Swing Dancing

I posted this on Facebook and got so much positive feedback I decided to post it here as well. I am not claiming this is a complete list, if you want to see something on this list, simply comment below.

Sunday:
Cicada Club (FREE Cover) – http://www.clubcicada.com/main.asp

Monday:
Memories Dinner & Dancing ($3 Cover) – http://www.memoriesdancing.com/

Tuesday:
Atomic Ballroom ($7 Cover) – http://www.atomicballroom.com/
Joes Bar & Grill (Free Cover/21+)- http://www.joesgreatbar.com/
Skinny’s Lounge (West Coast/Free Cover/21+) – http://www.skinnyslounge.com/

Wednesday:
Rusty’s Rhythm Club ($12-$15 Cover) – http://www.rustyfrank.com/rhythmclub.asp

Thursday:
Lindy Groove ($7 Cover) – http://www.lindygroove.com/

Friday:
Atomic Ballroom ($8 Cover) – http://www.atomicballroom.com/
Memories Dinner & Dancing ($8 Cover) – http://www.memoriesdancing.com/

Saturday:
Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association ($15 Cover / Live Band / Refreshments) – http://www.pasadenaballroomdance.com/

What a night! The Masonic temple that Lindy Groove is in was completely decked out with the Christmas spirit. Almost everyone was wearing green or red, and one of our teachers, Patrick, was dressed up as a full blown Santa!

This night was also very special because the advanced class was putting on a performance. I hadn’t been in a performance since I was 7 or 8,  and those were just amusing skits  that our class did. This was my first performance that was supposed to be good.

After practicing thoroughly throughout the class  (the performance was changed a little bit in the class, which made it more exciting), I was a bit jittery on the floor, just waiting for another hour to pass.

Finally, the time comes. We all meet up in a kitchen and the leads were given Santa hats.  We walked out onto the floor, and BAM! The music started, which, despite them telling us it was going to, I still incorrectly thought there was going to be some sort of a countdown.

We did the whole thing fine! I’m going to post a video later — right now it’s only on my friend’s Facebook profile. Friends came up and told my partner and me that we did great! Also, Patrick came up to me a bit later and told me I did a good job, which was definitely relieving.

Other than that, the night went as usual with lots of fun times.

So I got to class at 8:13, the latest I had been. They actually started dancing before I had my shoes on, but technically I was on time.

After a couple of minutes they had everyone pair up, and then they gave an announcement. They told us that we were going to be in a Christmas performance. In fact, the last few weeks, the semi-routine we had been learning was the beginning of it.

The actual performance was going to be in about a month — that meant about four more one-hour classes before we were going to perform! I have never performed Lindy infront of other professional Lindy Hoppers, as we were going to do. It was a little bit nerve racking, and they did give the option to bail, but this was a chance to really take a step forward.

So, they continued the routine quite a bit, and had us dance to a really fast song. It was SO much fun! Everyone picked up on it really fast, and the moves went so smoothly at a really fast speed (didn’t look nearly as good at a slow speed). It was a bit exciting.

After that, the rest of Lindy was pretty eventless. I had a girl ask me to dance who complimented quite a bit, saying I lead the best dance she had that night, which made me feel great.

It was Halloween at Lindy Groove, and pretty much everyone comes in a costume, if not their PJs. Partially because entrance fee is less if you have a costume.

I came in a full on Ninja outfit, and though very hot, was great. Most people had to stare at me very closely and could figure it out by my eyes. I came with a Bokken (a wooden sword) and a rubber shurikan (ninja star). When I got into the advanced class, Debbie, our instructor, came up to me and peered at me in the eyes and was like “ahh! It’s you! Just needed to make sure you were in the class.” So much fun.

Also, before the advanced class, they taught Michael Jackson’s thriller routine (part of it), he only had 45 minutes to teach an entire class full or people. We performed it when we were done, and unfortunately did a very poor job of it. Mainly because we were facing a different direction and were expecting to only perform it later. When we performed later we were very much more prepared and did a great job and got the entirety of Lindy Groove cheering. So much fun.

Other than that, it was a pretty much normal night, COMPLETELY packed. Very hard to dance with the amount of room, but still fun.

Last thing to mention is some of the great costumes we had in the group. We had a Trinity, Dead Princess (very scary), a Monster energy drink, a Nurse, Roger and Jessica Rabbit, and many more. Some of the costumes there were incredible, very realistic looking Marx Brothers, Spiderman, Neo, Iron Man, Predator, Dracula, Bender, etc.

It was incredible.

Another week at Lindy Groove, and it was another birthday. Future reminder for next year, October has a lot of birthdays.

We had a week without the advanced class, but now we were back. We went away from the basic form a little bit into styles, which was really fun. We learned the Slip Slop and the Eagle Slide, which formed a nice combination of moves. While dancing I tried a couple of the styles on the floor and got a positive response, so apparently they are decent.

I was only going to have a partial night at Lindy Groove as I had a couple friends from out of a town hosting a party at another place. So, I went around and danced with as many people as I could up until the birthday dance. Again, I danced with the same Birthday Boy as on Monday, and again he did two aerials. I flew about 5 feet in the air, and then I did a helicopter and flew over his head, which was so much fun.

I arrived quite annoyed as my work forced me to arrive late. Luckily, there was no Advanced Class that week, so I was able to go straight to dancing.

I was on another Birthday List (4th week straight, I believe). It was also “Polka Dot” night (as requested by one of the birthday girls), and so I had manage to get polka dot tissue paper and put it around my head, which brought about many double takes and a smile on pretty much everyone.

A new friend, Thisbe, had also arrived that night. She learned extremely fast, one of the fastest I’ve taught, and she joined right in with the group and talked with many of them. Hopefully she’ll become a regular.

Two of our friends, Pierre and Galatea, had returned from Colorado and are back for good! Pierre has a very unique leading style, you can’t call it Lindy Hop or anything else, but is an incredibly good lead.

It was Kathy and Myra’s birthday that night, and they looked like they had a really good time! Myra put nine Harry Potter names on her birthday list, so people would come in saying they are “Lily Potter”, and so on. I personally think we should continue the the idea with other themes, Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Captain Planet…

Apart from that, this week was a little more normal than the previous weeks, but still a lot of fun.

Another week at Lindy Groove, but this was a special week. It was four people’s birthday, including my dance partner (Emily).

I arrived early for the class, which was very good. Still working on the basics, and they said the new people in the class (of which I’m included) did very well. I think I finally have an idea of what to do with Shorty George, and they worked on body part isolation.

After we got out… I was completely stunned. Emily and her dress, were absolutely amazing. Easily one of my favorite outfits I had seen her in, and perfect for the occasion. Her birthday dance was great, many people cutting in and everyone had fun. At the end, we lifted her and one of our other friends (Jake) on our shoulders, and everyone saw them. The DJ even tried to get them to have a chicken war, it was so much fun.

The next event of that evening was a surprise for Emily at IHOP. I helped urge everyone to get there before Emily did, which worked. She got there last, and was completely surprised. She had only been surprised once before in her life, and never a surprise party. IHOP was more full than it had ever been, and we danced until late into the night. She later told us it topped her 21st birthday, which was great.

All and all, it had been an absolutely incredible night. A great lesson, great dancing, and fun all around.

Wow! After this weekend I’m having a hard time remembering this night, but here’s my best.

The advanced class went really well, worked on more basics as well as taught a nice move. Unfortunately, unless you have a really top class follow, or someone who is in the class, it is hard to lead. I did nearly succeed with a friend of mine.

After that, it was our friend Katrina Haus’ birthday! She came and had a beautiful swing outfit, fedora and all. Her birthday dance was lots of fun, and of course included the complimentary lift at the end. We almost always have the loudest cheer crowd in Lindy Groove.

Gina, whom I have mentioned in the Swingin’ Clientele section, came dressed remarkably. Many of the girls in our group had been cutting their hair (to my dismay, though they do look incredible), so she decided she was going to “grow” her hair. She put on a bunch of fake hair and yarn and she looked SO amazing. I’ll have to see if I can find some pictures I can post. She completely stood out in the crowd of dancers, and spinning her made her “hair” flare. So much fun.

Emily, myself and Jeff had also gotten hair cuts. Emily’s made her look completely different, bangs ‘n’ all, and her hair was redyed. Everyone loved her outfit. Jeff came with an awesome fohawk, while I came with my normal short and slightly spikey hair. Ok, enough about hair!

The DJ that night was probably my favorite DJ at Lindy Groove ever. He just played great music consecutively. Take it, some of the songs were kind of long, but it was awesome. He also got a jam circle going, which I had never seen before at Lindy Groove. I do hope he comes back.

I just looked to see who he is, Daniel Newsome. He’s not only a very well reputed DJ from Denver, CO, but also an incredible swing dancer himself. If you look at the gallery from the previous link you will see what I mean. After looking at some of those pictures, I realize I had seen him in instructional videos  and I also think in videos of ULHS (Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown).

The night went well, the only regret being that he didn’t call out the last song. He either said a few more or about three more, but did not say last song. That’s just a minor detail, but it was great.

We were now headed to the Las Vegas Lindy Exchange.

Wow, already backlogged with dances!

This was the first night of my advanced class, so it was going to be interesting. As I was putting on my dance shoes before the class, Jessie came in. She immediately started saying how nervous she was. She was nervous to the point that she brought chocolate to calm her down.

I thought about it, and I wasn’t nervous in the least. I was nervous beyond belief at asking Debbie for the audition in the first place, while Jessie was not at all. The roles had reversed.

So, we went in the class, and thank god they started at the basics.  Debbie’s partner had arrived, Patrick.  They gave many corrections, though I was glad to know it wasn’t only me:

“Remember to be on your toes, with your butt out. Your left hand needs to be relaxed, don’t have it tight. Your right hand needs to be solid on their back with no fingers. Remember to whip around your had on 5. Drop your left hand on 3 and pick it up on 6.” So on and so forth.

It was so much fun! It was very intense but I could immediately feel improvements in my abillity to lead people. I could tell when I was doing something wrong and I could fix it fast. They also moved at a much faster pace, telling you to do something, and then you do it. No preliminary steps. One girl got overwhelmed at the fast pace and started saying it was really hard to concentrate on so many things.

I was very glad I was not the only one getting corrections. By the end of the class, I found it remarkably easier to lead people, and I never had much trouble before. All this for $5? Amazing, simply amazing.

So I went out on the floor in a great mood and just started dancing, applying everything I learned. It was so much fun, and I could tell I was working different muscle groups and it felt great. I realized, and they commented in the class, that I needed to start dancing with the better dancers. It would help me get better a lot faster.

Me and several others got into Lindy Groove for free that night because Jeff Antoine had put us on his birthday list, so we wanted to make sure he had a great birthday circle. I think he got a lot more than he expected. Our friend Shawn lifted him on his shoulders as we loudly sang happy birthday and whistled. It’s such a fun experience to be in the circle, even if you are embarrassed like I was on my first birthday dance.

While the dancing was good at Lindy Groove, most of my fun came later at IHOP, where we listened to random music in the early hours (we left at 5:30AM) and some comedy bits. It’s good to know that things get funnier the later it gets.

Welcome to my swing dancing blog, this is my first post. I’ll later have a page on the history of how I got to this point, but for now, I’m just going to be posting the various swing dancing events and venues I go to, starting with last night’s Lindy Groove.

Last night started with a bang! I left hurriedly trying to get to Lindy Groove before 8, when I planned to audition for the advanced class. It’s nerve racking enough auditioning with one of the best follows at Lindy Groove, Debbie Gitt, but I had previously auditioned and I was told to come back in a 1 1/2  to 2 months. That was four months ago.

I arrived with just a couple of minutes before 8, and I rushed to put my dancing shoes on and find a friend with whom I could warmup with. I quickly realized that the only follow that I knew was in the intermediate class. There was no way I was going to audition without warming up first. I walked to the entrance of Lindy Groove hoping I would see a friend arriving, and there was Kathy! She is in the advanced class, and so I had her rush over and told her that I’d like to warm up, as I was about to audition.

Right about when we were going to start, we saw the class had already begun to practice The Big Apple, and so she rushed into class. It was 8:07, there was supposed to be 8 minutes before the actual class started. One thing to know about auditioning, it’s not a set schedule. You ask Debbie if you’re ready, you dance with her, and she lets you know whether you have anything to work on or whether you made it.

Sadly disappointed that I had missed the time to audition, I started wandering away from the class. I knew that the next time to audition was at the end of the class, which would be in about an hour. I started walking away, then back to the main dance floor when Jake, another friend, popped his head out of the door and asked if I would like to just watch. I figured, sure, why not? I walked in, and I saw that there was another lead who was trying to audition, who also decided to watch the class.

Debbie introduced herself to each of us, and let us know how the class works, and so on. She also said that it was lead heavy, meaning they were in need of more follows, not leads. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I decided I wanted to show my dedication and I was going to watch the whole class.

I watched the class, which was interesting. I love The Big Apple but it’s quite confusing. I took a one-hour class about a year before with the legendary Frankie Manning, but I definitely didn’t remember it that well. This was the fifth and last week they had been working on it, and it was a review class.

At the end, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. All the people were going to get their water, bags, and so on, and move to the main dance floor, while Sam, another teacher and friend, was talking about eating. I started talking with Sam, explaining how I didn’t know if it was the best time to audition taking the fact that the class was, indeed, lead heavy. He said just go for it.

Debbie, who had been somewhat wandering, came back and asked me to do some swing outs with her. Just a little bit nerve racking, being asked to dance without warming up at all. In fact I could say my muscles were cold. And so I did, and after two swing out, she started with many corrections. I had to loosen up my arm, while use my fingers less in the back, but keep a strong connection, while keeping my back muscles together… I thought that was it, and I was going to be told to come back.

She then said “Yeah, you’re fine, you just need to bring a follow.” I was shocked. I made it? Great! But, I need to bring a follow to audition. Well, that’s fine, I’m sure I can find someone. Right when I was walking out the door, my friend Jessie walked in. She asked Debbie, “I know I’m not ready for the advanced class but I was hoping you could give me some pointers to work on so that I could prepare for it.”

I paused in the doorway, thinking this could work. She danced with Jessie, gave her many corrections, then also said she was good enough, and that we were both in. I made it!

That was most of the excitement for me that night, but I’ll also note the other significant events. I left the advanced class, found all my friends and was super excited. It was also Etana’s and Alejandro’s birthday that night, which made it an extra special event. My dance partner, Emily, was also bringing a new guy, hopefully a new potential lead.

I decided to try to be a follow and dance with Alejandro, and we were doing great, before we fell. He had decided to go into a mini aerial, and I had no idea how to do it. Boy, did we eat it! We quickly got up, and he decided he wanted to try again. I had figured out what we were supposed to do as we had fallen, so we then did it and finished the dance, a very laughable event.

I was feeling great and having a great time dancing, and using my lack of traction to the best of my ability (due to my dancing shoes). I only mention because as I was dancing with Emily, I decided to try to keep a spin going and throw it into a dip. She lifted her legs off the ground and so was completely airborne as she was spinning. She spun around from being somewhat behind me to being in front of me, and landed softly on her knees, it was awesome! It was entirely due to my shoes continuing to slide.

After Lindy Groove ended, we continued on to IHOP, our weekly tradition as it had been since I started dancing nearly two years ago. At IHOP we continue to dance, though switching now to Blues as opposed to Swing Dancing. It was about this time that I realized I had 4 hours of sleep and was VERY tired. I had several more dances with Emily, and to to blow my own horn, but this is where we do really well.

It was a good night.