Frequently Asked Questions

“Fasching” means carnival and has a long tradition in Germany. In Germany’s Mid West (Cologne, Mainz, etc.) it is celebrated very excessively. The “Fasching” lasts several weeks and has its climax on the carnival weekend, which is 7 weeks before the Easter weekend. The RTSF is taking place exactly at that weekend.
You can compare “Fasching” to Halloween in the USA, but it is funny and not scary. That means that you probably will meet quite a bunch of strange looking people in the city centre, wearing all kinds of masquerade and behaving a bit weird. If you like to join those disguised people, you can do that already on Thursday. That day is also known as “Unsinniger Donnerstag” or “Altweiberfasching” (guys - be careful, because on that particular day the ladies are allowed to cut your ties—honestly!). If you stay until Tuesday (“Faschingsdienstag“) you can attend the colorful carnival revelry in the city with a lot of dancing and parties all over Munich. If you like carnival processions, than Monday (“Rosenmontag”) is your day!
The venues at the RTSF have nothing to do with the carnival itself or that kind of masquerade. Most people at the RTSF will dress up in vintage style of the 30s to the 50s. We might have some theme parties at certain nights and will invite you to contribute with your outfit to the motto of the nights.

The Rock That Swing Festival has some unique features.

• It is the only 5 day-camp that offers Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop and Balboa in different levels, including special classes for beginner, competitors and teachers. Additional classes in Shag, Acrobatics, Burlesque, etc. offer a big variety of classes.
• All classes are held in nice dance studios that will provide a great learning atmosphere.
• All Dance Camp participants can order a RTSF 2012 Dance Camp DVD, which holds the content of the class material and impressions of the evenings, to the bargain price of 25 Euro (incl. shipping). All Dance Camp participants can also download the festival pictures for free - but for private purpose only.
• Most evening venues will have at least 2 top international bands, covering 30s/40s and 50s style music.
• The evenings are held in beautiful ballrooms.
• After the regular events the fun continues at the After Hour Parties.
• It is happening in the city center of gorgeous Munich, which is not only famous for the beer :-)

For the past years we had participants from more than 30 nations:  Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the USA.

We have collected general information you could use on your way to Munich in a PDF-File (emergency call number, tourist information, important phone numbers etc.) which you can find in the download section. There are also travel directions if you come by plane, train or car. If you have special questions you can contact us at info@rockthatswing.com.

The Check-In is the central point of contact for all participants. All necessary information will be displayed there. If you have some pending questions we are happy to clarify them face-to-face. In cases of emergency during the classes you also can contact the teacher or the owner of the studios.

It’s officially wintertime in Germany and temperatures can range from +15°C to -10°C. (check www.wetter.com). So it can be sunny and warm or cold with snowstorms. Be well prepared and have some warm clothing and shoes in your luggage.

There is a non-smoking-law in Bavaria that forbids smoking in restaurants, cafés, pubs and venues. Therefore all venues at the RTSF will be non-smoking.

In general you need permission for handing out flyers inside the venues or putting them on the tables. Those permissions can be purchased from us. You can only put your flyers on the designated flyer tables. You also have the opportunity to advertise in the RTSF playbill, which is a full color booklet of about 80 pages that will be handed out to all participants for free. If you want to place an ad please contact us at ads@rockthatswing.com.

Yes! You can purchase goods at the Vintage Market during the day at the Kolpinghaus and also on Saturday night during Sugar Foot Stomp at the Alte Messe. If you are a vendor and you want to sell at the Rock That Swing Vintage Market, please contact us at vintagemarket@rockthatswing.com.

We are not able to offer general discounts for specific countries. Exceeding discounts can be only granted on a case-by-case basis. However we offer good discounts for complete packages, early bird and group bookings, students, and we are also in need for helpers before or during the festival (see next question).

We are always looking for helpers during the festival, but are also in need for help and support before the festival. In general we reimburse helpers at the festival with free entrances to the nights or free participation at the Dance Camp. If you are interested in helping contact us at helpers@rockthatswing.com.

Sure. There are specific beginner classes in Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop, and Balboa, which consist of three single build-up classes that will instruct you step by step. In those classes you’ll learn the necessary foundation (footwork and basic elements) for the particular dance. Those are essential to continue with a beginners-intermediate class.

There will be classes in Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop, Balboa, Shag, Charleston, Blues and Burlesque. Additionally there will be special lessons for further swing related or non-swing related dances and about specific topics (e.g. acrobatics, competition, line dances, tap etc.).

For the main dances (Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop and Balboa) there will be offered five categories of levels: Beginner, Beginner/Intermediate, Intermediate, Advanced, and Competition. Please take the class descriptions into consideration before you make your choices of class and level. In general the following applies:

a) No experience is necessary for beginner classes. If you are completely new to a dance, you need to start with the first lesson of the beginner track.

b) The minimum requirement for the beginner/intermediate classes (Shag is the exception, because the basics will be covered in the first lesson) are the basic fundamentals as e.g. taught in the beginner classes.

c) To join the intermediate classes you should be dancing for a while, be absolutely confident in your basics and in leading resp. following different variations.

d)  For an advanced class you should be dancing on a high level for a longer time already or have joined several championships. Your steps and variations are routine and you are up for new challenges. You can dance hassle-free and fluently to slow and fast music. You’d like to improve the quality of your movements, your musicality, and the finesse of your lead.

e) The competition classes are designed for already competing couples or couples who want to compete in the future. Partners are required for that level!

Yes, you can. The only exceptions are the acrobatic and the competition classes and maybe certain special classes that are couple related.

Each class has an own topic and is completed. So you can switch freely between different dances and classes that are on or below your level. Only the beginner classes build up on each other. That means that if you don’t have any experience in this dance, it won’t be possible to start with the second or third lesson without having done the first one of the beginner track.

Yes, you can. Classes can be chosen freely on site. Your choice of classes at the registration is just a guideline for us to assign the classes to the size of the studios. But please be smart and take your own level in consideration. It does not help you or the other students if you are in a level that is over your head. You dancing won’t improve if you are overchallenged.

By now we haven’t faced that problem. Due to the large number of lessons, the classes have been well distributed in the past. It could of course happen that certain classes will be overfilled if too many participants decide spontaneous to go to the same class. That’s why it is important that you let us know what classes you plan to join so we can attach suitable room sizes to each class. If the interest for a class is too high we might add additional classes.

Due to the international participation, the general teaching language is English. German speaking teachers will of course be able to teach also in German. Some teachers might speak other languages, too (e.g. Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Russian and Norwegian) and will of course translate if required.

The instructors will ask you to rotate partners (exception: acrobatic classes and competition classes). Rotating partners has a lot of advantages: you gain more flexibility, you improve your lead & follow skills, you can’t fight with your regular dance partner, you will be inspired by others, you learn and benefit from each other’s strengths, and you meet new people. Therefore you have more dance partners in the evening to dance with. Don’t you think those are enough reasons to rotate? If you are only able to dance well with your own partner or very good partners than your own dancing has major deficits. So take the opportunity for this unique practice and dance with dancers from around the globe.

Even we highly recommend changing partners in classes, we also understand if couples don’t want to change because they want to spend their time together during the camp. The instructors will then split the participants in two groups, so non-rotating couples won’t interrupt the rotation of the others. But if the relation of leaders and followers are not balanced, that means if we have too many leaders or followers, then we have to ask all participants to rotate.

Each acrobatic class is limited to 15 couples. The subscription for the actual day has to be done each morning at the Check-In. First come, first served!

Train the Trainer classes concentrate on the “HOW” and not on the “WHAT“. They are specifically designed to the needs of instructors. Basically everybody can participate who is interested in those kinds of classes. Due to the international participation (teachers and students) it is an advantage to have sufficient knowledge in the English language to be able to follow the theoretical stuff and thematic discussions.

The central contact point for all your Rock That Swing needs is the Rock That Swing Check-In. At the Check-In you can pick up your Dance Camp documents and pre-ordered tickets. Late birds can still sign up for the Dance Camp and purchase remaining tickets for the evening events.

During daytime the Check-In is located at the Kolpinghaus, Adolf-Kolping-Str. 1, 80336 München. At nighttime the Check-In is located next to the evening box offices. You find the opening hours at the corresponding web page.

We most likely don’t offer food for participants in the studios, but some studios have their own bars where you can buy coffee and other beverages. The bar in our studio “Vintage Club” will be open for sure. There are many shops and departments stores in the area. More information will be provided in your participation letters that you will receive per email or at the Check-In.

Basically yes! But please make sure that you take your left overs and rubbish away before you leave the studio. The studios have to be left in clean condition! In Germany you get 25 cent pant for most plastic bottles.

You can dine at the events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Own drinks are NOT allowed to bring in to any of the venues!

Friday: At the Kolpinghaus you can choose from a selected menu card in the ballroom or you can eat in the restaurant à la carte.

Saturday: At the Alte Messe you can choose from a selected menu card in the ballroom or you can eat in the restaurant à la carte.

Sunday: The Deutsche Theater has an extra restaurant marquee where you can dine à la carte, but you can also get food in the ballroom.

Monday night, Pre-RTSF-Party and After Hour Parties at the “Vintage Club“: No food will be served. We will provide snacks (pretzel sticks, nuts, chips etc.) for free and you can purchase drinks and beverages at the bar.

Definitely not. All venues have their own catering. Don’t be impolite!

Yes and no. As the Jamboree Ball takes place at the Deutsches Theater (Sunday) - a theatre ballroom - you should be dressed accordingly. Otherwise you might not be allowed to get in. The same is valid for the Alte Messe (Saturday) and the Kolpinghaus (Friday). Both are beautiful vintage ballrooms.

In general we want to encourage you to accomplish the atmosphere of the dance nights with a stylish outfit; best would be 40s or 50s style of course. Training pants and T-shirts are out - they are meant for training and not suitable for a delightful evening.

In case you sweat a lot, your dance partners will appreciate it highly if you have extra shirts with you to change from a wet to a dry shirt.

If an evening has a certain motto it would be simply terrific if you contribute to the atmosphere of the evening with a thematic outfit.

All contests of the RTSF are open to anybody, so everybody who’d like to compete can take part. The registration will take place right at the venue of the specific night.

For all participants who are already in Munich on Thursday we will have a little welcome dance party at our dance studio “Vintage Club”. The Pre-RTSF-Party “In The Mood“ should get you in the right mood for the festival. The party is open to anybody and you have a first chance to get a dance with some of the teachers before they are worn out.

After the Hep Cats Night (Friday) and Sugar Foot Stomp (Saturday) we are going to have After Hour Parties at the “Vintage Club“. They will start at 1:30 am and normally last into the morning hours. If you still have energy left after the big dance nights, you can run riot there.

Admission: 10 Euro / free admission for owners of a valid evening ticket of the relating day

All tickets for the night events can be ordered through the Rock That Swing Festival Website (www.rockthatswing.com) but also at the booking agency München Ticket (www.muenchenticket.de). Tickets for the Jamboree Ball on Sunday night can also be bought directly at the Deutsches Theater (www.deutsches-theater.de) (websites are in German only!). Please consider that all ticket agencies have a separate contingent of tickets. So it could happen that one ticket agency ran out of tickets while others are still selling.

If there are any tickets left, they will be sold at the respective evening box-office.

Dance Camp bookings are only possible through the festival website.

Discounts are only available for bookings done through the Rock That Swing Website.

Only through the RTSF website you can order everything (e.g. tickets, dance camp, DVDs, t-shirts) and you can profit from discounts (e.g. early bird, groups, students, packages...). München Ticket is only an additional option for buying evening tickets and more intended for locals or people from the public who normally just come to one of the events.

The Jamboree Ball at the Deutsches Theater has numbered seats (at tables) only. The Sugar Foot Stomp at the Alte Messe has numbered seats (at tables) in the ballroom and free seating outside of the ballroom. The Hep Cats Night at the Kolpinghaus has a few numbered seats (at tables) and the rest iss free seating. All other venues have free seating, but seating is limited and can’t be guaranteed. So if you don’t have a ticket with a numbered seat be early, since first come, first served!

GROUP / STUDENT DISCOUNTS
Pupils, students: 10% discount on the dance camp (can be combined with group discount!). Groups buying 10 or more tickets for the same evening or 10 or more dance camp passes get 10% discount on those purchases.

PACKAGE DISCOUNT
Orders of at least 3 tickets and at least 3 days of dance camp receive a free festival T-shirt (worth 15 Euro), a 10 Euro discount and pay no advance sales fees on their tickets.

You can find detailed price information on the Prices page.

Unfortunately we can’t accept direct credit card payments (the requirements are very high in Germany), but you can pay per bank transfer (which should be free of charge in the EU) or per PayPal (+ 2-4 % fee (depending on the country)).

Yes, you can, but only for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Have a look at the seating maps and let us know what seats and how many you would like to have. Send an email to reservierung@rockthatswing.com with your request. Give us two or three alternatives in case the desired table is booked already. You will receive a reservation code from us by email. Everybody who should get one of those reserved seats has to use the reservation code for the booking.

Yes, it is. The basic price is determined through the date of the booking. The group discount will be calculated and deducted from that price.

No, you won’t. For each participant the price of the booking date of his order is valid. After 10 days only the group will be closed and if 10 participants are existent by then, all participants will receive the respective discount (5%, 10%). Exception: The payment wasn’t done in due time.

Yes! Groups buying 10 or more tickets for the same evening or 10 or more Dance Camp passes receive 10% discount on those purchases.

No. For the group orders you have the option to enter a specific starting date. That gives you extra time to collect more people. .

You need to enter your class choices with the registration but you are not bound on your selection and still can change your mind on site. This information just helps us to assign the class rooms to the class sizes.

All tickets you have ordered through the Rock That Swing website directly can be picked up at the Check-In. Tickets having been purchased through München Ticket or through Deutsches Theater can be picked up at their specified places. 

Yes, you still can register last-minute at the Check-In. At past RTSFs certain events have been sold out in advance. If there are still left over tickets on-hand, they will be sold at the box offices of each dance night. Advance sales fees will not apply at the box office. You can look up the availability of tickets at the Order page.

Yes, you can book single days. As more days you book as cheaper the per day price will be.

No, you can’t! The smallest booking unit is a single day.

Yes, you can. If you decide last-minute to stay longer you can stock up on site at the prices (late bird prices) below. The price for the extra days is depending on the already in advance booked days. You can’t take advantage of any further discounts.

In general ticket and camp orders are binding and oblige acceptance and payment. The German Distance Selling Act allows a two week revocation period, but according to § 312b Paragraph 3 Nr. 6 BGB it is not applicable for ticket sales or camp bookings.

This means that in general orders cannot be cancelled and are not refundable!

Varying from the German Distance Selling Actl we allow you to transfer your camp registration and evening tickets to another person without any fees. We also offer cancellation of camp orders only. Depending on the date of cancellation different cancellation fees will apply: 20% until Dez 16^th 2011, 40% until Dec 31^st 2011, 70% until Jan 31^st 2012, and 100% starting Feb 1^st 2012.

The central station is close to the check-in (approx. 5 minutes walking) and most venues. The airport is located in the very northeast of Munich, but suburban trains (S1 and S8) leave every 20 minutes and take you directly to the city centre (40–45 minutes, no change of trains).

Most venues are close by the central station (Hauptbahnhof) and the Stachus (Karlsplatz) and distances can be walked. The Jamboree Ball can easily be reached by the public transportation system (www.mvv-muenchen.de), but also by car. Detailed travel description can be found on the Downloads page.

Participants who arrive with their own vehicle can drive directly into the city. Make sure you have an emission sticker on your car!

Parking in the city center is very expensive. Only on Sundays, public holidays and from 11 pm until morning there is free on-street parking. Otherwise the lots are metered and only allow parking for a few hours. Parking in parking blocks costs about 2–3 € per hour up to 30 € per day. The parking structure “Parkhaus am Stachus”, which is across the Kolpinghaus in the Adolf-Kolping-Straße 10, gave us a special deal. You can park for a reduced price. A full day ticket is 10 € and an evening ticket (5 pm to 8 am) is 3 €. Because the parking structure closes at night be aware of the opening hours. You just need to pick up the parking vouchers at the Check-In.

The Deutsche Theater in Fröttmaning has an additional parking lot behind the marquee. It costs only 2 € for the night.

If you don’t need your car in the city during the festival than a smart option would be to use the P+R Park & Ride (www.parkundride.de) at the U-Bahn station Fröttmaning, which is opposite of the Deutsches Theater—our Sunday night venue. The parking costs only 1 € for the first day and 3 € for each consecutive day. You can use the subway (U-Bahn, www.mvv-muenchen.de) to come into the city.
Be careful: visitors of the Allianz Arena pay 8 Euro per day at the Fröttmaning parking structure. Normally Park & Ride is limited to 24 hours. Only one other Park & Ride lot besides Fröttmaning allows longer than 24 hours parking.

YES! You need an emission sticker to get the permission to drive with your car into the environmental zone of Munich. This zone ranges over the whole city area within the Mittlerer Ring. If you are travelling by car the following links may be helpful for you:

http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_fahrzeuge/feinstaub-plakette/feinstaubplakette_ausland/england

http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/tourist_office/service/249986/Emissions_Stickers.html

The stickers are available at all TÜV and DEKRA offices, car dealers, vehicle registration offices, and some car repair shops. You need the registration paper of your car (a copy is OK). It takes about 5 minutes and costs between 5 € and 7,50 €.

It doesn‘t affect you if you are only coming to the Jamboree Ball at the Deutsches Theater or keep parking there, because the theatre is located outside of the Mittlerer Ring!

Due to the close locations of the venues it is common and also very convenient to stay in a hotel. All studios of the Rock That Swing Dance Camp and all evening locations, except the Deutsches Theater on Sunday, are located in the centre of Munich and are very close to the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) and the Stachus (Karlsplatz). There’s a large number of hotels close by. More information and hotel links are provided on our Hotels page.

The possibility for private accommodation is very limited. If you are in desperate need for private accommodation, we can try to help as far as something is offered to us, but we can’t guarantee something.

You can film without tripods during the evening events. If some bands don’t like to be recorded they will let you know. We don’t mind if you post your evening recordings on the internet as long as you list Rock That Swing as the event.

On behalf of the teachers it’s not allowed to film during the classes, but every participant can record the recap at the end of the class with their own camera if the teachers agree. Those recordings are for personal use only. So please don’t publish those recordings on the internet (YouTube etc.) as we will produce the camp DVD with the summary of the classes (no “Train The Trainer” classes). (see next answer)

For sure there will be an official RTSF 2012 Dance Camp DVD that holds the content of the class material (between 4 and 6 hours) and impressions of the evenings. The price of the DVD for pre-orders is 59,- Euro (incl. shipping). Participants of the Rock That Swing Dance Camp 2012 can obtain their RTSF Dance Camp DVD 2012 for the bargain price of 25 Euro (incl. shipping).

The experience of the last years has shown us that we can’t announce an exact date. Too often technical difficulties push the finishing date. We will inform you in time through the newsletter and the website about the delivery date. You can expect the Camp-DVDs in about 2–4 months after the event.

Contact us at info@rockthatswing.com, please.