Crazy to think it's only been a year since I dived full-force into the world of swing. And what a wonderful year it's been.
When I think about all the amazing opportunities I've had the past twelve months, I feel so thankful and blessed to be able to do something that brings me so much joy. I've been able to go to Eastside Stomp almost every week. I entered my first competition. I got to dance in a Greg Ruby music video; talk about awesome! Danced till 3am at the B'ham Swing Jam. An insane amount of competition videos watched on YouTube. Got a tad bit more comfortable doing solo jazz. Took lots of classes and learned lots of new skills. Went to my first, plus several other, dance events. Started learning Balboa. Had the opportunity to dance to dozens of amazing bands. Made new friends. Performed choreography from Chester's class at Jitterbug Weekend. Listened to new-to-me jazz musicians on my commute. Took classes from some amazing instructors. Got really sweaty.
Because of swing dance I've been pushed out of my comfort zone. Things that used to intimidate me, particularly ones that made me feel weird or silly in public, don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. Or being able to mess up a move, but not caring because you're both having fun and that fun doesn't depend on you being "perfect". Asking people to dance used to intimidate the heck out of me, but now it's no big deal.
Thank you for everyone who's danced with me, taught me, played music that I danced to, or have met in the lindy community. And especially everyone at Eastside. Being at Aria is like being home.
For those who have been in the swing community for any amount of time have likely heard of Jonathan Stout. He's a well known band leader in the scene known for his Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five albums featuring Hillary Alexander and his orchestra that's played at many of the big lindy events. Those albums are awesome and I listen to them all the time. So when I heard that they were going to playing at the Seattle Lindy Extravaganza, it was like a dream came true.
I wasn't able to attend the whole weekend, but I was able to attend the Friday night dance at Washington Hall. It was fantastic! The band was amazing, so say the least. There was a jam circle during Jammin' the Blues and the band was killing it. So much energy in the room!
I've recently had the opportunity to to take one of the series at Eastside, particularly Follower's Technique. It's two hours a week for seven weeks right before social dancing at Eastside and it's taught by Elaine and Stefan. So far it's been amazing!
The first week we focus solely on body placement and how that translates to interacting with our partner. Lots of feeling where our weight was, moving the proper parts at the right time, getting a correct stretch with our partner. Lots of really good stuff. The second week we did some similar exercises, but did a lot of them with the followers eyes closed. Honestly, this was a challenge for me as I've been realizing how much I try and predict things before they happen. We also started applying what we've been learning to actual dancing. And honestly, having proper alignment and what not has made a huge difference in my dancing already. Especially on my swing outs.
Last Friday was a great night to be at Eastside Stomp! Ryan Calloway's band, The Hot Baked Goods, kicked off their PNW tour that night and they. were. amazing. Seriously though, when I think of jazz their sound is to a tee what I imagine hearing in my head. So much great music! And when they played Blue Skies, one of my all time favorite songs, I couldn't stop grinning and humming along; it made me so happy! There were also a lot of people there, more than I'd seen in a while. We were guessing the band must have drawn them in, as there were enough out-of-towners that it felt a bit like an event, even though it was just the usual Friday night at Eastside with an awesome band. But seriously, there wasn't enough time in the night to dance with everyone I wanted to dance with. Plus my friend Samantha, who I met at the B'ham Swing Jam came down with some of the Canadians, so it was fun to see her again! The only clip I got was during their encore song; see, I told you there were a lot of people! They played It Don't Mean a Thing before this, which I barely survived as my body didn't want to be moving that fast that late in the night. By some miracle I'm still alive though. :P
This past weekend I got to attend my first Camp Jitterbug. Talk about exciting! Even though I only went to a few of the dances, I had such a fun time, and can't wait till next year when I can go for the whole weekend.
The event kicked off Friday night at Century Ballroom with Close Shave, which were awesome. One of the songs they played was Blue Skies, which is one of my all time favorites, so I was just standing at the edge of the room, watching everyone dance, and a huge grin on my face.
That day was also the birthday of Frankie Manning, so during the first band break everyone did the shim-sham and later The Big Apple happened; that's a routine I wanna learn some time! The balboa finals happened that night, which were fun to watch.
I ended up staying till about 1am; I would had loved to stay till 2am, when the band ended, but I had been up since six that morning, so my body definitely wanted to go to bed at that point.
Saturday afternoon they were filming some scenes with dancers for the upcoming Greg Ruby & the Rhythm Runners music video, which I got to be a part of. They filmed at Washington Hall, where they would be performing later that evening, and after getting shots of the band they had us do some social dancing and filmed us. I also ended up with a cool little part with Gordon, the trumpet player, which I'm not going to say more about so I don't spoil it! It was really warm out that day, in the low 80's, so between that, the lights for filming, and the dancing it was way to warm in that building! Totally worth it though.
Photo via Stefan Huynh
Photo via Jason Warner
A few hours later was the main dance with Greg Ruby & the Rhythm Runners. It. Was Awesome! So much great dancing, some amazing competition finals, the band killin' it, and just an all around awesome time. The Lindy Hop Social Finals were also on Saturday and oh. my. gosh. Everyone was killing it out on that floor! Especially Ariel. So dang good. And highly inspirational!
One of the coolest parts though was that the music the band was playing was originally written by Frank Waldron. Back in the 20's and 30's he wrote a music book, Syncopated Classics, which Greg Ruby arranged into the songs on the album of the same name and Washington Hall Stomp. And Frank Waldron wrote those songs just blocks away from Washington hall, so being able to dance to those songs in that venue was such a unique experience!
