All the cool cats are here, wearing their glad-rags, ready to swing. "I'm completely into swing," says baseball-hatted film producer Jack Armstrong. He's ready to step it out at The Sugar Club on Leeson Street and take part in the latest dance craze. "It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing and you can quote me on that," he says.
Right on cue, Swing Nouveau slips into gear on stage, playing the Charleston, a number of Gershwin songs and the shag and shim sham. We're getting in the mood. Rebecca Smith sings "Our love is here to stay/not for a year but for ever and a day/In time the Rockies may crumble/ Gibraltar may tumble/they're only made of clay/but our love is here to stay."
Even with the Baileys jitterbug and boogie cocktails going around, it's still too early for actor Liam Cunningham to swing. No, he doesn't think he'll take it up. Is it the hectic schedule? "No, my legs wouldn't allow it."
Dance teacher Jane Shorthall is unfazed. "It's very accessible to people who have never danced before," she says. "Guys and girls, young and old, can do it."
Oisin Davis, manager of the club, says he dances like "a hung-over frog", so swing might be a little bit difficult for him. Carolene Hinds and Russell Sargeant, two professional dancers over from London to show us how to do it, are about to let rip. Dressed appropriately, they do the lindy hop.
"Do you swing?" - some take our question to be a very naughty one indeed. "Are you asking if I'm AC/DC," laughs one cheeky graphic designer.
Kevin Courtney, happening rock journalist who features in the current issue of Harpers & Queen as eminently eligible, is up for swing. "I'm a swinging guy," he says with the swagger of a dancing champion. "I'm in danger of becoming the oldest swinger in town."
As to the mag spread where he's billed as "an irresistible opportunity" in the "hottest property section", he says "I'm an ambassador for Irish bachelors. There are loads of great Irish lads and most of them are as charming and interesting as me. I'm very flattered because it proves that, when it comes to eligibility, money isn't everything." The fact that he can't walk down Temple Bar without being mobbed is a small price to pay.