“My aim is to get all of you the best possible set that I can come up with on that particular night,” says DJ and dancer Jim Wheatley. “Sometimes I have a theme; sometimes not. But the aim is to always just do the very best job I can. I never take it for granted.”

For twenty years, Jim has been a celebrated DJ in the Atlanta Swing dance scene. He got his start towards the end of the Neo-Swing era, and DJ’d his first ever Swing set in November of 1999 at Swingers club in Buckhead.

When Sarah Forester began dancing, she didn’t know she was gay.

She danced Argentine Tango for five years, as well as exploring other styles, including Salsa, Bachata, Ballroom, Hip Hop, and of course, Lindy Hop. It was the Tango, though, that she found most illuminating.

“Especially when I started Tango, I definitely thought I was very, very straight—and actually ended up dating a guy who did Tango.”

But the dance presented a point of confusion.

“I think I was born into it,” Francesca says when asked why she began dancing. “When I was really young, my parents took me to a dance group when I lived in New York City. And my mother said I had some talent.

“But then later on, I didn’t do a certain dance move right and she said I didn’t have any talent, so she stopped the classes.

“But throughout the years, I kept being picked to be part of dance productions and dance groups. So I just stayed with it.”