FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Here you can find answers to frequently asked questions about the Rock That Swing Festival.
You can compare “Fasching” to Halloween in the USA, but it is funny instead of being scary. That means you will probably see a bunch of strange looking people in the city centre, wearing all kinds of masquerade and behaving a bit weird. If you would like to join them and get in the spirit of Fasching you can do that 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 in the city which comprises of 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.
The Rock That Swing Festival has some unique features.
- In contrast to many dance events the Rock That Swing Festival provides a combined stage for the classic Swing dances, like Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop, Balboa, Shag, Rockabilly Jive, and Authentic Jazz. This gives you an uncomparable exchange and inspirational platform.
- A major advantage of the Rock That Swing Festival therefore is the great variety of classes during the day. With additional classes in Acrobatics, group dances, Burlesque, Train The Trainer, etc. you can choose from more than 300 classes. These are offered in a variety of levels, including special classes for beginners, competitors and teachers.
- A distinguishing feature of the Rock That Swing Festival is the free class selection on site. You can mix the various dances on a per class basis and create your own personal schedule.
- You can book each day and each evening separately according to your time and budget.
- Most evening venues will have at least two top international bands, covering 30s/40s and 50s style music. At the big nights up to eight bands will spoil your ears and feet.
- The major evenings are held in beautiful ballrooms in the Munich city center.
- All classes are held in nice dance studios that will provide a great learning atmosphere.
- It is happening in the city center of gorgeous Munich, which is not only famous for the beer! :-)
Dance Camp
The RTSF Dance Camp offers 7 levels: Beginner, Beginner/Intermediate, Intermediate, Intermediate+, Intermediate/Advanced, Advanced, and Competition. Please be aware that not every dance is offered in all levels. You can see a detailed list of the offered class levels on the the schedule page .
A distinguishing feature of the Rock That Swing Festival is the free class selection on site. You can mix the various dances on a per class basis and create your own personal schedule. This concept has been wanted by the vast majority of former participants. To make it work it is essential that you choose the right level.
Students often think of class levels as a status symbol. It isn’t. If you come to a Dance Camp to improve your skills and to get inspired you will gain the most if you participate in a class level that matches your skill level. It will also make it possible for the teachers to give their best and to suit exactly your needs. So, please take the level descriptions into account before you make your choices of a class.
The Rock That Swing Check-In is the central contact point for all your Rock That Swing needs. 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 Classes: Yes. In general we ask you to refrain from eating in the studios spaces. In any case, please make sure that you take your left overs and rubbish away before you leave the studio as the studios must be left in clean condition! Bear in mind that in Germany you pay 25 cent for most plastic bottles so keep them to claim your money back.
Night Venues: No! Your own drinks and food are not permitted for the night venues. You risk to be expelled if you violate that rule.
Evenings Events
All events at the Vintage Club (After Hours Parties, Jitterbug Hop) have free seating, but seating is limited and can’t be guaranteed.
The parties In The Mood in the Scholastika Eventlocation and Hep Cats Night in the Künstlerhaus have numbered seats on the ground floor and on the balcony.
The Rock That Swing Ball and the Jamboree Ball at the Deutsches Theater have numbered seating only. You can choose between different price categories depending on the view and floor.
Yes, you can reserve seats for Thursday, 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 info@rockthatswing.com with your request. Give us one or two alternatives in case the desired table is booked already. You will receive a reservation code from us by email that is normally valid for 10 days. Everybody who should get one of the reserved seats has to use the reservation code at the time of their individual booking.
Hint: If you have more than 10 people in your group for a specific evening a group order offers you additional discounts.
For the evening events you need to be dressed accordingly. Otherwise you might not be allowed to get in. 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. If you don't have any clothes of the era dress nicely. Training pants and T-shirts are for sure not accaptable—they are meant for training and not suitable for a delightful evening. So dress to impress.
Thursday and Friday evening take place in the Künstlerhaus – a beautiful vintage building. Saturday and Sunday take place at the Deutsches Theater – an elegant theatre ballroom.
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.
At the Deutsches Theater on Saturday and Sunday night small dishes will be served at the Food Station (Balcony Left Bar). There are also various restaurants close by.
At the Künstlerhaus small dishes might be servered in the ballroom. In the same building around the corner is a great Italian Osteria.
At the After Hours Parties and Jitterbug Hop (Monday) at the Vintage Club only drinks and beverages are served. At the bar you can find snack food like pretzel sticks, nuts, chips etc.
Own food or drinks are NOT allowed to be brought in to any of the evening venues!
Definitely not. All venues have their own catering. If you violate that policy you risk being expelled from the venue.
In general you need permission for handing out flyers inside the venues or putting them on the tables. You can put your flyers on the designated flyer tables at the Check-In. You also have the opportunity to advertise in the RTSF playbill, which is a full color booklet of about 60 to 80 pages that will be handed out to all participants for free. If you want to place an ad please contact us at advertise@rockthatswing.com.
You can film, considering the GDPR, without tripods during the evening events. If some bands don’t like to be recorded they will let you know. We are happy if you post your evening recordings on the internet (YouTube etc.) as long as you list Rock That Swing as the event and place a link to the Rock That Swing website.
All regular contests of the Rock That Swing Festival are open and are free to enter. Anybody who likes to compete and has a ticket for the respective evening can take part in those contests. The registration will take place through our online registration system, at the Check-In during the day and at the venue of the specific night until 30 mins before the contest starts. Details can be found at the contests page.
Order Process
If there are any tickets left, they will be sold during the festival at the Check-In or at the evening event box office.
Tickets for Saturday and Sunday evening are also available at the known public booking offices like München Ticket, Zentraler Kartenvorverkauf, and directly at the Deutsches Theater. Those public booking offices are an additional option intended for locals who normally just come to one of the big events.
If you place an order the order is binding and oblidge 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. So by law all online ticket bookings are final.
Check here.
By our own choice we offer cancellation with cancellation fees and the option to transfer your whole booking to another person. Details can be found in our cancellation policy.
To take advantage of group discounts you can create a group at the online order system and invite other people. The invited people have 10 days from the start date of the group to place their orders by using the group ID and the group password. You also have the option to enter a specific start date if you need extra time to collect your people.
After the 10 days the group will be closed automatically, the discounts if applicable given, and an updated order confirmation and payment request sent to the group members. Each group member will get their own invoice and is responsible for his/her own payment.
IMPORTANT: Group discounts are a reward for those who manage to organize a (local) group. We hope you understand that we can't afford to offer group discounts if you publish group passwords on public social media sites (Facebook, Twitter etc) or in mass newsletters. If we are aware of such misuse group discounts will not be granted for the members of that group.
Public Transportation and Parking
Participants who arrive with their own vehicle can drive directly into the city. (Makesure you have an emission sticker for your car.)
Parking at the roadside is only free on Sundays and after 11 pm until the morning.Normally parking at the roadside or in parking structures is quite expensive. Wearranged special rates with two parking structures near the RTSF venues. You finddetailed informaiton at the Directions page.
Hotels may have special parking rates for their guests.
In case you don't need your car during the festival there is also an option to park youcar outside of the center at a P+R Park & Ride parking. www.parkundride.de
Accommodation
All venues of the Rock That Swing Festival are located within close walking distance (3-10 minutes) of the center of Munich. They are all very close to the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) and the Stachus (Karlsplatz). There’s a large number of hotels and hostels close by.
All teachers and bands will stay at our partner hotels Hotel Wallis, Hotel Präsident, and the Hotel München City Center. The hotels Wallis and Präsident are located across the street of the Deutsches Theater and the Vintage Club. The Hotel München City Centerl is two blocks away. For general information, the discounts our partner hotels, and alternatives go to the accommodation page.
Videography
Generally, all copyrights belong to World of Swing and the recorded artists. For private use, you can make your own video recordings without a tripod. Please note the usual personal rights.
If you want to post your recordings on the Internet, please note:
- only short excerpts of approx. 15 seconds from the shows, trainer presentations and Jamboree Revue may be posted
- link to the Rock That Swing website or the Rock That Swing Instagram Channel.
- credit the “Rock That Swing” event as the source.
For commercial posts, contact us at info @rockthatswing.com for an appropriate agreement.
At the request of the trainers, it is not permitted to film the class. The trainers will usually make a summary at the end of the class for you to record. These recordings are for private use only. So please don't publish them not on the Internet.