night lindy hop, I find a queue stretching up the stairs onto the pavement. This joint is jumping.

I first caught a glimpse of the swing scene in a bar at the top of the World Trade Center five years ago. Men in sharp suits and spats flung women in polka dot dresses around the dancefloor while a mini big band blasted out Count Basie.

Having caught the jitterbug, I returned to London to find the swing scene wasn't, er, swinging - a session at the Cafè de Paris felt more like a school disco. I wondered if it could ever take off among reserved Brits.

Times have changed. As well as offering great cardiovascular exercise, lindy hopping is regaining popularity and has a street edge. It emerged in black Harlem in the late 1920s, evolving into the jitterbug and the jive, and what is generically known as 'swing dancing'.

The name lindy was snatched from a newspaper headline 'Lindy Hops the Atlantic' when Charles Lindbergh made his solo flight in 1927 and it still has that 'za za zu'.

We start out with a choreographed warm-up, stepping, tapping and jumping back and forth and I feel like I'm taking part in a danceathon. But then the class begins, and I realise we are organised in two huge loops, with men on the outside, and we learn each move with a new partner. It's more hoedown than handbag, and I'm cringing.

Push comes to shove

Focusing on our feet helps dissolve any embarrassment and, by the time I've done two rounds and had my toes trod upon by Ray, Matt and Ed, I'm feeling the rhythm. Our instructor explains how the leader, usually the man, can show the follower what he'll do next by gentle pressure on the back. Upwards means let's kick, downwards is stepping and tapping. Before we all get overwhelmed, the lesson's over and we take our partners by the hand for the live music.

This is what I've really come for. The band, Little Harlem, play Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald and I'm swept around the dancefloor by various men. The best part is that there's none of the 'I want to have your babies' tension of salsa.

After each tune, we thank each other and move on. After half an hour, people are slipping over to their bags and bringing out towels to wipe off the sweat. It's got all the health benefits of clubbing without the drugs.

Towards the end of the evening, we do a dance that makes me feel like a true swinger, where anyone can break in on anyone else to steal a partner. I swirl around trying to keep up with different styles of swinging, before I slump into a chair feeling as if I've just done several aerobics sessions.

Teacher and DJ Mark Skipper says he often drops a bit of Blondie or Mary J Blige into a set: 'Everyone loves it - you can adapt lindy hopping to pretty much any music.'

So next time you're out clubbing, part the crowds like a hip Moses simply by swinging those pants.

Stompin' is on Mondays at the 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street W1, 7.45pm to 11.45 pm, £10. Tel: 020 7387 1011. www.swingdanceuk.com