Peter Flahiff

Swing Dance Instructor • DJ • Lecturer • MC • Dance & Music Historian

Based in the beautiful Pacific Northwest region of the United States, Peter Flahiff travels the world bringing his individual take on the style, philosophy, and heart of the music and dances of the Swing Era. A beloved and widely-respected voice in the community, Peter has built his reputation for decades, despite almost never participating in dance competitions. His insistence on keeping to his passion for the social dancing soul of these dances has brought him to dance communities large and small, and to each he brings his signature grace and approachability.

Peter thinks that the first seeds of his love for swing and jazz music probably came from the great music in old Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons! In childhood, he developed an odd attachment to recordings of radio show broadcasts from the 1930s and 1940s. Deeply nerdy and committed to following his own passions regardless of anyone else’s approval, Peter threw himself into the earliest days of the subculture of the Swing Revival before it even hit the mainstream. As the years passed, Peter’s devotion to Swing Dancing and swinging music has only grown, fed by his insistence on continuing to expand and change his personal dance style and teaching methods.

To this day, Peter Flahiff continues to enjoy traveling anywhere and everywhere, bringing his love of social swing dancing to everyone he meets.

“For over 30 years, Peter Flahiff has brought style and class to everything he does, whether it’s traveling the world sharing his love of swing dancing, teaching classes and workshops, DJing major swing events, or passing on knowledge learned first-hand from many of the original swing era dancers.”

— Hilary Alexander, creator and director of Camp Hollywood