The Killer Boogie line dance is a routine that was choreographed by Marcus Koch, a pioneer and a multiple time world champion in boogie woogie. The routine is jam packed with boogie woogie style solo jazz material all performed to one furiously fast tempo piano recording. It is also one of the newer line dances seen on the swing dance circuit today, but it has a history that dates back decades.

In 1973 Jan Rietman, a Dutch pianist and radio announcer released “Killer Boogie” as a solo piano recording. Twenty-four years later, Boogie Woogie and Lindy Hop extraordinaire Marcus Koch released a video, “Footwork Fast and Fancy,” which featured his short dance routine to that recording.

“Hold on to your hats, button your britches, and tie your shoes,” instructed Koch. “This is the ‘Killer Boogie,’ with 256 beats per minute.” He showed how one can dance at that speed, using an arsenal of common and newly dreamed-up Boogie Woogie footwork patterns.

A decade later, Marcus with help from a talented protégé completed the choreography to fit the full length of the song. “It’s like a marathon-length routine danced at the pace of the 100-meter dash,” says Paolo Lanna, swing dance impresario. The dance debuted in 2015 at the Rock That Swing Festival in Munich Germany. It has become one of the festival’s highlights, following performances on the weekend’s biggest night. When the song comes on, a pack of talented boogie woogie pros take over the floor dancing in almost perfect sychronicity, and at a lightning speed. It’s just wild!

Here are some related articles:
“Dozens Of Dancers Line Up & Launch Into Fancy Swing Routine That’ll Make Your Head Spin” by Kimberly White for InspireMore
https://www.inspiremore.com/killer-boogie-swing-routine/

More on Marcus Koch
https://www.policoroinswing.com/en/marcus-koch-and-barbl-kaufer

Biography from Herrange Dance Camp
https://www.herrang.com/teachers/marcus-koch

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