The life of the professional swing dance instructor isn’t all luxury flights to exotic locals like Cleveland to teach and dance all night. There is also what we call “corporate gigs,” which often involve some passive aggressive PR rep, usually named something like Mercedes, who hires us to entertain large parties. The only reason we take these gigs is because they usually pay well and often involve a free dinner of some meat wrapped in bacon. However, more often than not, they lead to the kind of experiences we had at a recent gig.

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The casting company needed a greaser and a poodle skirt girl for a Country Club 1950s-themed party, and Jeff Booth was out of town. The gig came to us, and I set aside my t-shirt, blue jeans and loafers. They wanted Kate, however, to send them a picture of her outfit. It was an actual period 50s attire, something you would have seen in the actual 50s, minus a poodle on the skirt. This would not do. They wanted Kate to drive the hour down to DC, pick up a poodle skirt from their poodle skirt warehouse, and drive back. They’d reimburse her $25 for the two and a half hours it would take. She instead went out and bought a poodle to put on her skirt. She showed them the outfit, and, no, they’d really REALLY encourage getting one of their poodle skirts. They would ship it Fed Ex.

She ended up persuading them that her outfit was fine, but it took several emails and a headache to do so. We suspected some form of middle-aged demon was behind this. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dancer Interviews, Event Reviews | Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Andrew Thigpen (Atlanta, GA), creator of the Lindy Calendar, gives us a review of the Canadian Swing Championships (CSC 2009) this past weekend.

He’ll be our guest emcee and will also be teaching with dance partner Karen Turman at the Cat’s Corner 11th anniversary in Montreal on Halloween weekend Oct.30 - Nov.1st, 2009. Thanks Andrew!

Filed Under: Dancer Interviews, Event Reviews | Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

This video was compiled for a memorial dance at the Jam Cellar in Washington DC.

Filed Under: Dance Community, Dancer Interviews | Thursday, April 30th, 2009

For non-Canadians, Quebec can refer to the province of Quebec, Canada’s only pre-dominantly French-speaking population, or the city of Quebec, which is the capital of the province of Quebec. It was established in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain as the colonial outpost for the colony of New France. It’s also the land of poutine (gravy, French fries and cheese curds).

The Québec Swing Rendez-Vous has been a fixture in the Quebec scene for the past four years. Attracting the majority of dancers in the region, as well as out-of-towners, the event grew in size every year since 2006. This year was announced as the last one, as the organizers decided to focus their energy on demanding non-dance careers.

Here’s my look back at four years of swing at the Québec Swing Rendez-Vous.

QSRV 2006

My first time dancing in La Grande Capitale happened at the inaugural Quebec Swing Rendez-Vous. The main venue was the talk of the event - we danced inside La Citadelle de Quebec, a fortified battlement also known as the Gibraltar of America. In addition to being an official Residence for the Governor General of Canada since 1872, it houses an active military garrison. Shaped as a fortified maze with armed guards at the entrance, I had the impression that we were entering a top-secret military complex where scientist experimented with new biochemical weapons on swing dancers!

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Filed Under: Dancer Interviews, Event Reviews | Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Two weekends ago I attended the fourth and final edition of the Quebec Swing Rendez-Vous. The demanding careers of the organizers precipitated the end of this popular northeastern event promoting Lindy Hop, Balboa, Charleston, Shag and other authentic jazz dances. I’m saddened because it was my one excuse every year to travel to Quebec City, the provincial capital.

This is a two part series covering this year’s event highlight, an hour-and-a-half long musical comedy directed by Geneviève Kérouac, and the QSRV itself over the years.

Swing Station

Directed by Genevieve Kerouac, Swing Station is described as a clownesque-musical-comedy. Here’s the introduction:

“Swing station, 1925 – Dans une gare vit un musicien. Dans son placard, lui faisant office de chambre, il se lève tous les matins. La station “ SWING ” lui servant de scène, il y joue tous les jours son refrain pour son public de voyageurs. Pourtant chaque soir, il rêve à sa belle, partie dans la grande ville y gagner son pain.”

Non-literal translation: In a station lives a musician. He wakes up daily in a closet doubling as his sleeping room. Using the station as a backdrop for his music, every day he plays his choruses for travelers and passerbys. And each night, he dreams of his love, lost to the riches of the big city.

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Filed Under: Dancer Interviews, Event Reviews | Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Arassay Reyes and Izaak Smith performed a Punk Rock Lindy Hop choreography on So You Think You Can Dance Canada this week. The dance piece was choreographed by Benji Schwimmer, winner of season two on SYTYCD USA and champion West Coast Swing dancer.

Watch the video here:

I started a discussion in the Lindy Hop community, and so far there have been some heated reactions to this choreography. You can also view comments on the Youtube video.

My first thoughts were (1) this is not swing music (2) Benji Schwimmer is not a Lindy Hop dancer (3) why didn’t they hire a real Lindy Hopper for the choreography like they did with Nick Williams on SYTYCD USA?

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Filed Under: Dance Community, Dancer Interviews, Upcoming Events | Friday, November 21st, 2008

This is the second part of a two-part feature with World Lindy Hop Champion and Balboa Mastermind Nick Williams. For this part, Williams, an avid “clip collector” and swing-dance historian, takes us on a brief You Tube tour of some of his favorite clips, and discusses how much of modern swing was shaped by Harlem, Hollywood, and a few jitterbugs practicing on a beach.

DAY AT THE RACES

NW. “A Day At The Races” is so significant because it’s the first time Lindy Hop from Harlem was performed in a major motion picture. If you notice the lack of aerials in the clip which is from the year 1937. It was the beginning stages of air steps in Lindy Hop. The focus is on dance and mini routines for the most part. Personally I’ve taken a lot of material and routines from this clip. I haven’t taken as much styling from this clip because it of the simplicity in this clip and the fact that I prefer how the dance developed in the next few years.

Referring to your styling comment, I’m always amazed, looking at this clip after becoming a studier of swing dance, how “raw” the dancing is, [not necessarily related to the somewhat ambiguous term "raw" style dancing.] There’s definitely a lot of refinement that happens between this and the Whitey’s dancing only a few years later.  I don’t think it’s bad dancing, it’s just fascinating to see. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance History, Dancer Interviews | Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

This is the first part of a two-part feature with World Lindy Hop Champion and Balboa Mastermind Nick Williams. For the second part, Williams, an avid “clip collector” and historian, will take us on a You Tube tour of some of his favorite clips.  First, though, we sat down with Nick over IM to talk about Lindy Hop, Balboa, and the unseen dangers of shooting a commercial.

I’m sitting here (metaphorically speaking) with Nick Williams, champion Swing Dancer.  Let’s do the obligatory ones first…how did you start swing dancing?

NW. I started when I went to college at USC.  My longtime friend knew of a student-run club that offered a 12 week swing course.  We joined and immediately got hooked.  This was in the beginning of 1998. I had seen the movies like “Swing Kids” but never really mad e the connection or realized there was an entire scene with such awesome dances to go along with it. Visalia, where I grew up, wasn’t exactly a hip and happening town, so I had to find these things out when I moved to LA for school.  So I knew very little about jazz at all.

Was there a particular moment when you decided that what you wanted to do for a living was be an incredible swing dancer? Or did it just happen slowly?

NW. Well, I had been going out dancing with my USC friends and never realized there was a “swing scene.” There were so many clubs at that time that had swing nights in LA it was easy to get lost into it. Eventually I realized there was a scene with top dancers and friends that knew each other from club to club. Although I never thought I could be as good as they were. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dancer Interviews, Upcoming Events | Monday, September 29th, 2008

This past spring, I had the chance to work on a choreography with Max Pitruzzella, an Italian from France now living in Montreal. He’s well-known for wowing crowds with his acrobatic routines with partner Annie Trudeau, but that’s not what comes to mind first when I think of him. Actually, what comes to mind first is one word, and that word is “Badass”. Whether he’s wearing it on a cap, a t-shirt or adding it to the soundtrack of a performance, he has used that term so often that you can’t help but repeat it or revile it.

Here’s the routine that Max and I danced at the Canadian Swing Championships this year.

Filed Under: Dancer Interviews | Friday, September 19th, 2008

I had the chance to interview Michael Faltesek (Mike Faltesek, Falty) via e-mail a while ago.  He will be teaching at Cat’s Corner’s Tenth anniversary in Montreal alongside Stefan and Bethany.

1)  Where and when did you start dancing?

I started dancing in 1997 in Saint Paul, MN at a place called the Wabasha Street Caves.  They have a live big band playing every week, and it was one of the few venues that was all ages as I was only 17 at the time.  I remember that place quite fondly.

2)  What was it about jazz that got you so hooked?

This is a difficult question to answer, as I am still uncovering things about the beauty of jazz all the time.  There are a few things that stand out, however.  Growing up in the 80s and 90s, the popular music on the radio and that my classmates listened to was very manufactured, one dimensional, and not intellectually stimulating.  Jazz was a breathe of fresh air.  Complicated but based on a basic structure of mostly 32 bar or 16 bar choruses, rife with improvisation and playfulness.  It’s the type of music that works its way in through your ears and out through your feet.  It runs the gamut of emotions, but you always walk away feeling much happier after listening.  I also have always preferred acoustic instrumentation to it’s electrified counterpart.  I feel electric music serves to distance the listener from the music, but acoustic music is like a warm hug that just brings you right in and says “There, there.  Did that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy hurt you?”.

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Filed Under: Dancer Interviews | Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008