Remembering Belinda Ricklefs, who taught the Bay Area to do the Lindy hop

"Belinda Ricklefs, a ballroom dance and Lindy hop instructor in the Bay Area since 1975, and the founder of Sunday Swing at the Lake Merritt Dance Center and Live Oak Park, passed away on Nov. 7, 2025, at her care home in Pinole. She was 89. Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Belinda lived a long and varied life. She started dancing at age 5, and did her first jitterbugging as a teenager at Friday night socials in a church basement. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Asian History (and was a Phi Beta Kappa member) in 1957."

"In her words, she tried getting married, but that "did not cook," and she became a computer programmer at Lockheed in the early days, "before people took classes in how to do that." Belinda was an adventurer. She went to France at age 27 because the US was too stifling, and she was a "failure" according to what women were supposed to be and do in the '50s. She lived in France for 9 years, making friendships that endured even at long distances."

"She liked swing because it was fun and funny. Not as many rules as tango or other dances. With LaurieAnn Lepoff and others, she began to build the Lindy community, never imagining the scene that exists today. She became friends and taught with Frankie Manning in the last 15 years of his life as the ambassador of Lindy hop. The Lindy hop is a lively partner dance that originated in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s."

Belinda Ricklefs taught ballroom dance and Lindy hop in the Bay Area from 1975 and founded Sunday Swing at the Lake Merritt Dance Center and Live Oak Park. Born in Los Angeles in 1936, she began dancing at age five and jitterbugged as a teenager at Friday-night church socials. She graduated from Stanford in 1957 with a BA in Asian History and Phi Beta Kappa. She worked as an early computer programmer at Lockheed, did bookkeeping for KPFA, and collaborated on movement with the New Shakespeare Company of San Francisco. She helped build the Lindy community and taught with Frankie Manning, emphasizing persistence in teaching.

Read at The Oaklandside