Camp Jitterbug 2018

Or "The super epic weekend filled with so many magical moments I don't know what to do with myself". But ya know, that title was a little too long. ;)

Camp Jitterbug was amazing.

I could end it there, but that would be boring. So let's get down to the real nitty gritty.

Sorry friends, I can't seem to help myself.

Friday Night
The night it all began. Check-in at Knights of Columbus started at 6pm and being the typical Sereina that I am, I was there a little bit before that. I checked in, got my wristband, and most importantly bought a Camp Jitterbug t-shirt. I feel super legit now, friends.

While I was putting on my shoes (or after? I really have no idea.) I met Jamee. He's an awesome guy, great dancer, and can become friends with anyone pretty much instantly. We danced a few songs to warm up, then it was time for an our long collegiate shag class. Heck yeah! If you know me, you know that collegiate shag is something I'm really interested in and have practiced a bit on my own, but had never actually had a real class. Until now. Dun, dun, duuuunnnn (If you don't make that sound dramatic in your head, I might be disappointed).

Photo by Marc Dodobara

The instructors where Nick and Laura. I'd never had a class with them before, but now I'm a fan. They're both great dancers and really fun in class. We learned the basic shag footwork and how to do a turn. A lot of people came out to the class too, which was really great to see!

** I'm going to take a moment here and pause, because I just remembered that told Kendall I would send her photos and I sent her nothing. #fail I'm sorry, Kendall. You're still my favorite! **

The Balboa Social prelims were immediately after, which were fun to watch, then it was off to Century for the first dance of the weekend. You can't go wrong with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenades and it was an amazing band to start the event off with! I've listed to his alubums many a time, so it was dreamy to dance to him live. I danced, and danced, and danced some more, then there was the Balboa Social finals, followed by more dancing. I think headed home about 12:30am? Some things are just a blur.

Photo by Marc Dodobara

Saturday Morning
At a too-early 11am, we had our first class of the weekend. I was in the advanced track (I originally registered for intermediate plus, but Ben told me I should be in the advanced track, so I switched 'cause Ben knows what's up). We started with two hours with Christian and Jenny, both new-to-me instructors that I've watched on YouTube many a time. We worked on a comination that included swingouts, a texas tommy, and some four count moves and really refined and fine tuned them. Definitely a good start off to classes!

After that it was time for lunch. I got some Chipotle, before the lunchtime lecture with Chester, which was super educational and entertaining. I don't remember specifically what he talked about (I seriously need to take notes next time), expect that it was really good. He has so many incredible stories and there's never enough time to hear them all!

Once our lunch was over, we had an hour with Ann and Ryan. I'd taken classes with them before and I really like there emphasis on breaking free from doing the same patterns again and again and being goofy. Literally the whole class was spent doing rhythm stuff which was a great exercise in getting out of the rut of doing the same patterns all the time. Then we had our last class of the day with Nick and Laura. We focused on doing an arm slide turn and really broke it down and did some fun stuff with it.

Photo by Marc Dodobara

That afternoon was the prelims for the Beginner Social and Open Social competitions. Watching the Beginner Social was great, as everyone had so much energy and was having such a great time. Then right after I got to compete in the Open Social. It was my first big competition and I had a lot of fun, even though it definitely wasn't my best dancing. The last song was, unsurprisingly, a fast one and I nearly lost my glasses! They slipped most of the way off my face (from all of that sweat, no doubt), but I was able to by some miracle push them back on while dancing like crazy. Then since the contest was short on followers, I got to do it again, without being judged, in the third heat. Gotta love some extra competition practice!

(I'm in heat one with the blue top and black twirly skirt. Oh, and the bright red hair bow and shoes.)

Also, something that kinda surprised myself was that I wasn't nervous leading up to or during the prelims. Like, at all. When I first started dancing the thought of doing something like that seemed exciting, but made me really nervous. Now it apparently doesn't even phase me. There was such a great energy from the crowd that it just made me more excited and made me smile more. Love how enthusiastic the lindy hop community is about everyone and everything!

After the prelims, there was a few hours until the evening dance. After I let the sweat simmer down a bit (seriously, KofC gets so stinkin' hot and muggy) I ended up meeting and grabbing dinner with Cale, who I met while leaving the venue. We chatted about all sorts of dance stuff (always a good time) and got some food before heading back to KofC for the dance.

Saturday Night
On Saturday night we had the pleasure of dancing to The Greg Ruby Six. Being a local, I'm spoiled by getting to dance to Grey Ruby on a regular basis, but the lineup that night was perfection. It didn't take long for the room to become incredibly muggy from all us dancers having a fun time. Before long it was time for the Beginner Social and Open Social finals, which were both so much fun to watch! I was really impressed with how many different styles there were in the Open Social. They were all so dang amazing. That night we also did the Shim Sham and had an amazing performance from Chester's Advanced Plus class. Uhhhhh, amazing much?!?!?!?

That night I was sweating so much (is telling you I felt like a slimy fish TMI?) that I couldn't keep hydrated fast enough. The only water fountain was upstairs in the men's bathroom, so hooray for guys who don't mind filling up water bottles for dehydrated dancers such as myself. (You dah best, Jamee!)

The dance ended at 11:30pm and the late night started at midnight at Century, but I was feeling pretty wiped and decided to go home and catch some z's. Plus I needed drive the half hour home safely.

Sunday Morning
After a stop at Emerald City Smoothie for a gigantic protein powder filled smoothie (if I could live on those, I would), it was off to KofC for morning classes. I woke up a bit swungover and with a headache, but was hoping some liquid gel Aleve would help (spoiler: it didn't). Us advanced track peeps got to spend two hours with Michael and Evita morning. Couldn't ask for a better way to start of the start the day. We worked on a lot of good stuff, but there was a lot of focus on turns (all different types) that was really, really good. Oh, and many pro tips (if you where there, you know what I mean).

Once lunchtime rolled around I grabbed some pad thai from Ting Tong Thai, the restaurant they have cater at KofC, before Chester's lecture, this time on the history of jazz music (which was phenomenal and once again, highly entertaining). For several of the styles he got volunteers to dance, who were all really awesome. Shelby and Lily did the cakewalk and looked wonderful, Shane and Nika did lindy with breakaways (their energy is amazing), and Ryan and Jenny did some blues stuff which was great. Definitely the best lunch break of the weekend.

Photo via Tonya Morris

Right after lunch we had class with Chester. Now, going into this we knew we were going to perform. And being Chester, I knew it would probably be something fast. But let's be real, I wasn't expecting White Heat fast. Though I have to say, the more the routine started coming together, the more I fell in love with it. The choreography was just so fun. Plus we were so go, go, go that I couldn't feel my achy feet and that headache I had was finally gone. Now I know Chester's classes work better than painkillers.

Our last class was with Andy and Ann. We worked on a couple "moves" to practice allowing the follows to be creative and influence the dance with our partners. It was really good practice for me to do something and really follow through with it (ha, pun not intended). When Ann asked if any follows wanted to try what we were doing with Andy, I couldn't get my hand up fast enough. I was tempted to ask to try it with him just a few minutes before, so that ended up working out well!

After classes there were more competition prelims, this time the Lindy Hop Couples and Short Showcases. Dang, those dancers in the couples comp were so amazing! And the showcases were really good, with a lot of great choreography. For a little bit afterwards, before we had to be out of the venue, I practiced some of the White Heat routine with a couple of awesome ladies I met. One of them was Darcie (Hi, Darcie! Excited to see you in Portland in a few weeks.) and another lady who's name I unfortunately don't remember (you're awesome!).

Sunday Night
Between the classes and evening dance Roberto invited a bunch of people to a rooftop BBQ and jam at his place. The weather was perfect for it too: the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was great to just relax and socialize with other people, especially with the ones who were visiting from out of town. There was lots music and laughter that evening, which made it pretty much perfect. This was also the point the the weekend when Jamee realized he'd been missing out on lime tortilla chips his whole life and couldn't stop talking about them. I'm legit going to give him a bag of lime chips the next time I see him, because how can I not.

Photo via Jason Warner

Before we knew it, it was time to make our way back to Century to dance on our incredibly sore feet. 'Cause that's what dancers do. We dance till we die. And that reminds me: someone, I don't remember who, commented that pain makes you know you're alive, to which I replied, I must be very, very alive then, 'cause my feet were sore as heck!

Before the band started, Chester did a short class where we did a 10 minute song dancing through the decades. Tons of fun and a great way to kick off the night. Then the band started, The Casey MacGill Orchestra. They were on fire! As per usual I danced, danced, and danced some more. Some of us locals performed some choreography to Swing Nation. I only kinda knew what I was doing, but we all seemed to have a blast. Then we watched in awe as the finalists from the Lindy Hop Couples contest threw down their best stuff. Always super inspiring.

Photo by Marc Dodobara

After the finals, Casey decided to do the Shim Sham, literally right after they played a super long song for the finals. Definitely can't complain about that! During the second half when you're partnered I got to dance with Ann and she was just as fun and goofy to dance with as you think she would be! Then it was out to the hallway to go over choreography with Chester. He got the instructors involved and they were practicing their stuff while we practiced ours. Going over choreography with Chester in the hallway is pretty much a tradition at this point: All of us dancers crowded together, blocking traffic, trying to clean up the routine. Then it was time to perform. Oh. my. goodness. I never had so much fun performing in my life. Yeah, I totally messed up a couple parts, but I was having the time of my life out there and it was awesome.

The last competition of the event was the Slow Strictly, at 12:30am. It was really fun to watch (I know, I sound like a broken record by now), and those finalists were crazy good. I danced a bit more before heading home at 1:30am, on a dancy cloud of happiness.

Monday
The last day. Super sad because the event is practically over, but happy because my feet can stop complaining. This was also the best night of sleep I got all weekend and didn't really feel swungover, which surprised me.

Monday was electives day, which I spent with Michael and Evita because A) they're awesome, and B) I'm lazy and don't want to change venues. Keepin' it real folks.

The first class was called Games of Rhythm, where we learned three different swing out styling. The next elective I didn't do, but watched, was an aerials class. I've obviously seen aerials before, but I'd never seen how they were broken down and taught, so just watching was definitely educational. And the very last class of the weekend was Seamless Conversations. In this one we didn't learn any moves, but did some exercises on feeling connected to your partner, both as a lead and as a follow, and how both roles can be involved in influencing how the dance proceeded. This was such a good class and made me aware of things I can to do improve my connection and communicate with my partner better.

Thankfully for those of us who didn't have to head out of town right away (perks of being a local), there was the final dance with the Jonathan Doyle Quintet, another local favorite, and with a crazy sweet lineup. I had some really good dances, which surprised me, given how exhausted I was at that point. There was one dance it particular with Ben where I felt like a million bucks. He's always so much fun to dance with and is always pushing me with more and more advanced stuff, which I really awesome. Not long after there was jam circle (which I was happy about, because I missed the one on Sunday night when we were practicing choreography with Chester in the hallway. That was a sad moment. I love jam circles.) and Lily and I got to start it. That was a first for me, and super awesome, especially since it was with Lily.

And that's pretty much the end of my Camp Jitterbug weekend.

To sum it up: IT WAS AMAZING.

The classes and instructors were so good. The bands blew me away every night. The competitions were super inspiring. I got to spend time with lots of my favorite people + make a ton of new friends from near and far. Really though, this event wouldn't be the same without all the wonderful people. I love you all and can't wait to do it again next year for the 20th anniversary.

Lots of love,
A very happy Seattle lindy hopper

B'ham Swing Jam 2017

Photo via Natalie Lang

Last weekend was the first ever B'ham Swing Jam in Bellingham and it was a blast! Great classes, lots of dancing, fun competitions, new friends, fabulous bands; it was all really awesome.

Friday afternoon I was heading home to pick up my stuff before leaving town when I accidentally ran a red light and got ran into. Thankfully I was perfectly fine, though the side of my car definitely wasn't. I was able to get a ride with another dancer that was staying at the same host as I, for which I am really grateful for! We arrived in Bellingham around 8:00pm and headed straight to The Majestic Ballroom. I'd never been there before, but I quickly fell in love with the venue; it's the most adorable place! The event kicked off with Bellingham's own band, Hot House and everyone danced, danced, danced until midnight.


The next morning Chelsea and I got up and ready and stopped at the food co-op for breakfast; they had a lot of good gluten-free options there, which made me really happy! I grabbed a oat brownie bar (so healthy, I know) and a smoothie, then we headed to The Majestic for classes. I was in the intermediate/advanced class which started with Ann and Ryan. We spent most of the time working on our tension and compression and learned a couple moves that really focused on that. Our time with Ariel and Leo where we kept adding more and more breaks and once we were at the bare basics built it up from there. This was something I really appreciated as this is something I've struggled with and I now have a lot of inspiration and encouragement for stuff to practice on the social floor.

There was also an elective solo jazz class which I went to that day. It was Ariel's day to teach and we learned the second half of the routine that would be performed Sunday night; a lot of the moves I hadn't done before, so I was really happy to learn some new ones! But by the end of the class everyone was so exhausted. There were several of us just sitting on the floor chillin' afterwards 'cause we didn't want to move. Ha!

Photo via Natalie Lang

After grabbing dinner with some other dancers and relaxing for a little bit the best night of dancing began. We danced to the fabulous Jen Hodge All-Stars for hours; there were a lot of Seattle and Canada dancers that night, so the floor was filled for a fun night. After the band ended at midnight, the late night dance and competitions began. The first was an ambidextrous Jack 'n Jill where dancers had to both lead and follow. Throughout the wee hours of the night Lily, who was DJing, kept playing fast songs and kept saying she wasn't trying to kill us. Not sure I believed her. ;) The second comp was another Jack 'n Jill, but instead of being scored by judges we judged the person we just danced with; I thought that was a fun twist! I competed in this one and had a blast, specially on the last song, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, which was so. much. fun. And then the finals were just as fun to watch. There were two couples and about half way through the song Nika (one of the finalists) cut in and grabbed the other follow and danced a good portion of the song with each others partners! It was so much fun. Some people somehow had energy to do the Big Apple at 2am, then at some point we did the Cha Cha Slide. I know I've used this word so many times already, but it was all so much fun! The night ended with the final competition, which was left a surprise until we did it. Follows got three paper flags to stick on the back of themselves then once the music started we were only allowed to swing out and follows tried to grab flags from other followers and the couple with the most flags at the end win. That was a blast and super creative! And that my friends is how the day of awesome-ness ended.

Bailey, who made this event possible, and the instructors! Photo credit: Seafoam Photography

Sunday ended up being a pretty chill day for me. Classes were shorter, for which I was incredibly grateful for as I was so incredibly sore. Between the classes, dance, and late night there was 12 hours of dancing the day prior! I got breakfast/lunch (classes didn't start till 1pm) at the food co-op again before heading to class. During class with Ann and Ryan we used there lindy hop step cards and would make different patterns to dance to; some of them were really challenging! There was one where we did rock step, triple step, step, rock step, step. That one was really challenging for me. The whole class was really good as it gets one using brain muscles that often get forgotten when dancing in autopilot mode. And then we had class with Leo and Ariel, in which we spent most of the time doing charleston variations. It was so exhausting as I was already super tried and sore from the day prior and then we did it for nearly the whole class. It was good though as I got some good feedback form the leads to help hone my technique.

After class there was a small break before the second solo jazz class with Kevin Buster, so I ended up sitting on one of the couches and chilling. Samantha and I started talking and decided to skip class. To many sore muscles! I'm so glad we both skipped it though as we got to hang out and get to know each other better, well, when we weren't laughing over random nonsense because we were both sleep deprived and exhausted. Ha! We also discovered that we both love Fred Meyer, have similar food allergies, and both listen to Greg Ruby in the car. We're practically twins. Once we decided we were hungry enough that it was worth walking, we went and got dinner at the co-op again (told you I went there a lot) and grabbed some must needed nourishment. Then we pretty much chilled, ate, and watched dance videos before heading to the final dance.

The final danced featured the always fabulous Greg Ruby. This night I was only able to stay till 10:30pm as that's when my ride home left. But even so I was still able to fit in a lot of dances. The solo jazz class also performed and totally rocked it!

Here's a playlist of all the videos I took: