Wrap up the weekend with our afternoon jam at Migration Brewing on Williams.

Bring an instrument, your voice, your tap shoes, or whatever floats your boat to make some music with our house jam band. When you’re not taking a solo, enjoy space to dance or grab a beer and a plate of pub grub.

This event is FREE to the community.

We are excited to bring you two class tracks this year:

Solo with Laurel Ryan and Lindy Hop & Charleston with Kelly Young & Matt Richey

You can learn more about teachers & classes here.

Classes are not available à la carte and may only be purchased as part of the full weekend pass.

Schedule

9:45 AM Doors Open

10:00 - 11:00 AM Classes

Laurel: Solo for Partners
Kelly & Matt: 5, 6, 7, ATE! (Charleston)

11:15 - 12:15 PM Classes

Laurel: No Takebacks
Kelly & Matt: Follow the Follow (Lindy Hop)

12:15 Break for Lunch & Farewell Jam

Founded in 2020, the Rhythm Wrecker Dance Band is a Portland, OR based swing band led by drummer and swing dancer Eddie Montejo. Formed by dancers and for dancers, the Rhythm Wrecker Dance Band plays solid, four-to-the bar swing with a commitment to making danceable music for lindy hop and swing.

Schedule

11:00 - 12:00 DJ Lauren Smith + Late Night Snacks
12:00 - 2:00 Rhythm Wrecker Dance Band
Set-breaks: DJ Lauren Smith

Theme Night: Flying Home to Portland!

Headed by bandleader Shane Allen of Eugene OR, Stomp Off Party swings the standards with vibrance & depth, bringing together voices from all corners of the Willamette Valley jazz community (and beyond!). Polyphonic and multigenerational, Stomp Off Party is collaboration at its best, digging into the American Songbook from all directions, delivering riffs and rhythms tuned expressly for dancing. Always lively, always swinging!

Stomp Off Party features Michael Horsfall on vibraphone and Marilyn Keller on vocals for this theme night honoring Lionel Hampton!

Schedule

7:00 Doors Open for Check In
7:30 DJ Nick Davis
8:00 - 11:00 Stomp Off Party
Set-breaks: DJ Nick Davis

Join us for a free community meetup for LGBTQIA+ identifying dancers. This is a safe, casual space for people to connect and meet other queer folks in the dance community from Portland and beyond! This gathering is being hosted by local Portland dancers Ashley Osborne and Mary Markham.

Location: Director Park

A PDXLX tradition, the afternoon outdoor dance is a favorite with exchange regulars. This dance is FREE to the community.

THE HOT LOVIN’ JAZZ BABIES is a high-powered swing ensemble based in Portland, Oregon featuring Doug Sammons and Dee Settlemier, front persons for the long-time Portland swing band the Midnight Serenaders.  The group was put together at the beginning of 2015 specifically for the Secret Society’s (Portland's former premier dance club) Thursday Swing night series, and has since become a favorite of Portland’s swing dance community.  The Hot Lovin' Jazz Babies strive to resurrect the spirit of late 1930’s small band ensembles such as Fats Waller & his Rhythm, Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra and Billie Holiday and her Orchestra.  The group has a monthly residency at the Alberta Street Public House in Portland, OR, and perform at other Portland area dance clubs.  They have also been featured at past Portland Lindy Exchanges.  The 7-piece band features Dee Settlemier on drums/vocals, Doug Sammons on guitar/vocals, Pete Lampe on bass, John Moak on trombone, David Evans on sax/clarinet, Garner Pruitt on trumpet, and Andrew Oliver on piano.  

We are excited to bring you two class tracks this year:

Solo with Laurel Ryan and Lindy Hop & Charleston with Kelly Young & Matt Richey

You can learn more about teachers & classes here.

Classes are not available à la carte and may only be purchased as part of the full weekend pass.

Schedule

9:45 Doors Open
10:00 - 11:00 AM Classes

Laurel: Get Your Spine Involved
Kelly & Matt: Redirections (Charleston)

11:15 - 12:15 PM Classes

Laurel: Wine Ya Waist
Kelly & Matt: Train Your Fast Dancing (Lindy Hop)

12:15 - 1:15 PM Lunch Break

1:15 - 2:15 PM Classes

Laurel: Contrast & Nuance
Kelly & Matt: Fill In The Blank (Charleston)

2:30 - 3:30 PM Classes

Laurel: The ABCs of Solo Jazz
Kelly & Matt: Spins & Turns (Lindy Hop)

Location: The Viscount Dance Studio (NOT Norse Hall!)

Ready to learn to swing out? Feeling a little rusty? Want to learn the opposite role?
Register for our Intro to Swing Outs clinic on Saturday!

All of the paid classes at PDXLX (included with the Weekend Pass & Early Bird Weekend Pass) are intermediate level and assume participants are comfortable with Charleston and Swingouts. The Intro to Swing Outs Series is intended for folks who are not quite ready for the intermediate level classes, but are still looking to learn something new during the exchange.

Brought to you by local teachers Austin Neverman & Darcie Juarez

Cost: $20
Register online in advance or at the door on Friday night.

Schedule:

9:30 AM Doors Open
10:00 - 11:00 Class I
11:15 - 12:15 Class II
12:15 - 1:15 Lunch Break
1:15 - 2:15 Class III
2:30 - 3:30 Class IV

Headed by bandleader Shane Allen of Eugene OR, Stomp Off Party swings the standards with vibrance & depth, bringing together voices from all corners of the Willamette Valley jazz community (and beyond!). Polyphonic and multigenerational, Stomp Off Party is collaboration at its best, digging into the American Songbook from all directions, delivering riffs and rhythms tuned expressly for dancing. Always lively, always swinging!

Schedule

7:00 Doors Open for Check In
7:30 DJ
8:00 - 11:00 Stomp Off Party
Set-breaks: DJ Nick Davis

The BIPOC Kickback is a time for BIPOCs to connect with eachother and be able to discuss their experiences or play board games and card games. (Bring some games if you want) Community members that are not attending PDXLX are welcome to join. 

This gathering is being hosted by LA-based dancer, Camille Smith.

A message from Camille:

We ask that white dancers do not attend. 

For the possible harder conversations we have 1 rule. 

1. This space requires active listening, we are there to validate the experiences of those around you, if you do have questions they are questions of how to support and understand the persons’ perspective better. We are interrogated constantly in the outside world and this is not the space to do that.

If this rule is not not abided by, I will kindly ask you to leave the space in order to maintain the sacredness of people sharing their emotions.

If anyone has questions, please contact me via email cbsmith538@gmail.com

My name Camille Smith, I am an OC dancer that has been dancing for 2 years. I have my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. I look forward to learning and dancing with everyone at PDXLX! 

Kick off for the afternoon and make new friends with a crawl through food and beverages offerings of the inner east side! Check out the map on the Venues page for the route. PDXLX staff will be around to help out.

This event is free for the community.

Passholders can pick up a PDXLX Pub Crawl Passport card at the first venue — collect three to four stamps and present at the front desk for a prize!

1:15 PM — Classes wrap up at Norse Hall

1:15 - 2:30 Lunch & Learn with Laurel Ryan at Norse Hall

2:30 - 3:45 Pan y Pueblo food cart pod + Dos Hermanos Bakery Cafe

3:45 - 4:30 Revolution Hall Show Bar + Rooftop Deck Bar

4:30 - 5:15 Level Brewing

5:15 - 5:30 VooDoo Donuts

Grab a lunch and attend a talk from PDXLX 2026 teacher & Emcee, Laurel Ryan!

This is a free community event. BYO Lunch :)

Revitalizing the Black Aesthetic in Swing Dance

Let's look at Black American social dance through the 20th and 21st centuries to find common threads and reinvigorate our dancing.

We are excited to bring you two class tracks this year:

Solo with Laurel Ryan and Lindy Hop & Charleston with Kelly Young & Matt Richey

You can learn more about teachers & classes here. Watch for class descriptions!

Classes are not available à la carte and may only be purchased as part of the full weekend pass or early bird pass.

Schedule

10:30 Doors Open
11:00 - 12:00 PM Classes

Laurel: Don’t Mind If I Tranky Do
Kelly & Matt: Elements of Dance (Charleston)

12:15 - 1:15 PM Classes

Laurel: Grooving. But, like, for real.
Kelly & Matt: The Upside Down (Lindy Hop)

1:15 Break for Lunch & Learn

Anyone with a pass for our Thursday Night Kick-Off Party is eligible to enter this contest!

Sign up with a partner to show off your best lindy hop moves and grooves.

Details:

There is NO COST to enter this contest.
This is a Strictly — you must sign up with a partner.

8:00 PM Deadline to SIGN UP at front desk
8:30 PM CHECK IN at front desk to receive your numbered bib
8:50 PM MEET UP near the stage toward the end of the first band set
9:00 PM CONTEST

ALL-SKATE Prelims — three songs, tap-IN for finals

SPOTLIGHT Finals — 165 - 190 bpm

Judging will be based on attention to your partner, attention to the music, technique, and entertainment. Aerials are permitted. Judges will confer and announce winners by the end of the band break, or shortly thereafter.

PLEASE NOTE this dance is NOT INCLUDED in the Full Weekend Pass or the Party Pass.

Portland’s longest-running swing dance moonlights as the kick-off party for PDXLX 2026!

The Minidoka Swing Band remembers the Japanese Americans who were interned behind barbed wire during WWII with big band sounds from the 1930’s, 1940’s and beyond. The band’s name comes from the Minidoka Internment Camp near Twin Falls, Idaho, one of ten major camps where Japanese Americans from Portland and Washington State were imprisoned by the U.S. government without due process. To give a sense of normalcy to the lives of the teenagers and young adults, the camps often held Saturday night dances to make the best of a horrific situation.

To celebrate the kick-off of PDXLX, we’ll also feature a FREE dance contest and a FREE taster lesson in addition to our standard Foundations Lesson.

Schedule

6:00 PM Doors open for check-in, bar will be open
6:45 - 7:45 PM Upstairs Ballroom Lindy Hop Foundations Lesson w/ Sam Estrem
‍ ‍ Downstairs Ballroom House Dance Taster Lesson w/ Decimus
8:00 - 10:30 PM Minidoka Swing Band

9:00 - 9:30 PM Dance Contest!