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/

Today I woke up from a text telling me that Frankie Manning had passed away. His 95th birthday celebration was next month and was going to be celebrated by dancers from around the world coming and dancing with him.

I can’t tell you how great of an impact this is on the swing world. My feeds are littered with personal and professional stories about Frankie, he has touched thousands and thousands of Lindy Hoppers around the world and will continue to do so for as long as Swing is alive.

I did not personally know him that well, though I did meet him and did take lessons from him. A great, great man. I really wish I had more time with him…

I’ve posted a few links that will help show a sliver of who he was.

Lindy Hop great Frankie Manning dies at 94

This is just a few, I really suggest reading up on him. He was the first man to ever do a swing aerial (which swing is now renowned for), went into retirement for 30 years, then came back to teach.  I truly hope some flags fly half mast for him.

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.

Wow, behind again!

It was another night at memories as it was another friend’s birthday.

I picked up a friend, drove to another house, and we were both picked up, picked up another friend then arrived at Memories a little past 9PM.

When people started dancing with the Birthday Boy, who turned 25, started depositing quarters in his pockets while dancing. It took him a little while to realize we were doing it in regards to his age, and he ended up with a LOT of quarters that night, over $10 I believe.

The most interesting part of the night was his birthday dance. I cut in the end of the dance, and he loves to do aerials with me (do to my massive 140lbs of weight and ability to jump quite high). So, instead of a final dip he launched and held me for a second or two about 4-5 feet in the air — still waiting for the pictures!

Other than that, the night went as normal. They played a little bit of blues and hip hop in the end, which was good and a nice change after bally fast Lindy Hop all night.

Another TSS came around. I arrived late, at about 11. The only special thing about this event was that Allison had come to town for the day, and so we got to dance! She had been dying of lack of good dancers at her college, and she’s one of the best follows in our group, so it was very good.

They had some DJs from out of town in, unfortunately they only played traditional music all night. It was good for traditional music, but it didn’t get any of us moving as we hoped.

That’s all folks, tune in next time for Lindy Groove and Do Something Blue!

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.