Jitterbug Weekend with Chester and Evita

17+ hours of dancing, in less than three days. Two amazing instructors. Many new friends. Lots of live music. One gorgeous ballroom. Several performances. 
That was my first Jitterbug Weekend and it was amazing!

The 2017 lineup included Chester Whitmore and Evita Arce, two incredibly skilled and knowledgeable dancers. I did the weekend pass for the intermediate level which included four hours of class on Satruday and Sunday, plus dances with live music on Saturday and Sunday. They had a performance and live band at Century on Friday night, but I just went to Eastside Stomp like I normally do (which had Jacob Zimmerman playing, which was awesome).

Right photo by Jason Warner

My Jitterbug Weekend began Saturday morning when I arrived for check in, a bit early; I'd never been to Century Ballroom before so I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take me to get there, find parking, etc. I got to chat and meet a few fellow dancers before we started our first class with Chester and Evita. We started in closed position going over ways to spice up our basics and make them snazzy. Then we worked on several turns: a follow turn, leader turn, lead and follow turning at the same time. Then before lunch we learned a scissor kick variation.

We had an hour for lunch, which was a perfect amount of time to go and find something to eat. I ended up going with a couple other guys to a Sizzle Pie a few blocks away and had a vegan ceasar salad that was pretty good. We chatted about dancing pretty much the whole time: how long we've been dancing, where we've taken lessons, etc. All the typical dancer stuff. Once we got back to the ballroom a lot of us were practicing the scissor kick variation we went over.

Once we started the second half classes we worked getting that scissor kick pattern down and then we added it to a swing out, which is still really challenging for me! I still need to keep practicing the footwork on my own, as I still have to think about it a lot when I'm doing it. Once I have that down it should be much easier to add in. From there we learned how to do kicks on our swing outs, sugar pushes, and several more turn variations, non of which I can remember the name right now. I learned a ton that day and definitely refined some stuff I was already familiar with.

Photo by Jason Warner

There was an additional elective that day, Performance and Show with Chester, which I stayed for. It was an hour class and was much smaller -- about 20 people or so. We started with some basic performance tips and learned some solo jazz combinations in which Chester surprised us by telling us we were going to perform the routine at the dance later that night. Wasn't expecting that! We kept working on choreography till they pretty much kicked us out of the ballroom.

There was almost four hours until the dance started, so I went and had dinner at Oddfellows Cafe which is a really nice place with good food and a nice atmosphere. After that I browsed Elliot Bay Books next door for a while before heading to the dance. Saturday it was at West Hall featuring Greg Ruby (the album Washington Hall Stomp is amazing, btw).



After dancing a few songs Holly and I wanted to practice the routine for our performance, so we gathered a few people and went to the hallway/stair landing and before we knew it we had a bunch of us practicing and blocking traffic in the building. Ha! Not long after Chester found us all out there and guided us through our mini rehearsal and went through the whole routine several times. It was one of those moments that you know you'll always remember: practicing choreography by Chester Whitmore, with Chester Whitmore in the hallway of a historic Seattle building before performing. It makes me feel really thankful and blessed to be able to do stuff like this. It's like a dream!

Our performance was during the first band break. We made it to our starting points and danced like there was no tomorrow. And it went pretty well! I totally blanked on a couple parts, but considering we only learned it in an hour (!!!!) I'm really happy with how well it all went. Everyone was awesome.

(I'm in the white floral dress coming in from the right)


After the performance I danced a bit, chatted with new friends and had a good time, though my this point my feet and legs were barely able to keep me up. I ended up leaving about a quarter after 11:00PM, went home, and slept. I woke up the next morning with my feet and legs still sore, so I knew it was going to be tough to make it through the whole day. The good thing was I got 7+ hours of sleep, which was better than the night prior, though considering how much energy I burned the previous day I sure could have used more. The time before class started was spent talking with people about how sore we were and practicing some of the moves we learned the day prior.

We started off our morning with two hours of solo jazz with Chester. We started learning all these different combos (I can fall of the log now, but suzie q's are still a struggle) and then he told us we would be performing at that evenings dance. De ja vu much?! Ha! Seriously though, there was a lot of choreography we learned in a very short amount of time. Then it was time for lunch.

Photos by Jason Warner

A half a dozen of us went to the Mexican place across the street where I got chicken tacos. They were good, though nothing amazing. It was nice to get out in the fresh air, as the ballroom was warm and stuffy, and talk dance with everyone.

The last two hours of class were Chester and Evita's choice, so none of us had any idea even what style of dance we would be doing. Once we got started Evita told us we were going to learn some dances that lead up to lindy hop. We started with the early 1900's and learned stuff like the strut and castle walk (think Hello, Dolly! and you'll be on the right track) which used so. many. leg muscles. There was this part when we were all strut jump walking in a circle and there was a total train wreck moment that had us all busting with laughter. That was amusing for sure! It was fun to learn though. Then we went on to the 1920's and did Charleston, which for me is really challenging to do in closed position. Besides the footwork, we also did a move that I can't remember the name of where we jumped back, went on to our heels, and when we came back to closed we kicked our leg twice.

Photo by Jason Warner

Next we learned of some different styles of lindy hop. We practiced swing outs with leads lowering their arm by 5 so the follows can travel facing the direction they're traveling. This style of swing out is my favorite as it allows for lots of follow styling and when we we were all swinging out together, arms waving and just having a really fun time. After we learned how to swing out where the follows back is facing the direction of travel, more like a sling shot. I feel like this style is cool to watch, but not as fun as there isn't much room for us follows to ad as much flair. Then we did a move where the follow leans back on the leads hip and kicks, which is pretty cool. There was another elective that day, beginner/intermediate tap which I would have loved to do and was planning on it, but my feet were just so sore I decided to skip it, which I'm sad about. But my feet needed it.

There was a more time between end of class and the dance so took a book to read at a cafe for a few hours, ate dinner, then practiced some of the solo jazz choreography before the dance started. That night featured Jacob Zimmerman and Pals and featured Meredith Axelrod from San Francisco, who I happened to heard a few weeks prior at Eastside Stomp. This happened to be my first time dancing in Century Ballroom; it's so gorgeous at night with all the lights on, the band planing, and everyone dancing on the floor. But I have to say, it was PACKED! Pretty much like sardines most of the night. But hey, a good space to really practice your floorcraft.




Our solo jazz performance was during the first band break again. I felt a bit rough with the choreography, plus the music was really, really hard to know when to start as there were both 12 and 8 count bars in there. When we performed we all actually missed the first combination, but hey, since we all missed it nobody will ever know, right?! Personally I really spaced on a few parts, but since there were so many of us it didn't really bother me; everyone was really awesome though and the applause afterwards was insane! That's something I've really come to love about the swing community; it doesn't matter if you've been dancing for years or months, if you messed a part up, everyone is so supportive and encouraging and you can't help but want to keep dancing for the rest of your life. It's truly magical. You can watch that performance here.

Photo by Tonya Morris

Right after that we had another performance, this time by the Sister Kate Bootcamp. They were wonderful! Then the rest of the night was dancing, trying not to run into people (it was like sardines in there!), cooling off in front of the giant fan, dancing some more. By some miracle I made it all the way to 12:30am when the band ended; we even got an encore.

Recap: Chester is totally goofy and isn't afraid to throw tons of choreography at you. Lot's of dancing until my feet felt like they were going to fall off. Sweet and spicy Evita showing us lots of awesome content and helping us keep up with Chester. Dancing in Century Ballroom for the first time. Meeting and making new dance friends. Performing for the first (and second!) time. It all was amazing.

Emerald City Solo Jam 2017

This past weekend was Emerald City Solo Jam and guys, it was fabulous. 

Friday night was the kickoff dance at Eastside Stomp which included live music from Casey MacGill, teacher demos by Nathan Bugh and Gaby Cook, and the preliminaries for the Emerald City Solo Jam competition. Saturday was classes that didn't start till 1pm (Thank you for having late classes!) followed by another dance featuring the Rex Quartet and the contest finals. Sunday was more classes and the option to go to Century afterwards, but since I was so beat and that dance didn't start till four hours after classes ended, I went home and got some rest.

So Friday night was fabulous, even if for a large part of the night I was in a bit of a dance funk for some reason. I was having the hardest time keeping beat and following feel kinda rough, but I still managed to have a few really good dances. There were a couple in particular that I felt really good about and one went really well and I just feel like I hit all the timing right (a miracle that night!) and made me feel like I've made some improvement over the last few months.

Watching the prelims was awesome. I ended up watching from the front row, dead center, and watching everyone show of there best stuff was really fun. There were some really skilled dancers that were just a joy to watch. By the end my hands stung from clapping and applauding so much that I had "clap rash". Basically my arm starts looking rash-like from my wrist down after a lot of clapping. Does that happen to anyone else?

Saturday morning, after a rough night of sleep, I made my way to the ballroom for classes. When I arrived I found Ben outside of the venue waiting for the guy with the keys. 15 minutes before classes were supposed to start. But despite that and all of the last minute things that happened (judges being sick, bridge closures, etc) it all turned out great. So back to the ballroom, we finally get in and it's freezing, so I was happy when we finally started class and got the blood flowing! 

So each day we worked with both instructors for two hours which meant us beginners started with Nathan and finished with Gaby. So we started our first class with Nathan and followed him with some basic moves to warm up. Durring that he realized we weren't good at fishtails, so he decided to teach us how to do them. I definitely improved on them, but I still need to practice the twisting and then moving the feet, as it feels really unnatural to me right now. Shorty George and boogie forward were next, both moves I "knew" but learned a lot on how to refine them and do them properly. 

Next we moved on to charleston, where he asked us what the oddest kind of charleston is and proceeded to tell us how it's weird that most lindy hoppers learn side by side early on when it's not even the real way that charleston is done. It was also at this point that Nathan pulled me over to demonstrate the different types of swing charleston (which turned into a trend that weekend).

So we refined our charleston form, as we all pretty much knew it and used it to go into a break with a pause and some foot tapping. We also went over the scarecrow which included Nathan telling us that when performing it to make it a sudden surprise to the audience, but that it should almost surprise ourselves as well. Then we learned a turn that used a step-kick-ball change before crossing the legs and turning. That's one I have the concept down for, but need to practice the turning part a lot as I keep putting my weight on the wrong leg. And that was the end of our first class with Nathan!

There was a half hour between classes with each instructor and on the first day it was definitely needed as they decided to switch venues for the beginner and intermediate/advanced classes as the larger advanced class was in the smaller studio. Remember how I said it was freezing in the ballroom? Well we got to trade that for a warm studio.

We started warming up with Gaby and then we went through the whole shim sham with some stylization on certain steps. I've known the shim sham for a while, but just the very basic version, so I'm excited to have some style to add to it on Friday nights when we do it. One of the new moves I really like is the part on the break when you toe tap with your left foot then jump left, jump right, then apart then together (I have no idea if it has a name). After that we did some partnering where one person would do 16 counts of something and then the other would have to do something that contrasted it. That kinda stuff always makes me nervous, as I'm especially bad at anything improv related, but being pushed out of my comfort zone.

That was the end of classes on day one. There were three hours to kill between the end of class and the beginning of the dance and since some of us were hungry we went and ate together. Ben had mentioned that the Mexican place in the shopping center where the ballroom was had good food, so that's where we went. I got the chicken tacos, which were fabulous! Thank you Ben for the recommendation! After that there was still a bit of time, so I went to Safeway and Trader Joe's and bought some snacks, as I was starving the night prior after dancing all night and didn't want to do that again.

The dance went really well. We had more live music, the competition finals, a performance from the advanced class, and an encore that turned into a jam circle. I got to bed a quarter after 1am and I slept way better Saturday night, though I guess it was already Sunday at that point. Ha! 

The first day of classes were great, but Sunday's classes were even better. The first couple hours with Nathan went by way to fast. he was inspired by the sound of the floor and small room to we started off with some tap. He had us form a circle and showed us all the different ways to use our feet to make tap sounds Then we went into a tap combo, which was one of my favorite parts, even though I'm still struggling a part of it. It was funny because he took a slow song and made it even slooowwwer, so we could get the pattern down, which was good because I'm not sure if I could do it any faster, but seriously. It was so slow! Ha! 

Afterwards we partnered up and did a mirroring exercise in which Nathan used me to demonstrate again which was fun. We did the exercise with several different people and I have to say it was pretty fun! Then he showed us a couple more common moves and their names before we spent the rest of the time working on our Susie Q's. We went over all the nitty gritty of the move and I'm fairly comfortable with them now at slower speeds. And then I was really sad because our time with Nathan was already over.

After downing a Cliff Protein Bar and some granola on break we started our class with Gaby. She decided to show us the first part of The Big Apple, which made me really excited I've been wanting to learn it especially after watching a lot of videos of it recently! We started from the beginning and made it through the jump charleston and transition steps. There were a lot of moves that we did that I really liked, one of those being apple jacks. Doing the kick prep and then the move makes me feel really fancy and like I know what I'm doing. The jump charleston was also another favorite. 

After that there wasn't a whole lot of time left, so Gaby answered some questions, Gaby had me help demonstrate as she answered one of those questions (She said my Little Mermaid shirt spoke to her) and went over a couple little combos. Like I said earlier, I skipped going to Century in place of sleep, but I did stop for some more tacos before leaving. And that is the end of Emerald City Solo Jam 2017.

I'd watched many video of Nathan and Gaby performing on YouTube, but seeing that much skill in person brings a whole new element of appreciation. Plus it's just way more fun. I could just sit and watch Nathan dance forever; every little movement is just memorizing. His teaching style was my favorite as I liked the way he broke down every little bit and had us repeat it many times. That combined combined with his personality makes for a great time in class. Then there's Gaby with her inspiring style of movement that makes me wanna dance better. Every movement was like a work of art. Also her clothing choices are adorable and she has the best jackets. I kinda want her wardrobe now...

And to end off this post I'd like to give a big thank you to Ben and everyone that helped him put on this fabulous event. You're all awesome. 

Social Dancing: 1/20 Edition - Can't Stop Smiling

Do you ever have one of those nights dancing where nothing out of the ordinary really happened, but you just feel really good about your dancing, even if it wasn't perfect? And you can't stop smiling and are just on cloud 9 the next day even? Last night was one of those nights for me.

It was a long day at work for me, so my goal was just to stay awake the whole night! Since this month is the last of the beginner lindy classes, I'm at the ballroom for class and then an hour and a half afterwards killing time till the dance starts and usually it's a struggle to stay awake between class and dancing, but I made it with ease.

Class went really well. We reviewed and refined our side-by-side Charleston and kick through. I'm definitely feeling really comfortable with it now. After that we went into skip ups, which though simple are going to take a bit more practice before they become second nature. In class all of the leads were barely moving forward on their kicks at first which made it challenging since I was all gong-ho and ready to put it all in. Our class has about eight of us, so four couples, and I we all were having fun and you could feel it in the air.

Social dancing was really, really good. The band, Good Co, was new to Eastside Stomp and they were amazing! Then I had a lot of wonderful dances. After feeling like I was in a bit of a funk the week prior I was hoping to feel more confident last night and I definitely did. There were a lot of dances I just had a lot of fun with and couldn't help but grin from ear to ear the whole time. Those nights make me so happy and thankful to be able to dance every week. There were a couple dances that I impressed myself with my styling and musicality, two things I need great help with, but they mustn't have looked too shabby as I received a couple complements on them. I usually just wing it and try and look cool, but I honestly have no idea if I look like I know what I'm doing or if it just looks odd. Ha!

Also, I made a little bit of small-talk with a couple people. Baby steps, but it's better than nothing.

Oh, and note to self: BRING SNACKS! Particularly protein filled ones. Dancing has a way of starving a girl.

Social Dancing: 1/13 Edition - Charleston Class

Friday I went dancing for the first time in a month. I kept planing on going throughout December, but icy roads, out of town friends, and being sick kept getting in the way unfortunately. Plus since I was sick the first week of January (I had a bad reaction to some antibiotics and was sick all week) I missed the first week of the last level one lindy hop class I'm taking this month, which is Charleston. Anyways, so by the time I got to back to dancing last week it was long overdue!

Lindy class went well; we went over all the details of side by side Charleston, which was good as I'd taught myself it before and my technique definitely needed some refining. Plus now I'm much more confident, which is always good.


It felt sooo good to get back on the dance floor, even if I was a bit rusty at first. It's like I know what to do, but my brain is out of practice and it takes longer for the information to get to my feet. There were a couple of dancing that I felt really good about and just had really fun with. There was a jam up by the band in the middle of the night, which was awesome. We had Solomon Douglas playing, who was fabulous and we even got an encore from at the end of the night. 

I'm also realizing how hard it is for me to talk to people I don't know. My introverted side definitely holding me back a lot and I don't want it to be that way! I think I'm going to start a new goal of complementing and/or asking someone how their night is going just once each week. Right now that's a huge way out of my comfort zone, but it needs to happen. 

In other news, Emerald City Solo Jam is in less than two weeks, and I'm super pumped! Three nights of dancing and classes taught by Nathan Bugh and Gabby Cook. And to be honesty, even though I'm excited, I'm a bit nervous since dancing on my own kinda definitely scares me. But hey, like I was saying, I'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone more!

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

Well... 2016 is nearly gone. It's been one crazy fast year for me, and kind of an odd one at that. It kinda feels like the first and second half of the year were two different ones. Thinking back to life back in March or April feels like a different lifetime ago in many ways. 

Honestly one of the biggest highlights has been being able to take Lindy Hop classes and go social dancing regularly. That's been a dream of mine for years, but it never worked out to do it until now. And I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to dance; there are few things that fill me with such happiness and joy as twirling out on the dance floor with live music filling the air. Such a wonderful experience! I thought a I'd share some stats from this this year, taken from my dance journal where I log as much information as possible.

2016 Stats:

-Went to 14 social dances, all but one with a live band.

-Took four classes: Intro to Swing, Lindy Hop 101, 102, and 103; and Balboa 1.

-Took one workshop, Slow Drag with Peter Flahiff and Lauren Smith.

-Got to dance to nine different bands.

So considering I've only been dancing since August, I'm pretty proud of all I've been able to accomplish in the world of swing dance.

Goals for 2017:

-Learn an get comfortable with tandem charleston

-Enter my first Jack and Jill competition

-Improve at asking people to dance and being more social at dances and events. My quiet introvert side is definitely holding me back a bit, but I want to fix that.

- Get a video clip of me dancing (everyone from friends to family to co-workers wanna see how good I can dance)

- Get comfortable doing outs and ins in Balboa

-Go to several dance events (Emerald City Solo Jam & Jitterbug Weekend are already paid for!)

Here's to 2017!