Dear Casey: Moving for dancing and top destination Seattle
by Casey Schneider
Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. During the past months, we introduced her column through archived articles from WhiteHeat. It’s now time to send in your questions - please do so at casey@lindybloggers.com
Dear Casey,
Lately, I’ve been reading about dancers moving to greener pastures for dancing. Specifically, there have been two threads on Yehoodi with people chiming in about “Pick up and move for dancing” and the “Next big dance scene“.
Many people say that Seattle is the top destination to move to. Since you live in Seattle, I thought I’d ask you for your opinion. What do you think about this discussion, and would you recommend that dancers move to a better dance scene in order to improve?
Itching to move,
Seattle Fanboy
Fanboy,
Okay, okay, I’m biased. I love Seattle. I love its size, its geography, its culture (yes, even despite the “Seattle freeze” and passive aggressiveness), and especially its dancing. I forget how blessed I am - and I say “blessed” even as an atheist - to live in a scene with some of the nation’s top dancers; a huge community of very strong beginner, intermediate, and advanced dancers; one of my favorite dance venues ever (the Century Ballroom); close friends with whom I practice and perform; world class annual events; and many of the best DJs around. It’s easy to find inspiration.
But enough with my masturbatory love of Seattle. To answer your question, yes, one of the easiest ways to advance one’s dancing is to live around a lot of other dancers. The more dancers you regularly
are in contact with, the more ideas, skill levels, styles, etc. you are exposed to and the greater impact they have. To the point - it certainly doesn’t hurt.
I have factored in dance in my decision of where to reside…I narrowed my graduate school options to three places, and ultimately chose D.C., because frankly, I’d rather live in a city with a big dance scene than Tampa or some place in Arizona (sh*t, I can’t even remember where it was anymore). And, I moved back to Seattle, in part, because of the connections I’d made through dance.
That said, I have doubts about anyone who makes the decision about where they spend the majority of their time based solely on dance. I am a realist and “practicalist” (?) - other quality of life items should factor in…ability to get a job, cost of living, climate/geographic preferences, proximity to friends and family, etc. If one is really hell bent on spending every last minute and penny on dance, then you should rent some craphole in Scranton and spend money traveling. That lifestyle is simply unattractive to me. I know plenty of excellent dancers who are part of small scenes, but have gained their skill through devoted practice and lots of travel.
In short - love where you live and your love of the dance will follow you. (Eff, I should slap that on a greeting card with a black and white picture of an old couple dancing, sell it to Hallmark and become
a millionaire. Saaaaaappy.)
Casey
Send your questions to casey@lindybloggers.com and read last week’s Dear Casey: When to hug or kiss and other cultural differences in social dancing
Sounds like you know the Tampa scene first hand… you make my eyes green for greener (?) pastures. That’s a lot of green.
I keep hearing of some conspiracy drawing dancers into Seattle. What could prompt such a thing?
There was a conspiracy at one time. Three of us follows were working on three leads to move here in 2006. Two did (once since moved away). The conspiracy really paid off for me though - I got a dance partner out of it. Albeit he’s a real pain in my ass, but a pretty good dancer.
Casey: was there a conspiracy to steal my dance partner as well? Give Melanie back - I miss her!
Carolyn Palma, Matt Menzer, Kelly Porter, Michael Darigol, Joshua Welter, Mike Kihara - the list of dancers from Seattle I find inspiring goes on and on.
My theory is that there’s a secret LindyHopper-producing island off the Pacific Northwest coast, where people train to do dropkicks like this:
Goddamn it, I still laugh every time I see this video. One of the best air steps I’ve ever seen. Mark (Kihara) and Darla are awesome, as is any time Mike gets kicked in the chest. Best footage I’ve ever shot.
Wow, I just burst out laughing in class. That was embarrassing. I can’t believe I haven’t seen that before. Thanks for that, Alain.
I just read this and had to add something else about Seattle that is sometimes over looked…
Seattle, does not have it’s own style.
I never really thought about it until a visiting dancer was telling me what they really liked about Seattle dance scene as we stood taking a break at Century Ballroom the other night.
when they mentioned that, I pondered……Thinking back to every city, country I’ve been to this past year and had to agree.
That’s simply because most (not all) dancers are in fact transplants. And while everyone gets inspired by each other, it’s not one of those cities stuck in one tempo, or everyone looking like “so & so” the instructor.
We have Venue’s each night that everyone goes under one roof and dances, There is Competition for Century Ballroom on Wed or Sun. so every dancer, and some damn good ones are all there….you can help but sit sometimes and just drink it in.
and lastly, I think we must admit, it’s nice living in a city you don’t need a car, and as a scene, we walk places together, drink together etc…it’s just so nice, but this is coming from someone from Los Angeles…=)
While Seattle is not the largest swing dance in the world, it certainly has a ability level second to none…
Peter’s comment: “That’s simply because most (not all) dancers are in fact transplants.”
This is a very interesting fact. I think this comment extends beyond just the lindy hop scene - Seattle seems to be a city full of transplants. All the “locals” I know are not technically Seattle natives and most grew up in the ‘burbs. Question: There are kids that grew up in Seattle proper, so where the hell do the go when they grow up? (Ha, probably the ‘burbs.)
Way off topic for a national blog, O know, but I grew up in Seattle proper. I grew up in North Seattle, very close to Sonny’s. Not the burbs, but not what most people think of as Seattle.
My first dance was one of those Living Tradition swing/waltz split dances. Scary… I though one of those old couples trucking round the line of dance was gonna run me down.
I have to agree with Casey’s assessment: don’t come to Seattle only for the dance . . . come because you love it, and the dancing will make you love it all the more. That said, moving to Seattle for grad school definitely made me a better and more inspired dancer. And the breadth of people’s vision here: I mean, where the hell else are you able to say something like “I’d like to figure out how to do vintage burlesque fan dancing” and have someone there (Mia) who’s like “yeah, I’m all about it, let’s spend about 100 hours studying clips, make giant $300 ostrich feather fans and go for it.” I love the collaborations that I get to do here that seem impossible anywhere else (or maybe that’s my imagination).
I should also mention to Carl (who is reading this, I’m sure), that there is in fact a well-organized conspiracy to get you to move out here– make no mistake about it. We decided after your visit that we would like to keep you (and by we I mean Falty and myself and at least a dozen others who cannot be named for their protection). When we decide these things we most often get our way– so just be aware of you fate.
-K
[...] Send your questions to casey@lindybloggers.com and read her previous post Dear Casey: Moving for dancing and top destination Seattle [...]
I think Seattle is an awesome place to live and an awesome place to dance. That’s be where I would head over any other scene in the US.
Casey, I have to disagree with something you said: “If one is really hell bent on spending every last minute and penny on dance, then you should rent some craphole in Scranton and spend money traveling.” It shouldn’t be Scranton, it should be Pittsburgh, PA HANDS DOWN! Why? Because you can buy a house for less than the price of a luxury car (I am talking between $8,000 - $70,000) meaning rent would be super freaking cheap and the Pittsburgh Airport is one of the all-time best airports in the United States! Free wifi, cheap food, short security lines, and public transportation. What’s not to love!! In 2007 Pittsburgh was rated “America’s Most Livable City” by Places Rated Almanac and because it was once a big-time city, it has all the amenities of a large city but not the population.
Otherwise Seattle Fanboy (or anyone else who made it this far into the comment section), you should pick up and move to Vilnius, Lithuania. They have the BEST lindy hop scene in the world, in my opinion, bar none. Yes, it’s gets a little cold in the winter, but so does DC. Yes, you might not speak Lithuanian, but English is an international language and most people under 30 speak the language. The music in the scene is freaking awesome, the dancers are wicked talented, and most of them play instruments, tap, sing, or do something else artistic, meaning when you get tired of dancing (at like 4am), they will most likely bust out some instruments and throw down some local tunage. The Vilnius lindy hop scene amazing!!!! And if you work with computers in some capacity, you most likely can work remotely. Oh yeah, and the litas (Lithuanian currency) is not that strong at the moment, meaning the dollar goes a long ways, and because they are making to move over to euros in the next few years, chances are you could “move up” in monetary notes just by hanging around!
Think about it.