Second City Swingout is BACK
June 13-15, 2025
Below you’ll find details about our instructors, our venues, and class levels. Look for more details to come!
Class Levels
We use class levels to create groups of students with similar knowledge and experiences to give teachers a rough idea of level expectations and hopefully have students learning with their peers—plus you can’t all fit in one room!
There will be 5 class levels this year. We’ve chosen not to provide level descriptions—they’re always relative to the students attending, there is often overlap between adjacent levels, and sometimes instructors teach the same content to multiple levels with adjustments specific to the students in the room. We hope this will help shift focus from the title of the level to learning.
Students will be placed into levels by completing a self-assessment survey with the option to participate in level evaluations on Saturday morning. Students must participate in the level evaluation in order to be eligible for the top levels.
Level Appeals
Sometimes students feel they have been placed into the wrong level. We get it—level evals are imperfect. After classes on Saturday, there will be a brief level appeals session. Students who are true outliers in their level will be moved to the appropriate level (up or down).
In order to appeal, you must attend all your Saturday classes. You must attend the appeals session. Do not appeal your level placement during level evaluations.
Most students do not end up being moved. Space is a limiting factor. There can be skill imbalances between the leaders and the followers in a level but overall leaders and followers are appropriately placed relative to their peers dancing in the same role.
Irish American Heritage Center
4626 N Knox Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
Friday Evening Dance
Saturday Evening Dance
All classes
Forteza Fitness
4437 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640
Saturday Late Night Dance
Sunday Evening Dance
Jake Sanders
Jake Sanders will be back again leading the Midwest All-Stars for two nights of incredible live music. Special guest vocalist Naomi Uyama will join the band on Saturday night!
To add something particularly special to this year’s event, Jake is going to be recording LIVE at Second City Swingout for a full album release later this year! The album (and the dances!) will feature new work and arrangements by Jake!
Pre-order on vinyl or digital to help fund this extraordinary undertaking and reserve your copy!
Support the Project
If you’d like to make an additional donation to the project, we’d love to put it towards production costs (and turning it into eye-level shelf eye candy to spruce up your vinyl cabinet).
Registration Is Now Open!
We have full passes available which give you access to all tracked classes and all four dances.
We also have a limited number of dance passes which give you access to all four dances (but no classes).
We also have an add-on for our Strictly Contest and our Mix & Match Contest for those who want to compete.
Tickets for individual dances will made available after full and dance pass registration has been opened if space is available.
If you’d like to pay it forward to our scholarship fund, make a donation.
We understand that paying for a full pass all at once can be difficult for some folks. If you’d like to set up a payment plan with us, please email us at hello@secondcityswingout.com for assistance.
Follow us on social for more news and updates as we get closer to the event!
Pass Donations & Scholarships
If you would like to donate a pass to our scholarship fund or help us fund some of our volunteer efforts, please consider giving a donation using the form provided.
Scholarships
Limited scholarships will be available to students interested in participating in Second City Swingout classes and dances. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship to attend, please email us at hello@secondcityswingout.com with the subject line “Scholarship Request”.
Donate a Pass
Interested in Volunteering at the Event?
We need quite a few volunteers to help out during the event. As a token of our appreciation, you’ll receive $10 refund for your pass per hour you volunteer at the end of the event. Sign up below and we’ll contact you with more details.