The College Report
Hi Lindy Hoppers!!!
Rah Rah Sis-Boom-Bah, etc, etc.




Welcome to the COLLEGE FORUM! We hope that all our Lindy Hoppers use this page to keep in touch and to keep the rest of us informed about what's going on outside the Beltway!

We always welcome new College Correspondents --- please feel free to drop us a line about what's happening on your campus.

Here are the latest reports:

-OR-




    Virginia Tech

    From: Kalimar Maia

    Howdy folks,
    Here in Blacksburg VA, we are trying to build a swing scene (with the help of the Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society). Chris Etcher, Jeff Booth and Nina were recently here teaching us some neat Lindy, Shag and Balboa (hopefully we'll have some pictures to send you!!!). Things are still slow but hopefully will eventually pick-up. Anyway, our club at Virginia Tech is Solely Swing

    There's usually some sort of dancing going on every weekend, with C.D.s playing or even live bands. That web address has a fairly current schedule.

    I'm currently reading Norma Miller's book and must agree, it'swonderful. They happened to have it at our library. The review on your site was a pleasant suprise considering this book IS the only thing on Swing at the University.




    Mary Washington College

    From: Dawn Dowdle

    November 12, 1998

    Hello! It's Dawn from Mary Washington College. Well this Friday, November 13 "Swingin' Seconds" will be going on at the Dorothy Hart Community Center (408 Canal St) in Fredricksburg, VA. It's a night of Swing, Foxtrot, Cha Cha and Merengue. From 7:00-7:45 there is a pre-dance class teaching the basics, and from 8:00-10:30 pm it is open dance. You should be at least 16 years old, bring a partner and wear soft-soled shoes. For more info call (540) 372-1086

    In case you miss the first Swingin' Seconds on Nov. 13, there will be another one December 11...every second Friday of the month.

    I'll write you again when I hear of something more,
    ---Dawn Dowdle




    George Washington University

    From: Jayna Morgan

    February 10, 1999

    Hello everyone,
    I'm fairly new to the swing scene here in DC. I moved here about 6 months ago from CT, however, I've lived in New Orleans most of my life. I'm Co-chair of the Jitterbugs Swing Club at the George Washington University, so I thought it would be nice to let ya'll know what's happening on campus. Well, the Jitterbugs Swing Club started this year in August. We had our first major event in late October where we drew a crowd of about 300. It took place in our social building, the Marvin Center, in the cafeteria. Tom and Debra taught the beginner's lesson, which was follwed by the performance of King James and the Serfs of Swing (GW's campus swing band).

    The Student Association was so impressed with this event that they hosted another event the first week students return to campus from winter break. That was very successful as well. Steve Cowles and Naomi taught the beginner's lesson there which was followed again by King James and the Serfs of Swing.

    Again, since it was so popular, the Homecoming Committee decided to have a swing dance as part of Homecoming Week. We had another swing dance in late January.

    We've co-sponsored lessons with the Ballroom Dance Society last semester where Steve Cowles and Christ Etcher taught. We had a very successful turnout. This semester, Steve and Naomi are teaching on campus. We have more students interested this semester than last which proves that the swing scene is continuously growing. I'm constantly getting questions from students on how they can become more involved with the swing scene.

    The most exciting event that has happened so far on campus, well atleast to me, was the swing club was asked to perform as the Half-time show at the Men's GW baskketball game this past Thursday, January 28th. Cameron Sellers, Lisa Morgan Brown, Ann Amarga, Ryan Cordell, Eric and Erica (I don't know their last names), Huy Pham, and myself danced to "Jump, Jive, and Wail." We received an incredible response from the audience. Later that night, Channel 4 was showing the highlights of the game and included us in it. That was amazing.

    If anyone has any questions about GW's swing scene, they can e-mail swing@gwu.edu or they can call me at 202-242-0606 or Ann Amarga (Chair of the Club) @ 202-242-2178. Talk to ya'll later.




    Georgia Tech

    From: Kihun Shin

    January 5, 1999

    Hi!
    It's been 3 months since I finished my internship in the DC area and one thing that still sticks to my mind is the lindy hop that I picked up over the summer. I took the beginner and intermediate lindy lessons (concurrently) from Tom and Deb at GMU and had tons of fun. I ran into you two several times in the GMU events.

    Anyway, I like to identify myself and my friend who appears in the last photo in the Photo Gallery/Rockin' Bones at GMU section. Yes, the "Fun Couple" is Su Das and myself, Ki Shin. We met over the summer b/c both of us were interning in the DC area and lived in the GMU dorms. Su goes to UVA and I go to Georgia Tech.

    I've been swinging in Atlanta for a year now but people down here really do not lindy hop at all, a major disappointment. Here, we do the East Coast swing (or is it West Coast?) where the steps are rather simple and goes, side side rock, side side rock... repeatedly. The draw to this swing is in the spin moves which focuses on arm movements, rather than the technical footwork that's required by lindy. When I first saw lindy in VA, I did not like it much, until I got bold and took the lessons. Down in Atlanta, it's pretty frustrating b/c I can't exercise the things I learned from Tom and Debra. I did however teach several beginner's moves to my friends including the Charleston and the triple step. Still, I'm having a major lindy withdrawal symptom:) Maybe someone can contact the people in Atlanta to spread lindy here. The major swing clubs are Masquerade and Swingers (located in Buckhead).

    Well maybe I can become the Georgia Tech swing contact for your website. Keep up the great work!
    Ki Shin




    Baldwin-Wallace College

    From: Brian Limoco

    December 15, 1998

    My name is Brian Limoco. I'm a senior at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio (right next to Cleveland.) I've been swing dancing for about four years now. Who would have thunk it that my hobby would become so darn popular? Well, taking advantage of the whole swing scene, my friend Kathy Petras and I started a new organization here at BW. It's aptly named the Hepcat Society of Swing. We have about 350 members and are still growing!

    The Hepcat Society of Swing is a student run organization that plans swing lessons, dances, and a whole slew of other swingin' events on or around campus. This is open to all. We are, however, a relatively new organization, and are always looking for new ideas for the group, whether they be themes for the swing dances or ideas for running the club. Whatever!

    For the upcoming semester, we are planning to hold lessons once a week and a swing dance about once every three weeks. This formula usually seems to work well.

    One more thing. Before I graduate, I am on this crusade to get the Hepcat Society of Swing established with any other groups via making contacts, etc... I have been working on our web site that you might like to visit.

    Our Websiete is: Hepcat Society of Swing

    Feel free to sign the guest book so that I know there are some of you out there! Also, if any of you have your own websites, please free to link to ours. I'd be happy to do to same! Just let me know by e-mailing me at: swing@bw.edu
    Thanks,
    ---Brian Limoco




    James Madison University

    From: Rick Long

    November 4, 1998

    Hellooooooo Lindy Hoppers!

    Sorry it's been a while since I've tuned in, but between cuttin' rugs and takin' tests I've been a busy little bee. There have been a whole bunch o Swing happenings around here and I'm always like, okay, I'll wait until the next one then write to jitterbuzz.com about it, but then there's something like the next day so then I'm like, well, I guess I might as well wait until I go to that before I write... next thing you know, it's been like a month!

    But alas, I am here to update you, the dancer, as to the Swinginess of James Madison University and the surrounding countryside of ye old Harrisonburg, VA.

    Since last I wrote, out beloved Swing Dance Club has had its second meeting - okay, so we're a bit slow 'round these parts. I have to say, I went to the second hour of the club and like everyone had bolted by then so I got to work with the President and Officers like one-on-one and got to learn some nifty moves - thanks guys! You can check out the Swing Dance Club on the JMU homepage Go to "For Students," "Organizations and Clubs," then find us under "Music and Dance." Then do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around.

    Last Friday night I went to the club Trax in Charlottesville to see the Richmond (?) band Big Daddy and the Cool Cats, who played a pretty eclectic set of old and new - definitely a cool band! They opened for another Richmond (?) band, Bio Ritmo, which I had seen advertised as a cross between Salsa and Lindy, but they sounded pretty Salsic to mine ears. They were great, though, and I learned how to Salsa! (imagine the Jitterbug, bug *sexier!*)

    As my first letter said, we were graced with the presence of the Tom Cunningham Orchestra a couple weeks ago (still haven't caught my breath yet :) and just last night Camp Hartland held another Swing dance with DJ Mister Swankly. For you JMUers who want to go to the dances but are Lindy impaired and fear tripping over your two left feet, fear not! The Swing Dance Club always provides lessons at the dances, and in a few short minutes they'll teach you enough to have you kicking and hopping just like the pros! Well, okay, they'll teach you enough that you can certainly get out there a have a ball. As of yet, I haven't heard of any more forth coming Swing events, but I will let you know as soon as I do. In the mean time, the next meeting of the Swing Club is this Friday, 5:30 to 7:30 in UREC - see ya there!

    Now, while JMU may suddenly be a hoppin' place, you may be thinking, sure, JMU, but HARRISONBURG?! Ha! I tell you this - there's a gal in Harrisonburg by the name of Karen Calloway who teaches Lindy the first and third Friday of each month at the Dayton Learning Center (540-879-2833) - in addition to the classes she teaches at UREC for the school. I went to her class a couple weeks ago and got more wonderful one-on-one instruction. So for those in the community who are intimidated by all the JMU Swing kids, she's an excellent avenue to persue. And for all the JMUers who are intimidated by all the JMU Swing kids, she'll get you started on the right foot.

    Well, I reckon that's about it from my end of the swing line. I must say, before this semester, about the only time you heard the word "swing" uttered on campus, it had something to do with little kids on a playground. While the JMU scene may be fledgling, it is growing mighty steadily (case in point - TCO!) and I'm way proud of everyone here who's not afraid to get out and learn a new dance and have a blast dancing to something other than rap and techno! We have some GREAT dancers here too, they really showed their stuff at the Tom C. show, and even with the DJTuesday night. Keep up the great work, and I'll see you ALL on the dance floor!
    --Rick

    October 22, 1998

    Hello, dancers -
    first of all, great website, and second, I'm a student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, and a participant in the sudden explosion of swing dancing (aka Lindy) that has occurred down here this semester. Unfortunately, I don't teach any classes or give private lessons or anything noteworthy but I DO Lindy (okay, I'm still learning) and I feel like I've got my finger on the pulse of the swing scene down here - both on campus and off - so I noticed that there weren't any correspondants for my school and was wondering if I might contribute to you rad page... for starters, we just hosted The Tom Cunnigham Orchestra here LAST NIGHT (our first ever swing dance, to my knowledge) and unless mine ears deceive me they said they were coming back in 2 weeks (?) But at any rate, we have a brand new swing club and there's classes at the rec center and everyone's suddenly wearing khakis... okay, that last one was a joke, but I hope we qualify as a swingin school. If you could let me know what all is invloved with contributing, I'd like to give it a shot - my email is LONGWR@JMU.EDU Thanks bunches!
    ---Rick




    University of Washington

    From: Michael Ernst

    October 27, 1998

    Thanks for your great Swing travel pages; I've found them very helpful.

    A suggestion: it would be nice to date the information for each city (as of the date submitted or the last date on which it was known to be correct).

    I also have a couple of comments on two cities.

    Vancouver, BC, Canada:

    • The URL listed doesn't seem to work for me. But http://www.bluelizard.c om/main.htm does.
    • An even more useful page is http://www.bluelizard.co m/new.htm, which gives a weekly calendar. Vancouver swingers confirmed that the Gate has swing dancing only on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
    • Tonya and Theo no longer teach at the Gate on Tuesdays, as they used to. I don't know whether they continue to teach there on other days;but they are still active in Seattle, so maybe their plans have changed.

    Seattle:

    ---Michael Ernst




    University of Illinois

    January 6, 1999

    From: Terry Chay

    Frank, Tom and Debra, Cameron and Lisa,
    I'm back safe and sound, though slightly bedragged after a 30 hour train trip, in Champaign-Urbana and wouldn't you know it but a blizzard has just gone through here. When I arrived it was 20 below zero which apparently is a new record for Central Illinois, but I think that's just about the ideal temperature for Lindy Hopping. (This also offers a rare opportunity to try to con(vince) some girl that they can't call themselves a Lindy Hopper until they've attempted a swingout through a two foot drift of snow.) I promise to get the photos developed but due to the weather here, Kodak doesn't guarantee a return date and didn't stock enough forms for all my rolls so I'll have to wait a bit more (there is only one place around here that has the correct forms for 5x7 triple glossies).

    Today my friend Dave hosted a desert party for the twelve of us stranded here in C-U. I brought along a copy of the what I recorded in D.C. for them so now they'd all know what Glen Echo looks like and the Tom Cunningham Orchestra sounds like. We did some dancing as I subjected them to the sounds of the Pittsburgh swing scene (a la Dr. Zoot). BTW, Legends was closed so I can now make a new venue comment about Dave's apartment: ``With the furniture clear and the rug rolled up it has a nice though slippery wood floor and can take up to three couples on the "dance floor". The ceiling is too low for aerials and he needs to address the CD skip problem whenever any of us do a jersey jump--the "towel under the boombox" just doesn't cut it.''

    Of course, when I played the recording, you and the other D.C. Lindy Hoppers stole the show. It's the first time any of them had seen a dean collins style swingout outside of the movies (Mark would often try to teach us before he left), let alone the shag. Dave, who went to UVA, was quick to notice the odd couple or two in the background doing the prep step. They wowed over the aerials and laughed over some of the fun moves you all had and I'm afraid we're going to have to shamelessly steal them (if I don't give them all copies soon, I'll probably wake up next to a horse's head) :-). Of course, some of the girls said something to the effect, ``Forget the moves, check out that dress (or that hair, or those shoes)!'' I imagine the same response once the others come back from their respective vacations. I'll be sure to send jitterbuzz.com a copy of the tape along with the photos.

    I have only 30 megs free on my computer so work on my web page at is delayed until I can free up some room (I need about 12 megs for a minute of uncompressed video to work on). I really want to put up a page with the photos and video from my D.C. trip when I get the chance though to show the world what a great bunch of people you are. I hope some of you can help me with that later (putting names to the faces and descriptions to the actions).

    I'm writing this letter to thank you so much for your great hospitality. Actually the hospitality of all the Lindy Hoppers there in D.C., but especially you six and Sue (whose email I couldn't find). I had a great time talking, watching, and dancing with you and hope to see you hopping around. I wish I could take all my friends to visit you and show them how wonderful you are, but I guess the best I can do is describe you and show the video. I also tell them about Frank's cufflinks so maybe that'll convinced a few to make the trip down there. :-)

    December 28, 1998

    From: Terry Chay and the UIUC Swing Society

    I'll begin first with what happenned last: the departure of Mark Weiss upon receiving his M.B.A. from the University of Illinois. Mark is truely what the rest of us can only hope to become someday, both as a dancer and as a person. I don't know how many moves he taught us in formal instruction, privately off to the side, and on the floor as we'd surreptitously watch him half in awe, half in joy vicariously sharing in the fun he was having on the floor with whomever he was partnered. More importantly, he was an example to us at every event always willing to teach, always with a kind word, never turning down a dance even if that meant bringing a couple extra shirts to sweat through, and offering everyone an open invitation to his postage stamp of an apartment for a feast of culinary delight after a night of hard dancing. Mark, all of us will miss you greatly (and with all these hotshot engineers that this university produces, maybe one of them can give your wish and figure out how to take the whole of Champaign-Urbana and move it somewhere off a beach on the west coast).

    My last report left with Calvin doing the charleston and now the Champaign-Urbana swing calendar has moved to http://come.to/cu-swing and become the official UIUC Swing Society homepage. The only reason it hasn’t moved to the official webspace is that the site would blow the disk quota reserved for registered student organizations. (I wish more people would send me event information because I'm getting tired of scanning the weeklies.)

    That’s right, the UIUC Swing Society has finally become a registered organization—though perhaps the most disorganized one in the history of the university. Despite this, Valentin Prisecaru was able to hold the first official Swing Society “Swanky swing dance” on December 11th to a packed union ballroom. Santa Claus even made an appearance and did a jam session with any willing girl (or boy), both naughty and nice. Many cans of food were donated to the hurricane relief as part of the entry fee. The only gripes were the darkness of the place, the sometimes appearance of smoke and strobe lighting (as Anne put it, “Strobe lights are lindy hell”), the attendant heat, and being allowed to run only 30 minutes past closing. Still with packed attendances at these events and an e-mailing list that has reached the 900 mark, there is no doubt that swing is big in Champaign-Urbana.

    The organizers of the Kelly Jay Orchestra concert in October (in which an open date for the Union Rooms A,B,C fell in to their lap and they spontaneously booked KJO expecting only a hundred people to show up), spurred by the five hundred people who actually did, are bringing a sixteen piece big band to the university on January 17th to kick off the new semester. Perhaps the swing society isn’t as disorganized as I led you to believe. (BTW, 500 doesn't even begin to fill up the union rooms.) I hope they can keep events like this coming and that people keep showing up to make these events worthwhile.

    Some comments about the type of dancing done here. Most do swing from a single-time six-count basic—around here called “east coast swing.” This is taught before almost all the events and since the music played by the DJs are in the 200+ bpm range, ECS is often the only thing you can do. Now though more and more hoppers are starting to filter out of Justin Guinney’s beginner and intermediate lindy hop classes. You can easily identify them at Legends because they're the ones who go outside onto the porch when it’s below freezing and then tell you that it’s the only part of the bar that’s kept at the right temperature. Besides, they might add, it does’t get as crowded as the Jungles of Borneo. At events, I also noticed less and less people off to the side trying to learn the pretzel as more and more of them are there learning the charleston or tandem charleston, so I guess people are slowly succumbing to the temptations of the Lindy. Also, every so often you’ll catch someone doing West Coast swing, Foxtrot, Rumba, or waltz ot the music. Then again you’ll see people swing to King Floyd’s “Groove Me” (the "sooky-sooky" song from the Swingers soundtrack) and loving it, so you know we’re all probably missing a few marbles.

    Speaking of songs, the Swing Kids arrangement of “Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing)” has become the Lindy circle song of choice. I think a big thanks goes out to Vargas Swing and the St. Louis lindy hoppers who came with them for showing us this lindy circle thing in the first place. Personally, speaking as someone who videotapes these things, I hope they change the song to something slower, or at the very least, someone should get Ben a new CD because the one he is using always skips in the same place in that song and I have the recordings to prove it. I also hope that more people get the courage to go into the circle and show their moves off—I'm tired of seeing the same old mugs ;-). You’d think there would be nothing to fear after watching Valentin do the women’s swivels in the swingout (granted, Warren is getting mighty good at them...).

    Oh yeah, video. My camera broke and thus endeth my picture taking so it came time to break out the videocam and tape some of these events. Though my computer is broken and so is my videocam, I did manage to digitize some clips in quicktime format. You can catch the first circle at Legends and some other fun stuff at my holding bin and click on some of the links in November 3rd. I'll put in more when I settle the dispute with my electronic equipment.

    Here are two things I learned from photographing and videotaping swing events: if photographing be sure to make triple prints because everyone will want them and you might as well save yourself some trouble with the reprints; if you're videotaping, get one of those Sharp Viewcams with the cute LCD panels so everyone can watch themselves dance afterward.

    When Valentin was an undergrad he used to sneak into the Derby with a fake I.D., not to drink, but to dance. I’m happy to report this tradition seems to be alive and well in Champaign-Urbana where you need to be nineteen to enter the bars and some just can’t seem to get their fix simply from a monthly dose of dancing at the union. One poor dancer related to me a time when the bouncer upon examining the borrowed I.D. said, “Wait a minute, I know [name on I.D.]. I went to class with her. You're not [name on I.D.].” Perhaps a typical college story—but for drinking, not swing dancing. I wonder what the penalty is in this state for underage dancing?

    Here is a vignette some of your readers might enjoy: On November 7th, the Dancing Illini, the ballroom dance RSO, sponsored a ballroom dance competition. The night before Mark Weiss and Laura Schlenker had gone to the Miss Midori concert and stayed up until seven in the morning and slept through the swing competition earlier in the day. Figuring they would be guaranteed at least two dances before being kicked out, they entered in three events (Hustle, West Coast Swing, and one other) and lindy-hopped to every song as the audience cheered them on. The best part was they took first place in the Hustle doing the lindy as well as placed in another event. While some of the competitors were’t pleased, the judges felt they were interpreting the music well and one came up to them later and said, “I really enjoyed your dancing. You seemed to be having so much fun out there” Fun doing the lindy? Imagine that!

    Finally, I should mention that a number of people went behind my back and pitched in to get me a swing encyclopaedia, a Benny Goodman CD and a case to hold them in (since one of the conspirators fessed up that I just filled up my first one). More importantly, they all signed a wonderful thank-you card and embarassed me in front of the entire crowd at Legends by stopping the music to present it to me. A special thanks also to the followers who tolerate me though I've only been dancing a couple months, still can’t do a swingout, and make them dip me at the end of the song. You’re all the best and it’s really a blessing to have met you.

    If you happen to be at a swing event in Champaign-Urbana and see a guy photographing with a camera and recording with a camcorder, stop by and say "hi" because that’s me.

    From: Jeff MacMillan
    October 21, 1998

    Here's the scoop of whats going on at the University of Illinois.

    Swing became initially popular last year, when Legends (a bar) opened on campus and began hosting swing night with lessons every Tuesday evening. Since last spring however, things have really picked up. Swing can be found usually 4 times a week in public, not counting the various fraternity and other organized events for private groups which involve swing. Several local swing bands have sprung up and are beginning to play at the bars on a regular basis. Many of these events are sponsored by the U of I Swing Society, but now the bars are realizing the business potential of swing and getting bands on their own.

    In addition to all this, many regional/national swing bands are beginning to play in the Champaign-Urbana area. This week Royal Crown Revue is playing a show on Sunday, followed by the Mighty Blue Kings on Tuesday. This is the 3rd or 4th time the Mighty Blue Kings have played down here, they're quite popular in this area.

    In addition, swing style is making a comeback at the bars. Many women are easing away from the black "bar pants" for swing night and wearing a more appropriate skirt. It is also not uncommon to see men wearing saddle shoes, pocket watches, and even the occasional zoot suit is spotted. Personally, I wear khakis and a tie, maybe when I can dance well enough to be worthy of pinstripes and suspenders I will buy some.
    ---Jeff MacMillan

    From: Terry Chay

    Frank,
    I noticed Jeff MacMillan's wonderful college report on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He forgot to mention the UIUC Swing Society homepage (which I know is mentioned somewhere on your website.) Unfortunately that web page is more than a little out of date for swing information and a calendar of the events that Jeff mentions can be found at This NEW Swing Site until the swing society becomes a Registered Student Organization (at which point the page will point to the new website).




    University of The South

    From: Robert White

    Dear Frank and Carol,
    Well, the Blast from the Past event in Atlanta was wonderful. AS I said before, we one the first round, and went on to the next, whaere we lost, but met a whole bunch of other people we now correspond with daily. After the results at the final round, we all went out afterwards adn danced, danced, danced. I was so proud of my partner and I's performance in the contest, and so glad we stumbled upon all these great friends who loved dancing almost as much as we do.

    Thank you for your advice, it made us realize the most important thing: the fun we have when dancing. that night was the best dancing night I've ever had.

    Also, I was thrilled to see the Frankie Manning events. I plan on being present at the net forum, though I can't imagine what I would ask (kind of like how you think of all these things to say to someone you admire and love and are so amazed by, and then when you meet them, all you can do is look oddly at them with enormous eyes and kind of wimper). I also hope to make it to the 85th celebration. I've seen the Can't Top The Lindy Hop tapes, and weas thrilled by being there live.

    I'm choreographing a swing dance for my schools dance annual exhibition. We've been doing great, safe work for all the non-height aerials (except for generally safe stuff like shoulder kicks), but I wanted to wait and hear a professional opinion for the over-the-backs (name as I know them). I want to protect as much as possible the girls in these because these group of aerials seem to be the most dangerous. It's easy to say my partner and I can do them, but to teach them I want to make sure it's VERY safe (I'll try to describe the one's in mind: The head-over-heels (from a back-charleston, man bends down), the locking arms (man and woman facing different directions at the beginning), the over-the-shoulder (girl rolss backword over the man's shoulder) and the lift over (like a giant fish-flip). I was thinking of maybe a little bit of work in the pool, or should I just stick to gymnastic mats? They look pretty funny in bike-helmets, and I'm strongly considerring wheather (I'm a very bad speller, as you humorously know) to keep them for comical effect.

    Anyway, just wanted to thank you again for the amazing patience you have to answer the questions of a learning Lindy Hopper and his spelling errors.

    December 12, 1998

    Everything here is great, and I'm having a good college experiance. However, I've recently looked around and noticed....I'm the only one wearing nipple high pants, knee length coats, two-tones, and throwing girls in the air with not only their consent, but their encouragement. I even recently caught myself missing valuable final studying time because I couldn't get my head out of Norma Miller's book Swingin' at the Savoy. All the girls love it, but I'm restless, because other guys here know just enough to hurt girls by trying to immitate my dancing (I think the problem is using testosterone insead of brain waves). And their's no way I can improve my Lindy because the Frankie Manning tapes only have so many moves (of course, I DO need to keep working on those). And drunk swing-dancing wannabes are the most awful sight in the world, and have dampened many a good swing band and formal for my partner and me.

    And thank you for the fish flips, a personal favorite move.
    Robert White

    October 27, 1998

    From: Iver Cooper

    Dear Frank:
    Well, I've reached new heights (or depths): I successfully coached an aerial by email for someone I've never even met. The story began on on your web page, with the request for advice from Robert White of the University of the South.

    I wrote him as follows:

    "What you are describing is a fish-flip, although it appears that you flip the lady over your left arm, whereas I customarily do it over my right arm.

    There are several different ways of doing the fish-flip, and each has its strengths and weaknesses.

    Since you are having trouble getting the lady past the 180 deg. mark, I will describe a method which is strong in that regard. I have described it so the flip is over your left arm, the opposite of what I do.

    1. Starting position. She faces forward, your facing is oblique. Your right foot is pointing forward, and your left foot is pointing to the left side. Your right foot is forward and to the right of the lady. Your left foot is behind the lady, extending past her left foot. Your knees are strongly bent. There is a good spread between your legs.

    Your left (pivot) arm crosses in front of the lady's stomach, and hooks around behind her with palm up. Your right (active) arm crosses behind her knees or thighs.

    Her hands rest on the inner side (relative to you) of your left arm, with elbows out (resting on your arm) and hands near each other, gripping the arm.

    2. Now you both prep and she JUMPS, sharply TUCKING in her legs (i.e., bending her knees), as you PULL her legs up with your right arm. Make sure you do not let your left arm drop because your left upper arm defines her axis of rotation. In fact, you should be STRAIGHTENING to full height, too.

    3. If the jump and the arm movement are properly coordinated, she should have enough momentum to carry through the vertical position. (Some couples find it helpful for the man to slide his right hand up to the lady's tush and push up on that as you approach the 180 deg. mark.

    Make sure you follow through with our right (active) arm as far as the 180 deg. mark. If you stop too soon, she may not have sufficient momentum.

    Hope this helps. Let me know if it works for you.

    Practice this:

    • (a) with a mat
    • (b) with at least one spotter, who should be on your pivot arm side.
    • (c) in stages, i.e., first work on the jump to the 1/4 mark and let her down, then to half way and let her down, then to 3/4 and ease her down, and finally all the way. (d) making sure you have plenty of room."

    And this addendum:

    "A few things I forgot to mention.

    • first, I hope it's clear that in the starting position, not only are your knees bent, you are sharply bent over.
    • second, an alternative to the tuck for the lady is a hitch kick. She kicks up one leg (doesn't matter which is first) and then, while that is high in the air, kicks the other one up too."

    I just heard back from him as follows:

    "Thank you so much for your advice! It's a success!!! I'm doing them beautifully now. I ordered this new pinstripe maroon pachuco zoot and decided I wouldn't put it on until I could do it. Thank you so much!"

    Take care. I may see you at Forest Glen.
    Iver

    October 12, 1998

    Hey Frank!

    The University of the South (Sewanee) is on a mountain in the middle of no-where between Chattanooga and Nashville, and swing is picking up very well. The first week of school their was a swing blues band, and people started dancing. But something wasn't quite right...I looked at their feet and noticed (Oh, my God!) shag. These poor souls hadn't learned the power of the rock-step, not to mention about a hundred floor moves not translatable between the two, and of course the best of swing: aerials and the sexy triple-step. So me and my new partner have started teaching a workshop and have formed a club.

    The workshop teaches basic jitterbug and floor moves with 3 aerials over six lessons. The class (in a school of 1100 people) has 54 couples, and is booked with same number of people for next semester already. We also are making some good money teaching professors and students privately.

    The Lambda Chi fraternity on campus has a swing band every semester, The Frank Meyer Orchestra (composer is the uncle of famous bassist Edgar Meyer), and these parties are kickin'. My partner Leah and I ended up teaching basic step and turn every time we weren't being dragged away to dance. However, these events are still Frat parties, so inebriation took a lot away from an otherwise great dancing environment. In the future, however, we must warn some in what size crowds to do aerials and in what sizes not to. Our hearts go out to Alison and her headache.

    We hope to find a way to have an aerial workshop without liability problems, and it would be great, especially for myself and Leah, if we could have a Lindy workshop.

    The club, The Sewanee Swing Society, will have it's charter passed soon (November 98). It will allow for a music collection, stereo, and D-J dance every month (maybe even every two weeks). If ever in or near Sewanee and you want to know the swing scene for that week or even just trade moves, or possibly give away any size twelve spectators, please contact me, Robert White at 931-598-2737 (on campus, just 2737).

    Sewanee has a beautiful campus and wonderful people and we'd love to have any visitors and hope of showing them a good time.

    We'd like to thank jitterbuzz.com for this opportunity to get out to all you jumpers who love swing and want to preserve it. They do a lot of hard work to bring there information out to the web and we strongly admire and understand their passion for swing.

    Anyway, the dire information I have to ask of you is to help me on an over the arm flip. I build up momentum and then put my left arm around about her lover stomach, then lift her legs over with my right arm behind her thighs. But It's only worked once. The rest of the time She'll get her legs vertical, and---I feel I can't complete it so I kind of awkerdly put her down. I don't know what's wrong----i don't know if It's that moment of hesitation that I'll hurt her or my technique is all off. For awhile I was grabbing her too high. Do you have any advice???!?!?!?! PLEASE?????????
    ---Robert White

    [Editor's Note: OK all you would-be teachers -- bombard Bob with your suggestions! --- and YES, Lindy has not only survived, but Frankie Manning, one of the dancers in "A Day at the Races" is still teaching!]




    University of Wisconsin

    From: Alan Parsons

    October 25, 1999

    I've been putting off this report so that I can make it full and complete, so here goes. Currently, the scene in Madison is still growing. It's still young: very few people have been dancing more than a few months. But you can ask almost anyone to dance and be fairly confident that he or she has at least the fundamentals of Lindy Hop. Our little swing bar, The Palace, is currently the best place to dance on a regular basis, especially to live music. We're also in the process of creating both a Univ of Wisconsin-Madison student swing organization, and one for the city in general. I've taken the initiative of hosting my own dances twice a month, at The Grieg Club. It's all CDs, but it's got a good dance floor and we start the evening going through my growing library of vintage clips.

    Last weekend was one of the best weekends of my entire life. I was able to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Jean Veloz, Rob Van Haaren and Diane Thomas. Rob and Diane were a treat, but Jean was an absolute inspiration. I have to agree with Frank in his accessment of her: she's one of the most beautiful women I have ever met, inside and out. It was a weekend of Hollywood style, Balboa and Double Shag, and I honestly wanted to cry when I left. I had the fortune of being able to talk to Jean for long periods of time, between workshops, at dinner and after it was all done. We sat down, just the two of us, and she regaled me with stories of Dean Collins and the dancers that surrounded him: Irene Thomas, Hal Takier, Arthur Walsh and all the rest. Listening to her talk about them was like a religious experience. You could see her reliving it in her eyes, and the reverence she had for all of the dancers was readily apparent. The years melted away, and I half expected to turn around and see them all dancing behind me. Whenever I tried to steer the conversation towards her life, however, I got the feeling that she has not always felt on par with the dancers she talked about. More like she was always in the right place at the right time. I left with confidence in my Dean Collins whip, Balboa, a basic knowledge of Double Shag, a whole bunch of new tricks, and a new understanding of Lindy that Jean taught me. I left her feeling like she was part of my family. We exchanged info so that we can write, and she promised to send me more stories and info on all the dancers that influenced her.

    I'm also happy to say that I'll be back in D.C. for an extended period of time during December and January, my first extended stay in 3 years. I hope to get a dance in from all of you follows out there, and maybe a few leads, too, if I can stregnthen my follow anytime soon.

    As always, if you want to know what is going on right now in Madison, you can check out our website, www.blueroomrevue.com I'll write more before I return home, and see you all at Glen Echo soon.

    July 21, 1999

    I thought I'd give you a little update on the scene here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, since I have a few minutes today. Things here have been hectic and busy, and that's pretty much how I like it. Since my trip back home in June, the Lindy scene here has grown quite a bit, both in numbers and in skill level. Since I've been pretty isolated here to the Madison, Minneapolis and Chicago scenes, the view of DC was quite an eye opener, and made me realize how much work we have to do here. Until then, we were all dependent on 8-count moves, to the point of putting 2-count pauses in 6-count moves to make it all work. You literally heard everyone in the place triple step at the same time, perfectly with the musical phrase. It was that hang-up, and my poor lead (which Debra helped to fix) that made it so difficult to adjust to the DC gals. Since DC, though, every gal in Madison thinks my lead is the strongest, which I think is a compliment. I got some good footage of Ocean City, America and Glen Echo, and we've been studying diligently. Matt Smiley was also kind enough to dub me a tape of vintage Hollywood clips and such, which we've also been studying. Last week my partner Laura and I ran up to Minneapolis to take a beginner Hollywood style workshop, and were suprised to find that we almost had the whip and turns down just from the videos.

    So, now you'll find a lot less reliance on 8-count moves, Hollywood style and Frankie Manning style both being done on a slot (I figured out how Frankie does it), plus the basics of Shag and Balboa (which we picked up off the Ocean City and America footage.) At least among those of us who regularly practice, the growth in ability was just astounding. Of course, it's still below the D.C. mean, but we're working on it. This whole regular partner thing is a godsend for practicing.

    Without getting into debate on authenticity, Chicago is very much still in what they call the Savoy Tradition, which is really not Savoy style, but we'll let them believe it. The lead is so light that I'm amazed that anyone is led to do anything. No one is really doing any Hollywood style, and from what I hear, there is some very rabid anti-Hollywood people. Minneapolis is just getting into Hollywood, with the kids at USwing! (U of Minn) leading the way. Most people are still very beginner, so I don't expect to see too much of anything anytime soon. But here in Madison, there is great interest in both styles, and no real antagonism towards either. Since I showed the tapes of Balboa one night, most of the Lindy crowd wants to learn it. I heard one person say "I want to learn that Balboa so that I have something fun to do to that fast ECS Neo-stuff."

    We're still not getting many live bands, but I'm not surprised. It seems that clubs throughout our area aren't doing so well this summer, and aren't booking many bands. The Palace, our little swing club, has live bands, and a local band, KGB, has played a few other places. They're the first to cater to our "new rage," the Shim Sham, and actually play Stompin at the Savoy. Last week, to a recorded version, we had most of the crowd doing the Shim Sham or at least attempting it. It was great.

    Alan Parsons
    www.blueroomrevue.com

    May 17, 1999

    With Madison's new swing bar opening May 29th, there will be three TV stations present, as well as many newspaper people, so we all decided to get organized. As part of that, we brainstormed and came up with a concept for a new Madison lindy hop website. So, here's the address: www.blueroomrevue.com It's Madison's first and only comprehensive site for Lindy and swing. The other two sites, my personal page and the Mad City Swingers page both redirect automatically here.

    I thought I'd let you know that the link for the Language of Jive in your What is Lindy Hop section is dead. If you want, you can direct it to www.blueroomrevue.com/dict.html That is Cab Calloway's Hepsters Dictionary (1944 Edition).

    For the Sincere Flattery Section:

    Well, in the roundtable discussions that were part of the creation of The Blue Room Revue (www.blueroomrevue.com), we all decided on many things that were going to be needed: history of Lindy Hop, bio of Frankie Manning, weekly listing of events, reviews of events, shim sham instructions... As the list grew, I was growing increasingly worried. I checked your site, and yep! We basically came up with the concept of a Madison version of Lindy Week in Review. Just thought you'd want to know.

    March 21, 1999

    The swing scene in Madison continues to grow, albeit slowly. While there has been no lack of interest, the lack of quality venues is disappointing. Quality venues like J.T. Whitney's are continually packed, and we're making do with what we have. St. Patrick's was a day to remember: the place was crowded to begin with, and the atmosphere reminded me of the Jam - a handful of dancers and a couple hundred gawk-eyed onlookers cheering and stomping. Of course, it is entirely possible that my memory was influenced by the company I was keeping: my weakness for beautiful women who dance is well known.

    As the weeks count down, my general level of excitement grows. Two words: FRANKIE MANNING! April 9, 10 and 11 have Frankie doing a workshop in the Twin Cities, sponsored in part by TC Swing, and I'm going. When I first heard of the workshop, I almost wet myself, but after a little control, I did everything in my power to make sure I was able to go. A large group of us from both Madison and Eau Claire (a city halfway to Minneapolis and densely populated with cows) have arranged the greatest swing excursion known to Man. We've rented hotel rooms, paid for our workshop admission and spend almost as much time talking about Frankie as we do dancing. Lindy Hop has definitely become the dance of choice in Madison, but the number of moves known is limited to our personal experiences in Chicago, DC and from the Frankie tapes (the Tom and Debra tapes have yet to take the city over, but I have faith..) We're all excited to spend three days learning from the MAN himself. It's like a swing pilgrimage to the holy land.

    The only other news I have to offer is that a new Tuesday night venue opens this week, making four regular venues in the city. A small number of us have taken it upon ourselves to learn the Shim Sham (which I never learned back home). I promised a website months ago, and pretty soon you'll have your pick. My personal web site has the only current and update Madison swing calendar. Within the next week or two I'll have the Mad City Swingers website up and running again, however we haven't decided on the url yet, so I'll keep you posted. Oh, and my neighbors now think I have Keely Smith stashed away in my closet. Until next time..

    Hey guys and gals,
    I know. I'm a flake and I haven't written in quite awhile, but I'm writing now with what I consider exciting news: The University of Wisconsin - Madison now has it's very own, student run swing club - the Finicky Persnikitors. And their first dance, right after the Super Bowl at the Great Hall, Memorial Union was a great success. Now I don't necessarily agree with everything they do. Their flyer said "6:30 - 7:30 Beginner Lesson, 7:30 - 8:00 Ariels (sic), 8:00 - 11:00 dance, " and my initial reaction was a simple shake of my head. Teaching aerials right after a beginning lesson, I could imagine the injuries. Luckily, the beginners were too smart to try them on the floor. I was dancing nonstop for three hours last night, and to tell the truth, I'm sore. It's not normal to find a three hour dance with so many available partners. The Great Hall was an excellent venue, as well. It's large wooden floor can hold 600+ people comfortably, and there are water fountains, coat racks, bathrooms and the greatest amenity of all - climate control. Oh, and it's on campus, a great draw. The Finicky Persnikitors are planning at least a dance a month, plus low cost workshops and lessons, ranging from beginner six count to lindy hop and (hopefully) Carolina Shag.

    There has also been a slight increase in the number of Lindyhoppers in Madison. I said slight, but there is a workshop on the 14th of Feb that looks to increase the number by a few, at least. I've found that it's almost like Lindy is found entirely within the ranks of advanced dancers. Very few beginners or intermediate dancers even try. It's like you have to master six count ECS before moving on to Lindy, which I find to be a bit absurd. While the advanced dancers can get the hang of Lindy pretty quickly, I hate to think of all the others who are missing out because the think it's too difficult to try.

    Well, back to the books. I hope to post some more encouraging information in the near future. Until then.

    November 5, 1998

    Hey y'all!

    Here's a little update for you. A new venue has opened up! J.T. Whitney's on Whitney Way has started a Wednesday night swing night 9:00pm to midnight, with a free beginner lesson from 8 to 9. I attended the inaugural night last wednesday, and I enjoyed myself. J.T's is a bar/restaurant, with a large wooden floor. While only a small space was cleared for dancing, the manager has assured us that as the crowds grow, more space will be cleared. The music is canned, as most is in Madison, but the good news is that requests are welcomed. I got the DJ, who is also the dance instructor, to play plenty of medium fast tempo music, and started to Lindy with everyone who knew how, and teaching what I knew to those who didn't. Being a new venue, the water is still free, and the bartenders gave all of us who were dancing free soda as well. I think this venue will catch on well, even if it a bit of away from campus (10 minutes by car). For more info call J.T. Whitney's at (608) 274-1776 or just contact me.

    There isn't a whole lot of exciting news right now. Lindy is certainly catching on here, but I've come to the conclusion that only when there are more men who want to learn lindy, or swing in general, will swing be able to thrive in the area. There are plenty of women who want to learn, or can already dance, but not enough men to keep their interest up. And as much as they like dancing with other women... this is a college town, so much of the social activity is geared around meeting members of the opposite sex. I can understand why women leave, why stay when you get to dance one song a night? So, my mission is to find men and teach them to dance! So far, it seems to be working. Just tell them that swing is great way to meet women, and they'll learn to love it later :)

    If I don't get to sleep soon, I won't be able to keep this highwire act I call my GPA up. Talk to you in my next report.
    ---Alan Parsons

    From: Rich Chang
    October 27, 1998

    Hello!
    Well, Alan's report pretty much covered the scene here at the University of Wisconsin, but I just wanted to toss in a plug for the website of the Mad City Swingers. It contains a few articles, as well as listings for regular and special events.

    Although you'd have to venture out to Chicago for some hard-core swinging, the swing scene here is picking up. It seems quite a few students are learning swing and lindy hop from private lessons or the Union's mini-courses, because new dancers continue to show up at events. A number of venues now host weekly swing nights, including Angelic, J.T. Whitney's, and the Cardinal. The future looks bright...
    ---Rich Chang

    From: Alan Parsons

    October 5, 1998

    Hello all!
    I thought I'd drop a line and keep everyone updated on events at the great University of Wisconsin. With the Badgers in early contention for the Rose Bowl and the beginning of hockey season in the brand new multi-million dollar Kohl Center right around the corner, the last thing you'd think the students here have time for is swing dancing. You'd be thinking wrong. The demand for good venues has been growing exponentially since the start of the semester. To be honest, I was surprised. After all, the UW is known for it's football fans, it's parties and it's binge drinking, not it's dance scene (unless you count drunken house party dancing). But I can now find someplace to dance at least three or four times a week. And let me tell you, in a city where mediocre dancers are kings... I MISS THE EAST! Only a handful of dancers know true Lindy Hop, and their knowledge of the dance is extremely limited. But things are looking up. Armed with the Frankie Manning videos, a stack of quality CDs, and the freedom this city allows it's "performance artists," a small goup of students, over which Lindy has a hold on their heart and souls, is attempting to teach the King of all Social Dances to all people. Boy, are the West Coast Swingers mad!! :) I'm happy to report that everything has been going well, save the run-ins with the Capitol Police. Just mention the word "swing" and I have yet to find someone who doesn't say "You can Swing??!! Awesome, teach me!!" While being compared to the GAP commercial twenty times a day is the bane of my existence (Matt Smiley has rubbed off on me in some ways), the interest is here. We just need the teachers and the venues. Ah, c'est la vie, n'est pas. Maybe one day I'll learn enough to teach it myself.

    If heaven is having the women ask you to dance, I must have died since my last report. While they weren't all the greatest dancers ever, they wanted to learn. And so more come under the fold, and lindy makes it's steady progress throughout the campus. So, here's the scoop:

    What people are wearing

    While most aren't quite into the truly authentic retro craze (yet), many are making a strong effort to look their best. Most guys are wearing slacks (often khakis, but we're not all perfect) and dress shirts, occasionally sporting suspenders (Though I inwardly cringe everytime I see clip-ons). A large minority of men are sporting a la Louis Prima: Hawaiian shirt, tan or earth toned slacks and black shoes. And those really into it are going all out: period clothing, or at least as close to period as possible. The women tend to do better. Those not in period clothing are at least in moderned "dressed up" clothing. Dresses are a must (no pants here). The dresses come in almost any style imaginable, but earth tones reign supreme, followed closely by red in floral prints. Most are wearing medium length dresses: I'm not sure they've learned the value of shorts underneath. Now they need to learn the value of appropriate shoe attire. Slowly and surely, they are learning that 9 inch stilletto heels aren't good for dancing, unless you feel like dancing your way into the emergency room.

    What they're listening to

    What they can get their hands on. Anything that has mass appeal, such as Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Brian Setzer, of course, is fair game. Stores like the Exclusive Company on State Street report that they have been going through much more Big Band stock than before. Names like Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and both Dorsey brothers are selling strongly, while other slightly less mainstream swing artist recordings are picking up sales as well. Louis Prima albums are hard to find right now in this city, since an article in the univ newspaper, the Badger Herald, mentioned that Jump, Jive an' Wail was his baby. Seems most people thought Brian Setzer had enough creativity to create it himself. Any band that passes through is guaranteed a good jump in record sales. People are constantly borrowing everything I have by J Street Jumpers, Indigo Swing and Tom Cunningham. Lavay Smith and Her RHSL have been popular since they visited Chicago, and the Chicago group The Big Swing has a pretty lively following here as well.

    Miscellaneous News Dept

    There still is no local website for reporting the events, so I'm in the process of making one myself. The as of yet unnamed website will feature reviews of bands that pass through, listings of venues and approximate capacity of their floors, a little swing and lindy history and anything else I feel is appropriate. And it will also have a running update of Badger Footballs march to the Rose Bowl and current ranking. I expect it should be up and running by the end of October. The address will be http://www.geocities.com\~lindyuw

    Well, until the next report, this has been Alan Parsons of the LBS; the Lindy Broadcasting System, signing off. The Capitol Police can only make me leave if they can catch me. Goodnight.
    > Ain't misbehavin'
    ---Alan Parsons




    University of Florida

    From: John Kelly

    January 18, 1999

    The Swing Report - Gainesville, Florida (University of Florida)

    Here in North Central Florida, swing is alive, but at present I have yet to meet anyone here that has even heard of the Lindy Hop (I am an amateur in all senses of the word, but I even I know how to do that!). I went to a swing night the University held (so far the only one this year), and I saw no Lindy Hop, and only some rudimentary Charleston. They did do a demonstration with some aerials and neat turns, but there was nothing of the caliber of the DC area. I think I have been spoiled by being introduced to swing up there.

    After many inquiries, I have determined that the main step here is called the "East Coast Step." The way they do it here is a basic jitterbug in the open position, the count being 1-2 1-2 rock-step. There is also some of what one of my friends call "that wretched Johnny swing." Takes up lots of room, has something like four moves, and is generally unimpressive.

    One of the most popular bands in the area is "Seven Foot Politic," based out of Dirtville, Georgia - it is mostly rockabilly, and they have some pretty good tunes. There are other bands that advertise themselves as "jazz, blues, and swing." Haven't heard any big band yet. Most people are in to the revival music, like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Brian Setzer (even our marching band plays "Zoot Suit Riot"), and there isn't too much of the older stuff to be heard.

    Something else that I have noticed - a lot of people don't don their "threads" when they go out. There are a few that go to dances all decked out in the vintage clothing and Spectators, but a lot of people just wear sneakers, t-shirts, and jeans. Where's the fun in that?

    There are two clubs here in G'ville that advertise "Swing Nights," but the floor space is really too small to do anything too showy (worse than the Americas restaurant on a Tom Cunningham night). There are tales of faraway southern lands called "Tampa" and "Orlando," that have bigger clubs and better bands. But for now, these places are just a bit far away to walk to.

    Yours in Gainesville, where it is a constant 70 degrees...

    October 6, 1998

    Hello!
    Love your web site, and I'm a big swing fan too. I live in Woodbridge, but I go to school at the University of Florida, so I only catch the DC scene on vacations and summer.

    It took me a while to get this together, I wanted to make sure it was "just right." It's not a poem, but it's what I do best - apologies to Letterman. Submitted for your approval (and web site):

    Top 10 Reasons Swing is King

    • 10. Footwear - Black and whites.
    • 9. Ability - Improvisational style leaves a LOT of room for error (for us novices...)
    • 8. Dress - You can dance in your good clothes, and it's OK!
    • 7. Flight - Michael Jordan could never do aerials like these.
    • 6. Divinity - Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glen Miller.
    • 5. Elegance - Unlike many modern dances, most swing does not emulate a felony act. Emphasize most. :-)
    • 4. Language - You can use words like "hepcat," "zoot," and "scat" in normal conversation.
    • 3. Safety and Security - Ever see anyone attack a brass band?
    • 2. Mathematics - You operate on a base eight system (alternate: No need to count past eight)
    • 1. Passion - It's not just a "thing," it's a way of life.

    John Kelly




    George Mason University

    From: Erik Newton
    Erik Newton

    November 12, 1998

    OK, I'm really excited about two things here. First, I broke my cherry and I danced a Jam at zones under the expert tutelage of Steve and Karla. Ya, I suppose it had to happen someday. Afterwards though Erica and I where so full of adrenaline , neither o f us could see or walk and we just sort of sat in this smiling buzzing daze on the floor. The second thing is, we FINALLY learned the Kip. I'd like to be able to say that it's the biggest new at Mason, but I don't think anyone really noticed. Except when I fell on my butt. Tom just laughed at me and Debra was heard to say "gee, I've never seen the GUY fall before." Well let me just say I'm glad I could offer Debra a new experience.

    So other than that block busting news, Mason is chuggin' along: Swing club is kickin' and everyone seems pretty happy. Our Turn out never seems to dissipate. If ever some of the regulars don't show up (AHEM, Psycho Boy) plenty of new folk show up to fill their places. The girls are just getting more and more plentiful every week. It's really a wonder that more young fellows haven't caught on to this fact. I'm not really complaining here though.

    Frank our swing club dictator was recently complaining that nobody donates any money when he asks them to. I mean it's voluntary and they are students but nonetheless $2 isn't much. So I was thinking, maybe he could charge people to watch me fall on my ass. I'm sure they've never seen anything quite like it before.

    That insidious virus called the prep step has finally made it's way up to Mason. Where did that abomination originate again?. in some hole in the south no doubt :) Someone got reprimanded in Tom & Debra's incredibly inexpensive and ever so professional beginner class at Mason for mentioning it last week. I hope they learned a lesson.

    That's all folks.
    ---Erik Newton

    October 6, 1998

    Hey Frank,
    What do people at GMU think about Swing?

    • "Dude, Swing is a great way to pick up girls!" That's a quote from a frat boy I overheard in the dining hall yesterday.
    • "Oh my god, I've always wanted to learn that. can you do the stuff in that GAP commercial?" That's from a girl I me in the Johnson Center at lunch today actually.
    • "Swing? I'd love to. When?" That's pretty much just the generic everybody quote.

    So, swing at GMU is definitely starting to swing. Thanks to our self proclaimed "Swing Dictator," Frank (Christ, I don't even know his last name). Anyway, thanks to Frank we've got a Swing Club. Every Wednesday night from 7:00- 11:00 PM we have exclusive rights to a dance studio in the Johnson Center; nice bouncy wood floor and all. Frank spends the entire day on Wednesday with his side kick Duke putting together the play list of songs for the evening and not going to class. Then we all just Dance. So, Frank has done an awesome job of setting this thing up and promoting the bugeezuz out of it; Last week we filled the room to capacity

    A real draw has been that Frank or some special guest (like that fellow Steve what's-his-name) teaches a beginners lesson @ 8:00. What always happens is that all the freshmen girls who live on campus drag out their boyfriends who usually get embarrassed and leave. Then the girls all hang around for the rest of the evening and dance. And the nice thing is that some of em don't have boyfriends. I have to admit, the thing that Frat kid said about the girls is true: we always seem to have more women than men. Works for me, I always have someone to dance with. and Tom always has someone to offend when he graces us with his presence.

    So, anyway, admission is free and open to anyone that can get there :)

    That's it for dispatch #1.

    Cheers from Mason,
    Erik Newton




    Wellesley College

    From: Lian Eoyang
    Lian Eoyang
    Lian Eoyang is on the Left, Teresa Egan is on the right

    From: Lian Eoyang lianorama@hotmail.com

    Hi Frank!
    It's your old pal Lian, and although I haven't been writing into the college report as much as I should, I'd like to put in a little something about the great California town of San Luis Obispo. I noticed that you have a short blurb about it under your "Santa Barbara"

    heading in the travel guide, and here is more:

    I came to San Luis (as it's often called) to visit my granparents and other various relatives, but like any addicted Lindy Hopper, I came with ulterior motives of dancing. i couldn't find anywhere to dance in this small town, despite it's proximity (an hour north) to the mecca of Santa Barbara, home to the great Jonathan and Sylvia. But fortunately for me, San Luis is one of those wonderful quaint towns with a lot of history and a competitive amount of vintage shopping.

    DECADES. 785 HIGUERA STREET, SAN LUIS OBISPO (805) 546-0901

    the first, and in my opinion the best, vintage shop that I went to was Decades, located at the heart of their commercial district. it was an awesome shop with rows and rows of shoes (most Doc Martins, but many other finds in between, including one larger pair of women's shoes actually from the 40's) and racks of clothes, many of them men's. in

    fact, about two thirds of the store was devoted to men's attire, and the other third to women's wear. the entire size of the store was probably about double of mood indigo in downtown dc or half of meep's. A lot of the women's dresses were from the 70s, but like any vintage shop, some digging was required to get what you were at. A few pieces fit my 40s tastes (and more importantly were my size), and they weren't outrageously priced. I paid about $20 for an early 50s (as far as i can tell) rayon dress. there was a whole rack of coats, nice ones, leather with fur trim. the men's side seemed abundant in suits, hawiian shirts, t-shirts, and a few coats. They had a couple of bowling shirts, but again, you have to dig. i found one *excellent* bowling shirt, a beautiful color and in great condition, but they were asking $45. So perhaps the pricing here is a bit spotty. The great thing about decades is it's ecclectic collection of household items and other knicknacks. Their phonebook ad boasts that they "specialize in...50's goods." I spied an old chrome blender and toaster there, apparently in great condition. unfortunatley i didn't check out the prices...but above all the racks of clothes is a display shelf of beautiful items, and the staff is very helpful and friendly if you inquire after these or any of the items in the store. Maybe not as good as meeps in terms of selection, but if you're in town, definatley worth a visit.

    SECOND TIME AROUND. 577 MARSH STREET, SAN LUIS OBISPO. (805)-543-0997

    Located a couple of blocks off San Luis's main drag, Second Time Around offers a wide variety of vintage clothes. chocked full with stuff, it most likely resembles Meep's in inventory size. It has a lot of 50s stuff, which to me is a lot better than decade's 70's bent. It has a lot of old stuff at reasonable prices, but none of it my size (which is pretty small and thus hard to find). There are a ton of shoes, but most could be used for ballroom dancing, not Lindy. Again, much digging needed, and a treasure could probably be found. A whole bin of scarves was by the door, and racks cascading with purses could be found in various spots in the store. there were a lot of ties, too many for me to look through. the men's section was considerably smaller in this store, but could hold some potential. in the window are a couple of beautiful wedding dresses, perhaps pre-WW2, but i'm not in that market. ;) if you go to second time around, make sure you look at the display wall behind the counter, there are a few really nice things back there that aren't too expensive. the ambiance and goods are not as nice as decades, but the saleslady was just as helpful.

    GOODWILL. 712 MARSH STREET. (805) 544-4965

    Unlike the huge goodwill that I went to in Falls Church, Virginia, this Goodwill is considerably smaller, about a third of the size. It was much more picked over, as well. it could have been the day that i went, but this store had absolutely nothing that perked my Lindy interests. Worth a peek if you're in San Luis, but don't expect much.

    CONSIGNMENT SHOP. BROAD STREET.

    i'm terribly sorry, but I don't exactly remember the name of this store, but it's the one on Broad Street with three fantastic suitcases in the window. unfortunatley, the vintage goods stop there. Inside the atmosphere is really wonderful and the woman who was working there was absolutely charming and helpful, but most of the goods were from the nineties, not what us Lindy hoppers are looking for. but if you're looking for unique contemporary jewlery, it's got some very nice trinkets and other things.

    There are lot more stores in San Luis that could potentially have vintage clothes in it, but i just didn't get to them. certainly peruse the phone book, and you're bound to come up with a whole slew of other stores. as for dancing, I think most of the action is down in Santa Barbara, but I've heard that if you contact Jeffery Bloom of Pat Jackson's Academy of Dance in San Luis, you might be able to find a Lindy lesson or two in this fine town.

    September 28, 1998

    I'm so impressed that we've made such an impact on the lindy community in such a short time!! I thought I'd finally sit down and write because I've kind of dropped off from the world since I got to Boston, so here's what I've been up to:

    I went dancing a couple of weeks ago and ran into a lot of people who danced in DC. Several people knew so much about what goes on back home, but the only one whose name I can remember was a very nice lady whose name was Tina and said she was friends with Gay and Dave. She said that she had done a lot of dancing in DC about a year ago and had since gone to Houston before coming to Boston. She looked a lot like the woman who used to frequent the jam with Arnold.

    The dance I went to elicited mixed reviews from me. It was well attended by a mix of lindy hoppers and people just starting out, though it took a while for the place to fill up. It was *nowhere* near Glen Echo--more like Chevy Chase Ballroom, yet I still heard people griping about how crowded it was. The dance was held in a gymnasium in a local community center (Newton Lower Falls if you know it...), so it was quite different from the dance floors I'm used to at home--it was *very* sticky. Even still, it was nice to find true lindy hoppers in the area, as most of what I'd seen before was a whole lot of johnny swing and hardly any lindy, I'm assuming because of the abundace of colleges here. Going to this dance made me miss the spunk of everyone back home though, I suppose because it just seemed like there wasn't as much variety in steps here. I think it's just easier when you know that everyone's been reading from the same book. Don't get me wrong, I did have a sizeable amount of fun. Tony and Aurelie Tye lead the festivities, spinning cds and teaching.

    They started off with a lesson in the basic triple, then in another break taught the shim sham (though mighty quickly, I thought--the whole thing in about 5 minutes). A third break gave way to a jitterbug stroll lesson, but the cliff's notes version, as they only taught the first two steps then said "okay, try to keep up!" The last break was not a lesson, but some other line dance which I recognized but couldn't remember the name of. The evening ended fairly well, and I got the names of a few other places to dance in the Boston area.

    That Sunday I went to the MIT ballroom dance club, and was unfortunatley dissapointed. There was not a whole lot of opportunity to lindy, nor were there any noticable lindy hoppers. I can't gripe too much though, since it is a *ballroom* dance club, and not a lindy forum. In the non-lindy sense however, I did have a wonderful time watching their hour long exhibition in which they showcased several different kinds of dancing, form the Austrian waltz to the hustle. Everything under the sun was shown on that dance floor. It was interesting to watch their swing showcase--I saw very little triple stepping and no swing outs. The people were very friendly, but seemed a bit disorganized.

    Sara gets here tomorrow, and hopefully she'll bring good luck to my lindy search. We're going to a place called Johnny D's on Monday, so we'll see how that goes. Mid-October I'm planning a trip to New York, and I'll try to hack out a review of whatever dancing I do there. All in all, I really miss DC and all it has to offer. Nothing beats home, especially if it's Washington and even more if you're a lindy hopper.
    lots of love,
    ---Lian.




    Austin College

    From: Rachel Blacketer

    February 21, 1999

    Okay, what I want to know first is HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU TWO HEAR ABOUT ME IN THE BLAST FROM THE PAST CONTEST???

    I'm starting to believe that Big Brother is indeed watching. ;)

    The contest went great. How we made it to the second round was kind of funny--my friend Kalman and I were dancing at a local club, and had no idea there was even a contest. Two officials came up to us after we had danced a few times and said, "You win!" and we were like, "Win what?!?" That's when we found out that there was such a thing as the "Blast from the Past" contest, and that since we were such crowd favorites, we were the winners. Kalman and I were like, "ooooookay."

    So we made our way out to Grapevine Mills on the next Saturday to compete against the other couples that had won in the Dallas Metroplex area. The total was 12 and the competition fierce. Kalman and I did well, especially considering you could put all the times we'd danced together on one hand. Most everybody else were established couples. A couple of friends of mine, Scott and Melissa, won, but not until after a danceoff with Nelson and Robin, also friends of mine. It was exciting, that's for sure! Kalman and I danced to "How Big Can Ya Get?", the live version from Dallas's own Johhny Reno. I had sooooo much fun doing it!

    I was ecstatic to hear that Steve and Carla took the D.C. area. I hope they make it to the top five and get to go to NY. That would be supermergentroid.

    Other than that, I am back at school, though I've moved out of the dorms (in one of the smarter moves I've ever made), and am looking forward to Spring Break. I hope to be up there in D.C. during it!

    November 18, 1998

    Hi guys!
    I just got back from the best workshop I have ever attended in Big D (Dallas, that is), and had to tell you about it. Today we did Hep Hop (lindy meets hip hop with a few variations) for a good five hours....oouuuuch. They started us off by bringing in a professional hip hop teacher to show us a complete routine, and how utterly grooveless many in our crowd can be (although I'm proud to say I can definitely get a groove on). =] From there we plugged many of the moves into the basic lindy and simplified the whole style, making it more earthy, heavy, and urban. It was very cool. Then, as a special treat, Carnell from Houston was on hand to grill us on our lindy technique. He did some really interesting things--like starting off the class by having three couples at a time attempt to cover the entire length of the studio floor with three swingouts. This led to a lot of running and throwing, which he was encouraging as a way to show the guy not only how to do the lindy steps, but also how to put a little power behind his throw to actually propel the girl, rather than just get out of her way. Then he showed us how to "make it sparkle" with jazzed-up basic moves. Let's just say we were knee-deep in pinache. My back's still killing me from a whirly bird gone wrong, but I'll live. =] Then we topped it all off with the Gangsta Stroll, a line dance based on both the shim sham and the jitterbug stroll, but incorporating a lot of hip hop into it.

    Well, that's the scoop from down south!
    Your Friend in Swing,
    Rachel B.!

    November 2, 1998

    I would LOVE to tell you what's happening with the Dallas scene. First of all, we lost two of our very best teachers to the Big Apple. Mitch Baranowski and his new wife, Rachel, are going to start teaching in NYC under the name "Smiley's Lindy Hoppers." They are fantastic dancers that we were VERY sorry to lose. If anybody is ever up in NYC, try to catch their act.

    I've been teaching swing and lindy up at school in Sherman at Austin College (an hour north of Dallas), and am having a good time with that. The biggest news I have, though, is of a new style some of us have been working on: what we're calling "hep hop," a dance infusing hip hop into (8-count) lindy. I don't know how big this is in D.C., but apparently it's the new thing out west. It's experimental here in Dallas right now, with a few of us working on it. Smiley's Lindy Hoppers (a performance group also here in Dallas led by Jeff and Elaine) is doing a workshop on it Nov. 14th. If you've ever heard "Lucas with the Lid Off" by Lucas, or anything by Rakim, you know what kind of music I'm talking about. The stlye is a lot of jerky stop motions right in the middle of a move, and a lot of groove footwork. Some of the girls and I are also trying to fit in more body rolls and fluid hip hop movements with all this. In my opinion, this is all due to the fact that we have had to use more recorded music because we lack the amount of live (non-rockabilly) bands that other cities have, and have had to find other ways to expand. I'm really excited about hep hop, because it's a fun way to expand the amount of music that's usable for swing dancing. This also takes swing into new territories, making it available to more people.

    So that's what's going on. Let me tell you, I still miss D.C. like it was my home...
    ---Rachel

    October 15, 1998

    Heya Frank!
    Hey guess what--last night I had my very first experience teaching, and I had a _blast_! My friend Warren Wright of Smiley's Lindy Hoppers came up from Dallas to help me out up here at Austin College (in Sherman, not Austin). We had a crowd of about 80 college kids all eager to learn, and boy, did they ever pick it up fast! It's really easy to take instructors for granted after taking lesson after lesson for a year and a half, but now I've a newfound respect for them. We're going to start doing every Tuesday here at A.C. because the campus is absolutely crazy about it. I do wish we could get even more men (boys) to come out for this, though. Any suggestions?

    Just had to tell you, because I am so very very excited about all this! Oh yes, and if you see Arnold, could you tell him the pictures came out wonderfully and I'll be sending them ASAP? Dallas is still buzzing about them--people that weren't even there that night keep telling me about this couple--
    Keep swingin', friends!
    ---Rachel




    Cornell University

    From: Alex Fajkowski
    Alex Fajkowski

    June 18, 1999

    I figure it's time for an update about Ithaca since I'm back in DC for the summer and haven't written for a long time! where do I start?

    The Ithaca Lindy community is still really strong and a great group of people made up of locals and Cornell and Ithaca College kids. In February, Ithaca hosted Steven Mitchell for a great weekend of workshops. A few DC people even made the hike up to New York!

    A couple months later, tons of Ithacans (including the coolest performance troupe this side of Oslo, Minnie's Moochers) made it to NADC in New Jersey for a DC/Ithaca gathering. Great competitions, lots of workshops from Paul & Sharon, Bill Borgida, and Steven Mitchell, and excellent dj'ed social dancing all night long from Bill & Paul (and me when it got late).

    Back in Ithaca, the local group of addicts hit the Phantom Club in Syracuse for Joe Salzano and The Blue Devils every Thursday (they just released an awesome CD...lots of great music, check out http://www.swingformation.com/ for more info); the City Health Club for record hops Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Bill Borgida's weekly classes; and lots of other great local bands through ISDN. Jeff, Christy, & Nina also made it up to Upstate NY at the end of April...Jeff & Nina taught a Collegiate Shag workshop before a Saturday night dance.

    We were also very lucky to have two great weekends with Swedes in May. Martin & Anita (former Rhythm Hot Shots) stopped by Ithaca on their first teaching tour to the States. And following Frankie's 85th celebration in NYC, we got Eddie & Eva and Beni & Ulrika to teach a great series of workshops during Memorial Day Weekend.

    Now I'm back...grades are posted, and good news is I didn't fail anything! Bad news is I only have one more year left in Ithaca as a senior...too bad I didn't get hooked into Lindy during my first two years at Cornell.

    Over the summer, lots of Ithacans should be coming down for workshops and various weekends (including Shout 'n' Feel It coming up soon).

    November 5, 1998

    Hi Lindyheads!
    Lots of stuff has been happening in sunny Ithaca lately. Paul Overton & Sharon Ashe (from San Francisco) stopped by before the American Lindy Hop Championships for a weekend filled with lots of lindy workshops. We learned some really cool moves and techniques which I can't wait to try when I get back to DC for Thanksgiving & Christmas. I also met a lot of great dancers who traveled from all over the place for the workshops. Paul & Sharon won first place in the Strictly Swing division in New Jersey!

    The next weekend (Halloween) I was down in Georgetown on a Model United Nations conference...no lindy hopping, but plenty of diplomacy. However, at the Lindy Hop Championships in New Jersey, Ithaca's finest, "Minnie's Moochers", took first place in the Team division (not to mention 1st, 2nd, & 3rd in the junior division). They are really cool to watch dance...their coach, Bill Borgida, started a program for high school teens here called "Swing Kids." When I saw their routine before they went to NJ, I knew they would win. They also said they met Matt and Nina & Naomi (who evidently did some Beastie Boys routine late at night).

    Ithaca's swing scene is still strong despite the end of the semester bringing midterms, papers, problem sets, & projects. Tuesday nights have taken over a local club in collegetown called Republica. This weekend has two big swing nights coming up on the Cornell campus...Friday is Diana Leigh & Crazy Rhythm, and Saturday is Joe Salzano & the Blue Devils. So if anyone feels like visiting Ithaca (New York's most centrally located swing capital), drop me an email.
    See you in a few weeks,
    ---Alex

    September 28, 1998

    Hi Frank!
    I've been away from the DC swing dance scene for about a month now since I'm currently a junior at Cornell University. Although I am missing everyone from Glen Echo, Vienna Grille, GMU, America and Chevy Chase, I've discovered Ithaca's great lindy scene! If you don't know,Cornell is located in Ithaca, NY-a small town in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York (about 4 hours from any major city). Despite its remoteness and occasional bad weather in the winter, there are tons of lindy hoppers in the area!

    Two main groups organize most of the events around Ithaca. The firstgroup (Ithaca Swing Dance Network) has been around for a long time. They are responsible for record hops at the City Health Club every Wednesday and bringing live bands to local venues at least once a month. Two Saturdays ago I saw a greatrockabilly/swing band play called 'Tom Knight and Blue Moon.' Also, Diana Leigh and Crazy Rhythm, who played Glen Echo this past summer, are based in Ithaca. ISDN also keep a weekly bulletin of everything swing this side of the Hudson. They even brought Frankie Manning here last April...too bad my sidekick, Sara, couldn't convince me to start swing dancing before June!

    The second group,Cornell Swing Dance Club is very newly formed (this semester), and has a huge number of members from Cornell, Ithaca College, and ISDN. They currently sponsor Monday night record hops after lessons taught by Bill Borgida and Cindy Overstreet (more on them later). I believe CSDC are trying to raise money to sponsor live bandevents on the Cornell campus.

    Most of the lindy hoppers up here stick to Savoy-style swingout... I have not met anyone who knows the lindy whip, but I am trying to teachit too a few followers. Bill Borgida is the main Lindy teacher here...he met Buck in Herrang over the summer. Cindy Overstreet teaches West Coast...last week I took a free intro lesson from her, butcould not even get the basic steps down! Lindy and Jitterbug are definitely more popular with a lot of the new people at the local dances, but it's fun to watch lots of different swing dance styles on the floor. Kurt Lichtmann not only teaches Jump Jitterbug, but he's the DJ for "Saturday Swing"...a fantastic 2 hour swing music program on Cornell's radio station (Saturdays 1-3pm, 93.5,http://www.wvbr.com/swing, if you're in the area :)

    I've met tons of new people from all over the place who are slowly becoming regulars at the swing dance events. Luke, who goes to Syracuse University, has come down to Ithaca a few times for the dances.

    Finally, if anyone is going to be in the Finger Lakes region...great skiing during the winter, lovely place to vacation, and lots of wine trails (I've been told)... drop me a line (arf4@cornell.edu) or checkthe ISDN web page listed above for what's going on and how to get to the events!

    See you in October,
    ---Alex




    Millersville University

    From: Carla L. Heiney
    Steve and Carla
    Carla Heiney and Steve Cowles at Poli-Tiki

    October 6, 1998

    I thought I would let you know that tomorrow night (Wednesday, October 6th) a great swing band will be playing at Millersville University from 9 until midnight. I have danced to them on numerous occassions, and they play great songs and they love to see swing dancers. However, as many people probably know, this area of PA seriously lacks swing dancers presently. So, I am inviting anyone who has the spontaneous desire to come to Pa to dance tomorrow night, to do so. My sister and I would love to see anyone who can do a swingout!! Also, this Sunday there is a swing festival/ jazz festival in Lancaster city at the square. Big Tubba Mista, the same awesome swing band, will be playing at this event. I invite anyone who can make it to come and visit grand PA. If anyone is interested, feel free to email the following address for directions etc.

    The D.C. area is only about 2 hours depending on the traffic situation.
    thanks
    ---Carla




    Millersville University

    From: Carisa L. Heiney
    Buck and the Twins
    Carla, Buck, and Carisa

    September 28, 1998

    Okay, now for the long awaited for account of my trip to AZ. First off, I began by looking in the paper and on the internet for places which advertised swing dancing. After several failed attempts, meaning I went to the places advertising swing only to find out that it was postponed until later, I finally found one place in Tempe called the Bash located on Ash street which seemed promising.

    The scene: A bar with small, very small, tables and chairs set up on the outside of the dance floor. There is no age limit Tuesday and Thursday nights when they have swing dancing. A lesson was taught by Paul Maranto and a lady whom I did not have the pleasure of meeting. Anyway, my first night there, Tuesday, I arrived with my grandfather, aunt, and uncle. I was intrigued by two men near the door who were selling all kinds-of good swing CDs, many from local AZ or CA bands. They played CDs all night which featured a lot of the new swing, Indigo Swing, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Royal Crown, etc. . .

    As for the dancing and the dancers well, I was pressed to find many people who knew more than my grandfather knew, but the spirit and enthusiasm which these beginners possessed was very promising. I discovered a few who knew some lindy and the crowd did want to see a "JAM" I must say though that this was one of the smallest jams I have ever witnessed. There just weren't enough advanced dancers there, so the same 2 guys and 3 girls continued to dance to the entire version of "Sing, Sing, Sing." I left early Tues night, but vowed to return Thursday night (without the family) when the CD sellers told me a very good local band would be playing and more people would be there.

    Thursday night: They were right, the band was good, although I can't even remember there name right now, I know I have it written down at home though. There were more people there and it wasn't just college or high school students which the crowd consisted of on Tuesday night. I met many interesting people, that is one beneficial result of going to a swing dance by yourself, and I found a group who knew Lindy. To my surprise I ran into one of Carla's friends, Julie, from VA. I got to dance with the instructor, Paul, who it turns out has been a ballroom dance instructor for quite some time. However, his swing and lindy was impressive and it was fun to dance with someone other than the majority of beginners which were there. The Jam was slightly more successful the second night because more people in general were in attendance. The style and the moves, even the names of the moves, for example the "A frame" they call the "kick butt" had many variations.

    Anyway, my experiences out there were very entertaining and I have information on a national swing magazine called the Martini Pages which will come out in October (the CD sellers are publishing the magazine) and will feature all sorts-of swing articles and cover swing bands. It sounds very interesting.

    I hope this account may be helpful for any travelers out to AZ or anyone who just wants to know what the scene is like elsewhere.
    --Carisa




    College of William and Mary

    From: Teresa Egan Teresa and Bill Beatty
    Teresa Egan and Bill Beatty (of Indigo Swing)

    November 20, 1998

    Teresa and Buck are currently teaching 4 classes of lindy hop lessons on Sundays in Richmond at Fulton Hill Studios and Regency Dance Academy. We are also looking at bringing in live bands on Sundays to our 5,000 square foot ballroom. If anyone is interested, contact Buck at (703) 273-9263.

    We are extremely busy!!! Buck and I have made two Monday morning visits to Clover Hill High School to spread the word of lindy. We did a demo dance, lectured, showed videos, and did a lesson. The kids had a GREAT time...and we did too!

    Two weekends ago, the William and Mary Ballroom Club went to the University of Maryland for DC Dancesport Inferno 98, a large USABDA competition. I was there for 16 hours on Saturday, competed in 8 dances, got called back in 6, and placed in 2. I even came away with a title...1998 DC Dancesport Inferno Lindy Hop Champion! The lindy competition was the best part! It started out with 60 couples and 4 got called back. Afterwards, I heard that some of the other couples in both rounds stopped to watch Bill Pushman and I, and at the end we got a standing ovation! Exciting!

    Last Saturday, November 14, Buck and I danced at the grand opening of Hecht's in Newport News at the Patrick Henry Mall. This weekend, on November 21, the Virginia Fine Arts Museum is having a "Black & White Party," which is a black tie affair at the museum. Buck and I will be teaching there as well as at the festivities at Fulton Hill Studios on Saturday.

    Here is our new schedule of classes for 1999:

    Swing Dance/Lindy Hop Lessons with Buck and Teresa (Partner not required. All ages welcome.)

    SATURDAYS: WILLIAM & MARY CAMPUS, Williamsburg, VA
    Instruction: 2:30-3:30 p.m.
    Open Dance/Practice: 3:30-4:00 p.m.
    January 30 - February 27
    $45 / person / 5-week session

    SUNDAYS: FULTON HILL STUDIOS, 100 Carlisle Avenue, Richmond, VA

    Beginner: 3-4 p.m.
    Intermediate: 4-5 p.m.
    January 17 - March 14 $96 /person / 8-week session

    SUNDAYS: REGENCY DANCE ACADEMY, 8968 Quioccasin Road, Richmond, VA

    Beginner: 7-8 p.m.
    Intermediate: 8-9 p.m.
    January 17 - March 14 $96 /person / 8-week session

    For more information call Ken at (804) 527-4970 or Teresa at (757) 221-5204 or send e-mail to Buck@dancestore.com or Teresa@dancestore.com.

    November 3, 1998

    Frank,
    Buck and I have just completed a very successful first week of new lessons in Richmond. We have beginner and intermediate classes on Sundays at Fulton Hill Studios and at Regency Dance Academy. There are still spaces and we are accepting new registration until November 15. Also, this morning we went to Clover Hill High School, a public school in Richmond, to spread the word of lindy. We did a 90 minute session with a demo, videos, lecture and lesson. They LOVED it and invited us back....we'll be there again next Monday, November 9. Buck and I are also going to start a 5-week series of classes on campus at William and Mary on Saturday afternoons from 2:30-4. We are also looking at bringing in live bands on Sundays to our 5,000 square foot ballroom. If anyone is interested contact Buck at (703) 273-9263. Keep it hopping!
    ---Teresa

    October 5, 1998

    Buck and I teach at

    Cafine's Club
    401 E. Grace Street (4th and Grace)
    Richmond, VA

    We are currently teaching a 6-week course from 7-8 on Friday nights and there is a swing dance w/ DJ from 9-11.

    Also, Carytown in Richmond has a bunch of vintage shopping for clothes and such.

    Also, W&M has a campus radio station (Tribe Radio 90.7) that plays swing on Thursday from 4-6. I was very impressed when I listened last Thursday....they even played Indigo Swing (who one of the DJs had never heard of). So of course I called in and said that I KNEW them and have autographed pictures!

    these are some GREAT quotes...

    • "Dance is a little insanity that does us all a lot of good." - Edward Demby
    • "To dance is to live....to live is to dance." -Heidi Groskreutz
    • "When you are dancing with your partner, for that two and a half minutes, you are in love with each other. You're corresponding with each other by the moves that you make. It's a love affair, between you and your partner and the music. You feel the music, you feel your partner, she feels you and she feels the music. So there the three of you are together. You've got a triangle, you know. Which one do you love best?" --Frankie Manning
    • "Dancing is an AMAZING activity. You can go up to a gorgeous woman that you've never met before, spend three minutes touching her virtually anywhere on her body, and she THANKS you for it afterwards!" -Mario Robau, Jr.
    • "[Dancing is] a vertical expression of a horizontal desire." -George
    Bernard Shaw ...those last 2 were COMPLETE Koerners!
    • "Dancing is wonderful training for girls, it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it." - Christopher Morley
    • "Swing is so much more than a dance, it's a way of life. The music gets stuck in your mind and the dance is in your heart and the whole scene is engraved on your soul. You can fly." -Nicholas Hope

    ...hey guys that's us!!!!!!  who hasn't had their life absorbed yet?  oh you will!!!
    --Teresa




    Northeastern University

    From: Sara Fajkowski Duke and Sara
    Sara Fajkowski and Duke Davis

    February 2, 1999

    Finally, I have time to write to everyone out there in the dancing world. I was the unlucky one that had to leave DC about two weeks before all the other college kids. Missed out on some great dancing from what Ive heard, but Ive been havine a "blast " here in Boston. Sorry about the pun, but it had to be said. There was one of those 'wonderful' compitions here. My partner, Jeremi (he came to visit DC....), and I competed and won it. We did not get a call about going to NYC, but thats quite alright seeing as we had a ton of fun just dancing with the floor all to ourselves. If anyone knows who it was that got to go to NYC, please let me know. I have been dancing about four nights a week, fun fun fun. Lets see, a month recap in a few words: dancing, Lian returned, dancing, found an awesome pair of wedges, dancing, school (thats there somewhere) and did I mention dancing?. I am loving life at the moment and actually enjoying school. I return for spring break the weekend AFTER the awesome weekend with Erik and Sylvia :-( March 19- 28. I know I know, but trust me, I will mouch the moves off everyone of you. Matt came to visit me and had a great time here. He wowed everyone with Hollywood style Lindy. So many questions about that. Well, time for me to get some studying done, Ill talk to you all soon,

    December 16, 1998

    LINDY HOP IS A DRUG

    by Sara Fajkowski and Gretta Thorn

  • the first one's free, the next one's gonna cost ya
  • it's expensive
  • it changes your life style
  • it makes you feel so good
  • some people are dealers (Tom & Debra)
  • there's special equipment
  • you can't count past 8
  • you suffer withdrawal when you can't get it
  • it is the new way to advertise (instead of heroin chic it's lindy chic)
  • you can't get enough of it
  • people outside can't understand why you do it
  • you give up things that used to be important to you to do it
  • you can only date within the lindy/drug crowd
  • dealers go to high schools in the area to get the young crowd hooked
  • there is a special lingo
  • there are many names for the same thing
  • many people try it, some become addicted
  • you think about it all the time and the next chance you will get to do it again
  • it impairs the way you see things, suddenly everything is in black and white
  • it increases your appetite
  • you begin hiding your obsession so your friends don't think anything is wrong

November 18, 1998

There are many places to go dancing, all of which can be found by going to The New England Swing Dance Server Here is a list of places that I have heard/ been to go swing dancing in Boston:

Tuesday: Ken's Place

This is a big church with great dancing. Usually a live band, nice floor; Central Square T stop (Red Line); dancing from 8-10 $5 donation; all ages

Wednesday: Hi Ball Lounge (Buzz's Bar)

This is just getting started, nice atmosphere, good floor, live band (kind of jazzy), bring a dance partner; 51 Stuart Street; Arlington T stop (Green Line); dancing from 9-2am; $5- 21+ $8- 19+20

Thursday: The Upstairs Lounge

Bar setting, lots of dance space, great dancers, dj;65 Causeway St (above the bar "The Penalty Box"); North Street Station (Green and Orange Lines); dancing from 9-2am (lesson); $5 with pass (can be picked up at any dance); 21+

Friday: The Roxy

(I've never been, but will update once I go); live band; 279 Tremont Street (at Stuart Street); Boylston T stop (Green Line); dancing from 9-2am (lesson); $10- 21+ $15- 19+20

Friday: The Cosmopolitan

(I've never been, but will update once I go); live band; 54 Canal Street; North Street Station (Green and Orange Lines); dancing from 9:30- 1.30am (lesson); $10

Saturday: Ryles (Upstairs)

Great dancers, good floor, live band; 212 Hampshire Street; Central Square T stop (Red Line); dancing from9- 1.30am (lesson); $15; 21+

November 9, 1998

What an AMAZING weekend! Cameron arrived in Boston Friday at noon, so we decided to kill some time by going vintage clothes shopping until we picked up Lian. He found some great clothes at The Garment District (200 Broadway, Cambridge). This place is perfect for guys and ok for girls (expecially if you are a 40s woman size....ie Gretta). We headed out to Wellesley after that to pick up Lian and then went up to Lowell, a town about 45 minutes outside of Boston. We arrived, registered and then scurried off to Frankie Mannings class. It was so much fun, we only learned one step....but it was Frankie! We kept rotating around and, with luck on my side, I got to dance with Frankie!!! He stopped the rotating for the last five minutes of dancing and just demonstrated the steps with me.... I was definately floating on air. I was then interviewed by the Lowell Sun (of course they quoted me completely wrong, but thats ok as they spelled my name right).

Friday night, the Lindyhoppers were banished to a dance floor upstairs while the West Coasters danced in the main ballroom. We ended up dancing until about two in the morning. We met some great dancers from Boston and all over. Two amazing 15 year olds to watch out for are Catlin Manley and her partner Zack. They can be our hope for beating the Swedes in a few years. Lian, Cameron and I all showed off some new steps that havent been seen up here and we picked up a few from three teenagers who learned directly from Sylvia Sykes (Hillary, Lindsey and Scott).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to catch breakfast. We ate and then met up with a Boston friend, Dorry. We were then told that Cameron could not enter both Strictly Swing Advanced with me and Intermediate with Lian. We used the wonderful powers of peer pressure to get Dorry to enter Strictly Swing Intermediate with Lian. We then hung around and practiced a bit while waiting for the pre-lims to start. At about 3, they finally started with Jack and Jill Intermediate Lindy. Lian, Dorry, Catlin, Zack, Hillary, Lindsey, Tahna and a few other local Boston dancers were all in this catagory. The dancing was amazing, Lian was sassy, Dorry was energetic and Catlin was talented. They decided that there would be no semifinals for the Advanced Jack and Jill Lindy, so it was on to Strictly Swing Lindy...after quite a bit of West Coast. The Strictly Swing Advanced and Intermediate were combined due to a lack of dancers. It ended up with ten couples dancing. Cameron and I danced, Lian and Dorry, Hillary and Lindsey (yes, Boston's own Nina and Naiomi), Catlin and Zack and others. We danced like crazy to some wonderfully Lindy songs picked by Gator. He certainly outdid himself this time. The last song was a 240 Benny Goodman! Gator's DJing has certainly gone way up in my mind. Thank you thank you thank you!!!! It ended up that this was the finals for Strictly Swing, so the fast songs helped out. The compitions ended with lots of West Coast. It is actually kind of interesting looking if done correctly and if you done listen to the music. I still dont see how it is swing, but its kinda ok looking.............

There were two more workshops that we went to on Saturday. The first was with Sylvia Sykes and Jonathan. They showed some nifty Hollywood style Lindy and some new moves. Wow does she have an amazing swivel! We then went to the next Frankie Lindy class, because he is Frankie. He taught the same thing, but (drumroll please.....) I got to dance with frankie for the majority of the class!!!!!!!! Definately the highlight of my life! He demonstrated a few whips with another girl, looked around for a familiar face and found mine! YAY!!!! That night, Dom V and the Swing Out Big Band played. They were an amazing Lindy friendly band. We had a great time and danced till 1.

The next morning, we slept in, missing all the workshops (Jonathan and Sylvia's and Frankie's). We then had some more compitions to go to. Cameron and I went in Jack and Jill Advanced (Cameron had to dance twice) and Dorry was in the Intermediate finals. To quickly end this letter, seeing as it is really long.... we left before the results were announced, but Scott called me and here they are: Jack and Jill Intermediate: 1st-Catlina and her partner, 2nd- Hillary and her partner, 3rd- Lindsey and Mohan. (Dorry came in 4th) Jack and Jill Advanced: 1st- Sara (me!) and the amazing leader i was with, 2nd-Cameron and partner, 3rd- Cameron and partner. Strictly Swing Lindy: 1st- Cameron and Sara (Yippie!), 2nd- Hillary and Lindsey, 3rd- im not sure..... Ill send you a more complete list when I get it....
Talk to you all later,
---Sara

November 4, 1998

Yes it is time for the fabulous review of Sara's dancing in Boston. (I am actually sending this to everyone, not just my Lindy friends.....) Halloween consisted of an amazing Birthday/ Costume party for a local Lindyhopper. I got onto the guest list thanks to a friend of mine (Jeremi will be in DC this weekend.....so if you see a tall guy that looks out of place but can dance, say hi and be nice). I danced the night away with some good dancers. The band was awesome and the floor was great. This was at a place called Ryles (212 Hampshire ST, Inman Square, Cambridge. 617.876.9330) There is dancing there every Saturday with a lesson given by the SuperShag guys (two Brits that somehow manage to mix drinking and dancing.......)

On Sunday I went to a dance held outside at Copley Square. Jeremi and I were dancing away when a photographer from the Boston Globe showed up and started snapping pictures.....well, on Monday I opened up the paper and there was the picture of my swivel! My hand, of course, is covering my face, but you can still tell it is me. It is on the web! Click Here if anyone feels like looking at it. =) After several hours of dancing outside, a group of us headed out to Lian's school, Wellesley, to teach a lesson in swing. It seems that this is going to take place every Sunday, but Ill let Lian cover that and tell you how it went.

Now for something not completely swing: school. I am having an amazing time here. I love all my classes and am learning a lot. The city is wonderful and perfect for going to college in. I love every minute up here, but miss all you guys terribly at the same time. Come visit =).
Lots of love from your transplanted Lindyhopper,
---Sara

October 26, 1998

Hey everyone,
Here is yet one more review of my wonderful dancing experience in Boston. On Friday I went to MIT to a swing dance. I was quite hopeful that this would be fun, but was sadly disappointed. There were about 150 people at the dance and about 3 could Lindy (excluding Lian and myself). There was a live band that possible had been around for a bit too long as they did not seem to keep a constant beat. Quite disappointing.

I had one thing to look forward to last weekend....the SWEDES!!!!! Yes, Eddie and Eva of TRHS [The Rhythm Hot Shots] (for the rest of the time to be refered to as the amazing Swedes) were here in Boston, and I went to the dance put on by Tony and Aurelie Tye. I arrived a bit late because the dance was in the middle of nowhere, but i got there. I danced with quite a few good dancers. I stayed there to see the Tony and Aurelie's Big Apple performances and the "amazing Swedes" preform. They did some great aerials and a wonderful tap preformance. Afterwards, I snagged a couple of dances with Eddie (what an amazing leader!) and got a few compliments from him on my dancing. Unfortunately I had to leave early due to the bad public transportation here in Boston. It was an "amazing" time!! I couldn't get signed up for any of the workshops.

I hope that all of your weekends were fun and that you decide to come visit soon (hint hint).
--Sara

October 21, 1998

inally I am getting around to writing my review for the past week or so. I still go out dancing every Tuesday to Ken's Place. There is usually a live band playing for only $5. Lots of fun and space to dance.

Last Friday (Oct 17), I decided to go to Vera's Dance Club near Harvard Square. It is usually West Coast *yuck* but they are starting Lindy one night a month with a live band. The band that was playing was none other than the Love Dogs. I had heard so much praise of their preformance from Buffalo Gap that I had to see them play. Lian and I walked in to the building to see a TV playing the ASDC 98. We ran to the TV to see Tom and Debra's Showcase Lindy preformance. Everyone was crowded around oohing and awwing while we just said "They are our teachers". (They were definitely better than 5th place). We then ended up talking to the drummer of the band. He said he wanted to learn how to dance, so we reffered him to dancestore.com's video tapes and told him to check out jitterbuzz.com for teachers in the areas he was going to be playing at. He said he would get the band to not play any West Coast songs, and for all but one song, he kept his promise. Lian and I danced till our feet hurt (well, not really as we were both wearing blyers, so our feet never hurt), mostly with each other. We saw Bob Thomas (the teacher) and his partner preform a routine, and he complimented our dancing. it was lots of fun, but i still miss all the leaders in DC. Remember to come visit.......

Eddie and Eva, the Swedes, are going to be here on Friday and hopefully I will be able to swipe some moves from them =). Ill keep you posted.....
---Sara
(oh yeah, college is fun too!!!)

October 12, 1998

Here is yet another update on the dancing in Boston. (Come visit me) I went to some outdoor free dancing on Sunday during the day. The people there were quite nice and i met a few good dancers, although it is hard to tell when dancing on the pavement. They told me about a club, The Upstairs Lounge (65 Causeway St, North Street T- stop, 617.703.7364), that has swing every Sunday and Thursday. It was quite dark and small, but the DJ was good....he played a bit of Indigo Swing. Lian and I went there, met up with a few people we had seen before, and showed off. Lian and I, although not nearly as impressive as Nina and Naiomi dancing together, danced and had a good time. We saw a few regulars. Derrick and Jeremi (Jeremi will be in DC this weekend, so be nice), some fellow swing addicts, told us the place to go on Tuesday was Ken's Place (in a church at Central T- stop, 8-10).

Unfortunately, Lian couldn't go on Tuesday as she is too involved with her dorm council. Why she let it be more important than swing, I do not know. Anyway, the dancing there was amazing, and although it is usually a band, the dj was quite good. I danced with a lot of good leaders and saw a few good followers as well. I danced with a jive dancer that was good, but i kept wanting to put in a rockstep. I was told of many other places to go dancing, but because I will be in DC this weekend, they are not possible, but next week, expect a nice long review of my dancing excursions. I have yet to see Tony and Auriele Tye, but hopefully I will soon. Ill see you all this weekend,
---Sara

Upstairs in Boston
From: Big Daddy

The Upstairs Lounge is located a 65 Causeway St. North Station Boston, above the Penalty Box on the corner of Causeway and Lancaster. We are currently open from Thursday to Sunday. We are available for private parties (holidays are right around the corner) most nights.

SUNDAY: 10-11 Big Daddy spins swing, Dance lessons at 8pm **Special hours, open until 2am** We mean it!! With a Monday holiday and nobody having to work, nothing will get in our way (this time).

Note- all Saturday Rockabilly shows have been suspended until further notice.

For directions, hours, cover info and band info call our hotline at 617 703-7364 or check out our improved web site offering all that and up to date parking info.




Eastern College

From: Mara Levy
Mara Levy

February 22, 1999

Well, greetings from you friend in Philly!

Midterms draw closer, papers are looming... but I still want to give you all the bits of news I have these days. Non-dancing first - don't kill me, but I can't come home for Eric and Sylvia! I was practically crying when I figured that out. But it's all for a good cause - I'm going to be the Fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof! How exciting is that? And I bet you all didn't even know I played...

But in spite of rehearsals, papers, and other sundry bits of work, I managed to go dancing a bunch last week. Well, a bunch by the standards here, which is practically none at all. On Wednesday I ventured out to a small DJ dance in the area expecting it to be full of high-kicking beginning aerialists and 300+ bpm songs. Happily, the songs were relatively mixed, and hardly anyone did aerials. Even better, I managed to find a couple of beginning lindy hoppers and a ballroom/West Coast/jitterbug dancer. I went out into the jam with him, which was a pretty amusing experience. Every couple before us was... well... pretty bad. I'm not talking bad as in "neo-swingers-sneaking-into-America's-jam bad, I'm talking about the type of dancers that can do two types of footwork and three turns, don't even do aerials, and yet stay out for half a song. I don't think they quite grasped exactly what a jam was supposed to be. My partner and I went out, I wiggled my butt once, did fancy footwork instead of six-count, spun a few times, and had them eating out of my hand.

That Friday night we actually had a live band ON CAMPUS. Do you know how rare that was? Once a year that happens. So of course, I couldn't go. I think the musical is purposely scheduled to conflict with all major dancing events. I managed to weasel out of a half hour so I could teach the beginner lesson, and then I had to run back and perch on scaffolding to get me used to playing on heights. The beginner lesson was terrible. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't people usually take lessons to learn something? And doesn't that require listening to the teacher? It does? Oh good, I thought I was going crazy or something. They didn't listen to a word I said. Right after I got finished with "don't fully extend your arms" I saw a couple in the back dancing who hadn't heard a word and were flinging each other so hard I thought their arms would fall right off. The whole lesson was basically the same thing. I think a few people learned some stuff, but in general it was a flop. Does that happen to everyone? And of course, I had to leave immediately afterwards.

The next night more than made up for it though. I went to another of the PSDS dances with Walt Wagner Orchestra and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sure, they don't have more than a couple of lindy hoppers, but I talked to interesting people, danced with some very smooth leaders, ate cake, led some lindying ladies, and had an all-around nice dance experience. I also met up with Shala, who had been to DC and Baltimore before, for the first time since I got here. And the best part was the demonstrations they do instead of a jam. The idea is that some couples will show some moves that can be incorporated into everyone's dancing. At the last minute one of the PSDS organizers, a West Coaster I was dancing with, asked if I would mind jumping in and showing something with him. So I taught him a simple slide Dave and Kim had taught me and then a swivel circle, and a few minutes later we were in the center. I don't think the crowd had seen a swivel circle before... I'm guessing they liked it. :)

So that's what's going on with me these days. I can't wait to see everyone, and spring break is only in two weeks! You people better be doing a lot of dancing, or I'll be very disappointed.
Love you all!

February 1, 1999

Well, here's the story of last weekend's great adventure:

I went up to New York by myself to attend the workshops and Battle of the Big Bands Ball that Janice had put together. I'm so glad I went! I arrived Friday evening at my uncle's apartment and decided to rest up for the long day ahead. On Saturday I started out with a "ballroom for lindy hoppers class" in foxtrot which had some useful tips on following. I then began four workshops taught by Dave and Kim, the 98 US Open Champions from LA. They were incredible - one of the best couples I've seen. They have a different style than some of the other Hollywood couples I've seen, but it looks great on them. I now want to become Kim, as well as becoming Jean and Sylvia! I took the first two classes as a lead, and then I found a woman who could lead and follow at least as well as me, so we stayed out of rotation and learned both parts together. I learned a lot of new steps, and tried to write them all down, so I'll be able to show them to you all next time I come back. The Saturday classes were fairly basic, mostly concentrating on the dynamics and technique of Hollywood. Then I went back to the apartment to primp for the Black and White Ball.

The ball was just wonderful. The room was about half the size of Glen Echo, but the crowd was almost the perfect size - full enough to be exciting, but empty enough to keep me fairly bruise-free. The floor was nice too, although a bit dirty. Everything was black and white, from the decorations to the dresses to some pure white tuxes with hats. Of course, a few noncomformist ladies were wearing red! I met people from all over, including Toronto, Philadelphia, and two lovely ladies from DC whose names I can't remember. (Why didn't any of you men come with them!) One of the men from Harrisburg that came to Nicks a few weeks ago was there also with Ari Levitt (he's the guy that dances with Lizzie in the Battle of the Bands video). I danced with a bunch of great New York gentlemen, including Chad Fasca, who I had danced with in the Jack and Jill at VSO. I met Sasha and Jennifer, who have come to DC before, and many other great dancers. And of course, my best dances of the night were with Dave and Kim. Yes, I danced with her too! I learned to lead, after all. Dave is just an incredible lead, although he's much softer than the Hollywood guys in DC. I had a great Balboa with him too - by the way, he says that although the woman is in very close, she shouldn't be putting any weight on him as I'm used to doing. The two bands, the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra and George Gee were just wonderful. I don't know who won, but I think my preference was for George Gee. But the trombone soloist for HRO was phenomenal - I've never seen a trombone played that well before! So the ball was a great success, with great music, dancers, and the special feel of a dress-up dance.

Sunday morning I managed to crawl out of bed in time to be late for the 12 o'clock class, skipping the 11 altogether. I didn't get to bed until four, after all! The 12 was Janice's speed lindy class, which didn't really have anything very useful.

I'd much rather do shag or balboa! But then Dave and Kim started teaching again, and I learned some really great moves. I'll have to take my notes to the next dance and show everyone, since they did some wonderful syncopations and stylings as well as steps I hadn't seen before. Most of the steps were very lead-able, which I always appreciate. Routines aren't very useful to those of us without partners. After the classes were over I came straight back to school, incredibly eager to go dancing again.

So that was my weekend - dressing up, dancing with incredible people, learning great new steps, and even going to New York by myself for the first time! It was especially special because it was my first time dancing since I came back to school. I'm getting the opening pangs of withdrawal now, but I'll try to come home soon and visit you all. I can't wait to dance some more. Love you all!

November 18, 1998

On Saturday I went to the workshops held by the Philadelphia Swing Dance Society and taught by Janice and Paolo from New York. They were teaching fairly basic lindy moves, so I decided to take the classes as a leader. I'm so glad I did, since I understand what goes into leading a swingout a lot better now. I'd never really been taught how to lead - I just figured it out by doing the woman's footwork backwards. So now I'm an expert leader (ha ha), and I also learned a few Charleston variations I hadn't seen before. Paolo and Janice turned out to be very good teachers as well as great dancers. And Janice does something really cool with her swivels that I still haven't quite figured out. I volunteered at the dance that night, so I got in free. I had a really great time at that. The local City Rhythm Orchestra played, and they were very good. They played a few of TCO's numbers, so I felt right at home. I got to dance with a lot of the teachers in the area, also. Many of the men were very good, although I wasn't very impressed with the female teachers. I also met a good lindy hopper from California that I'm hoping to dance with more. I danced with the west coast teachers too, and had a blast. Help, I'm being corrupted! But it's just so nice to dance with people who know more than me, and west coast is the only place I'm finding that. All in all, I had a fantastic day on Saturday. Best of all, I put out flyers for private lessons, and just finished teaching my first one! It went great, and they had a good time and learned a lot and are coming back! I love teaching - it's so much fun!

Well, I love you all, and I'll see you next week!
---Mara

October 26, 1998

Hello, everyone! Here's (finally) some more news of the Philadelphia swing scene I'm now stuck with. Actually, it's not too bad. My biggest problem is that (like the Engels) I have no car, but (unlike the Engels) I have no similarly obsessed friends with cars to ferry me to dances. My other big problem is that most of the good places to dance require you to be 21, so I have three years to go before I can get. I'm considering trying to sneak in anyway, but I don't want to be stuck with no way to get home. So I haven't been to very many dances in this area.

I did go to a very nice dance on Sat. night, though, that was equivalent to the WSDC dances at Glen Echo. It was held in a gym, but the floor wasn't too slick, and a basketball court is a nice size for a dance. It was full, but not crowded. The Walt Wagner Band was excellent, playing a nice mix from medium fast to medium slow, to suit the mostly jitterbugging and west coasting crowd. I found that if you stick to those two styles, you can find excellent partners. The west coast leads in particular are very comfortable and fun, especially when you consider the arm-wrenching style I get on campus. Don't disown me, but I'm starting to enjoy west coast. But I will never wear a rhinestone belt.

The best part of my night was that Janice Wilson and Paolo Lanna of New York (remember them from VSO last year?) were there. They're actually going to be teaching a workshop Nov. 14 and 15, and came down to scope out what needed to be taught. So I got to dance with both Paolo AND Janice (she's a very good lead) several times, and I can't wait for them to come again.

So that's what's going on here at college. I haven't done a lot with teaching, although I did do a weekend workshop with Steve Kachadorian that wasn't very well attended. I'm trying to work with people individually now, and some people are interested in learning some technique. I miss the swing scene back home incredibly, though. I don't have anyone to challenge me to learn, so when I come home for Thanksgiving, you have to show me all the new steps going around!
Love you all!
---Mara




University of Virginia

From: Matt Smiley and Gretta Thorn
Matt and Gretta

December 16, 1998

Seasons Greetings from lovely UVA,
Have you noticed that your college friends are a little edgy lately? Could it be the hectic holiday season? An increased concern over recent events in the Persian Gulf? Sympathy for the President in his darkest hour? Y2K? El Nino? Fear of nuclear holocaust? NO! We are feeling the effects of exams. Ah yes, exams, a concept forged by Lucifer himself. Well, I should be studying Ancient Government and Political Theory, but I was unable to resist the temptation to watch the recent episode of 90210. Sure, Tori Spelling is a treasure to behold and the dialogue is nothing short of riveting, but as many of you know, there was a little extra added reason to watch the holiday special: they go swing dancing! Almost every really good dancer that I associate with LA was in that episode. There was Erik and Sylvia, plus a bunch of other amazing dancers that we met when we were out in California for the US Open. All in all, I spotted four real couples. Sadly, however, the makers of the show seemed to think that Brian Setzer or the actors were the main attraction. As such, they never really gave the real dancers an opportunity to exhibit their talents. You do get at least one or two good shots of everyone who happens to be any good, but they are never featured for a sustained period of time. On a side note, I was thoroughly entertained by the dialogue. Here's my favorite line (oh, how I wish I had a pen and some paper while I was watching):

    Girl 1: "I'm not in a gang anymore, Donna. Thanks to you!" Girl 2: (To girl 1) "No...thanks to you!"

Isn't that precious! There were a million more cheesy lines like this, but I can't waste my valuable brain space trying to recall that kind of garbage with these large tests looming in my immediate future. Anyway, for those of you who couldn't stomach an hour of bad melodrama and sleazy affairs, you didn't miss much. That's all for now! I'll be home in less than an hour. I should be seeing you all at Chevy Chase on Mon.
Take Care,
Matt Smiley

December 16, 1998

LINDY HOP IS A DRUG

by Sara Fajkowski and Gretta Thorn

  • the first one's free, the next one's gonna cost ya
  • it's expensive
  • it changes your life style
  • it makes you feel so good
  • some people are dealers (Tom & Debra)
  • there's special equipment
  • you can't count past 8
  • you suffer withdrawal when you can't get it
  • it is the new way to advertise (instead of heroin chic it's lindy chic)
  • you can't get enough of it
  • people outside can't understand why you do it
  • you give up things that used to be important to you to do it
  • you can only date within the lindy/drug crowd
  • dealers go to high schools in the area to get the young crowd hooked
  • there is a special lingo
  • there are many names for the same thing
  • many people try it, some become addicted
  • you think about it all the time and the next chance you will get to do it again
  • it impairs the way you see things, suddenly everything is in black and white
  • it increases your appetite
  • you begin hiding your obsession so your friends don't think anything is wrong

    November 20, 1998

    Hello once again,
    Well, there have been numerous events of note as of late here at The University of Virginia. Most notable of these events was one Gretta and I attended on Fri. I had seen a flyer posted around campus appealing to lovers of Swing, Latin, and Ballroom dancing to come out for an evening of fun at a local country club. As soon as I saw "swing, latin, and Ballroom" grouped together I became skeptical of whether or not this would really be a Lindy-friendly event. So with great trepidation, Gretta and I hoofed it off grounds. The place was 10 blocks off the farthest part campus, and we'd never been there before, so trying to find it in the dark was an adventure all to itself. We walked in and discovered that, unfortunately, we had arrived just as the Tango lesson was finishing up. We figured that while we were feeling adventuresome, we might as well try our hand at Tango. We watched the lesson for about 30 seconds, picked up the footwork, and jumped right in. Tango is really a cool dance. We were able to pick it up in about 2 minutes, but I'm sure that the real Tango dancers looked at us and scoffed "Phsssh, Johnny Tango-ers." The instructor made a great point that we decided to use when we teach our classes - the footwork is only about a third of the dancing. The other two thirds is styling. The same, of course, applies to almost all forms of dancing. You could learn the dance in 30 seconds, but still not perfect it in a lifetime. While we liked Tango well enough, we were hoping that the night would include a few swing numbers. We were not disappointed. The first real song that the DJ played was a Lionel Hampton number and Gretta and I jumped on to the open floor. Prior to this, many of the other dancers that we had met indicated to us that we might be out of luck, because the DJ usually only plays 2-3 swing songs all night. I guess we opened his eyes, because from this point on, he played almost 75% swing numbers! We really liked him. I figure that we must have been the only swing dancers there, and despite this, he still mostly played our kind of music. Sure, there was an occasional Mambo, or the occasional slower swing song that was "fox trot-able," but he was very nice to us. As the evening drew to a close, the crowd dispersed. Soon we discovered that we were the only people in the room (which had a nice sprung floor and plenty of space). The DJ had left the room and just left a Glen Miller cd running; so we ended up with our own personal practice floor for the last half hour. It was great! That was last Fri.

    This morning as I stumbled to class half-asleep, still in my pajamas, trying to drown my drowsiness with coffee, I picked up a copy of the student newspaper and hurried to class. I took my seat, and proceeded to open the paper when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a big article on swing! Almost every dancer from DC who goes to school here was pictured. There were a few soundbites from an interview Gretta and I did, and, because we told the reporter that Koerner was an UVA graduate, he, too, was featured prominently in the article. So, I guess we're doing a pretty good job spreading the good word down here.

    The third exciting piece news this week is that this Friday there will actually be a live band playing in C-Ville! So what, right? WRONG! This is awesome! We hardly ever get live bands down here! The band is Big Ray and the Kool Kats. We'll let you know how that show turns out. I will be in heaven when I get back for an extended period of time this winter. For now, though, I just thought I'd share all this fun and excitement with everyone back home.
    Later,
    Matt Smiley

    And, here's the article from the Cavalier Daily --- they missed the fact that Frank is VUA 1974...

    Swing Launches Big-Band Craze
    By Ted McGraw
    Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

    Swing is back! From Los Angeles to Washington, the jump-jivin' style of swinging to the groove can be found on local dance floors nationwide any night of the week. Two-tone shoes and all, the dance is creating a major buzz for the second time this century.

    Even at the largely-conservative University, some students seem to have fallen into the new groove. "I love the music, the clothes and the people I meet, " said first-year College student Gretta Thorn, a Short Course swing dance instructor. "It's like an addiction. I could dance every night and never get tired of it. " Thorn is one of a growing number of retro-swing enthusiasts on Grounds and in the local community. About 150 students are enrolled in the weekly class she helps teach.

    The swing scene emerged in the 1920s with dances like the Charleston. And as the times changed, so did swing. Big band swing emerged in the `30s with jazz leaders like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. With Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey, the scene exploded into the `40s. But after World War II, the fabulous `50s and the twist pushed swing off the dance floor. Later, Elvis and his wild hip swaying shocked the world. Apart from a small underground following, it seemed that swing only had a home in the history books.

    But when The Gap began running a commercial last April that featured young dancers hopping and floating to the tunes of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, it helped to make the swing renaissance into a mainstream movement that is only just beginning. By borrowing the acrobatic steps of the Lindy-Hop--the style of swing danced in the commercial--The Gap did much more than sell khakis. They gave millions of young people a fresh look at a fun, energetic style of dancing.

    "I hate to say that's what started it, but it really was, " said first-year College student Matt Smiley, who helps instruct the Short Course with Thorn. "Swingers "--the 1996 hit film that was inspired by the rejuvenating swing scene in southern California--also helped to spark the latest craze, said 1980 College graduate Tom Koerner, an acclaimed swing dancer and instructor who lives in Northern Virginia.

    Another boost came directly from the music. Many alternative bands began to tire of the grunge scene of the early `90s. They began to search for a new style, and found what they were looking for in neo-swing. Bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Brian Setzer Orchestra have reintroduced swing culture to the mainstream both here at the University and nationwide. Though many jazz and swing historians argue that neo-swing hardly resembles the classic work of the `30s and `40s, swing dance traditionalists welcome it. The new sound often leads younger people back to the roots of the music once they become interested in the dancing. These younger dancers are key to the future of the art.

    "Swing dancing is the only thing I learned in college that I use everyday, " said Koerner, who is a four-time Virginia State Open Lindy-Hop champion. As a student at the University, Koerner first got interested in swing after participating in a charity dance marathon. When he witnessed a couple jitterbugging in Memorial Gymnasium he described himself as being "like a man possessed by the spirit, I had to learn this jitterbug dance. " Almost 20 years later, Koerner now teaches swing dance lessons to people of all ages. Outside of his law practice, most of his time is taken up teaching swing to 900 students a week--a huge increase from the 30 students he began with four years ago.

    Throughout its history, swing has always had different styles in various regions of the country. The East Coast has its own unique style that makes it different from the type of swing practiced on the West Coast. Also, dancers in New York have separate moves from those in Washington. "There are a number of different ways to dance to swing music, and no one version is the right version, " Koerner said. One can "only strive to be a good leader or follower and interpret the music as you hear it. " Variety in form and style makes swing an exciting pastime, and that might be the chief cause for its rebirth. "I could dance every night and never get tired of it, there is always more to learn, " Thorn said.

    Also, unique retro clothing is an exciting aspect of the movement. "Out in Los Angeles, the kids are doing an entire `40s trip, and I love it, " Koerner's dance partner Debra Sternberg said. The movement's resurgence is leading young dancers directly to their nearest thrift stores. Guys are on the lookout for zoot suits--high-wasted pants and gabardine shirts, while ladies hunt for flared-skirt dresses. Mass appeal has made this vintage clothing hard to find. As a result, some manufacturers are reproducing the old look.

    Whether they are decked out in full `40s threads, or just trying to learn their first steps, even swing dancers in Charlottesville have places to get out and groove. Charlottesville Swing Dance Society hosts a Thursday night "Swing Swap " each week at the downtown Albemarle County Office Building. "Beginners are always encouraged to attend, " Society President Kathy Stacy said. "We are always looking for guys to come out and dance. " Most swingers are optimistic about the future of the dance movement. "I think that swing is a very good thing, it made a big difference in my life, " Koerner said.

    November 3, 1998

    Greetings once again,
    I am now recuperating from a wonderful weekend of dancing! The American Lindy Hop Championships were great! I just had the best time.

    Starting from the beginning, Christy, Heather, and I arrived around 9:30ish Friday night. Sadly, we had missed the Pro/Am Division and half of the Junior division, but the half of the Junior division that I did see was really cool. Anyway I checked in and got back down in time to see the Showcase Division. From DC we had Jeff and Tricia, and Steve and Carla do us proud. I'd like to congratulate both couples because they had good energy and it was apparent that they were actually dancing to the song, rather than just going through the motions of putting one foot here for two beats, putting a hand over here for two beats, stepping on the right for a beat, etc. Steve and Carla really blew my mind because apparently they pulled a Tom&Deb, and just went out there and danced with no routine. A collective Congratulations goes out to all who competed that night. You did us proud. I didn't get to see who won (they announced it late Sun.), but it seemed to be the general consensus that Erik and Sylvia took home first.

    Sunday I took a workshop from Marcus. He is an amazing dancer and he really helped work out some problems with my Dean Collins pattern. This was our big day. Our team, Fidgety Feet, was to perform at 3:30. The first team to go on, though, was a bunch of kids from Ithica (or was it Sweden?). They had so much energy and a really fun routine so we knew we had our work cut out for us. After seeing them, we were psyched up and I think we did a great job. Anyway, the kids won and we came in second. Normally, I would be upset about this, but if Marcus, Sing Lim, Sylvia Sykes, and Craig Hutchinson say we deserved 2nd, it is gospel to me, besides the kids really were good.

    So Sat. was a blast and the night was great. Specific highlights for me were Jim K. and Deb in Strictly Lindy, Steve and Caroline in Classic, these couples from Texas in Classic, and Nina and Naomi in Cabaret. Each of these couples knocked my socks off! I will not go into great detail, save but to mention that I don't think the DC scene could have been better represented! Congratulations to everyone! That night was alot of fun, I danced with Sylia Skylar and Sing Lim and all the other international phenomeanoms that were there. I was wowed by Marcus' speed, I was wowed by Paul Overton's smoothness, I was wowed by the kids from Ithica, yada yada yada. In short, it was wonderful.

    Sun. I was dead. I slept as late as possible, we checked out around twelve and we headed home. I took no workshops, I did not dancing, I didn't listen to music. My mind and my body were too dead to think properly, let alone move functionally. Anyway, I am now in withdrawl and I am in desperate need of good dancing. Hopefully, I'll see you'll soon.
    Later,
    ---Matt

    October 20, 1998

    Hello again,
    Wow, we've had a busy weekend down here at UVA. Gretta and I got together to work out some moves Fri night (are we dorks or what?). After that, we headed over to a dance that my roommate, Kifle, had put together. I know that for most of us the word dance has but one meaning: Lindy Hop. Get ready for a paradigm shift all ye faithful devotees, I discovered that people actually consider other forms of gyrating the body to be dancing . In this case the dance of choice was Meringue. I think that I like meringue. It is like swing dancing only much simpler. You merely have to shake your booty from one side to the other and throw in a few turns in time to the music, and suddenly you are the meringue master! This realized, we started dancing and one couple actually came up and asked us to teach them how to do it! We explained that we were just messing around, and that really we had no idea what we were doing. He he, I guess we figured it out, but the best is yet to come. Well, after an hour, we got rather tired of the monotony of ...booty left, booty right, booty left, yadda yadda yadda. Pretty soon, an epiphany hit us - this music is on 8! From that point on, try as we might, we could not abstain from going into a slightly modified Lindy pattern. It was a blast! You could conceivably dance lindy to most techno and almost all hip hop music! Most of the people who had no dance background watched us and seemed to approve, but the regular merengue dancers shunned us like the Amish. I think that they wouldn't have minded quite so much if we wore sequins and heeled shoes, got a fake tan, and greased our hair. Oh well, we didn't care, it was rad.

    Sat. night was even better. In Charlottesville, we went to see a band called Billy and the Backbeats. These guys smoked! They played lots of Bill Haley - Rock and Roll type stuff. I loved it. They were a true dance band. They played a huge variety of tempos and kept the songs short. Not only that, but there were plenty of good dancers, and many of the kids who take Lindy classes with Cricket Jaber showed up. A good time was had by all, and we put in a good word for Blyer shoes and, of course, for UVA swing club events. Sadly, after the show we discovered that this was the band's last gig together before breaking up. How sad.

    Sun. night we taught our first private lessons. I REALLY like private lessons! We get to teach much more stuff and we get to meet the people on a more personal level. And...oh yea...I guess the pay is ok, too (ok as in "pay-my-tuition-ok"). Hee hee! Actually the group that we had was great, they picked up everything very quickly, and, more importantly, they laughed at our dumb jokes! I think that these will be the folks that develop into our core group of dancers down here.

    I am quite optimistic about the future of Lindy down here. This was a great weekend, and next weekend should be just as good, with many DC dancers coming down to teach workshops. I can't wait! Two weeks until American Lindy Hop Championships! See everyone soon!
    Over and out,
    Matt Smiley

    October 7, 1998, 1998

    Hey everybody,

    I really should be writing an Eastern Religions essay, but I figured that this this would be a great way to get my creative juices flowing. Ok, ok, I'm really just procrastinating here. Anyway, I'll write it sometime. Last weekend most dancers from Charlottesville, including me, were up at VSO. I saw a bunch of people that I recognized from the C-Ville Swing Society there doing West Coast stuff. Cricket Jaber and the high school kids to whom she teaches Lindy were there and seemed to be having a great time. It was good to see everybody again. Every time I go back, people are getting better and better! I can't keep up with everybody else, being stuck down here where I only get to dance once a week. I have resolved to watch all my videos over and over till I know every pattern/move/trick/whatever. Please do a favor for your friends who might be stranded hours away any dancing - Send videos! Ok, enough whining from me, on to more positive subjects. Congratulations to all our Lindy Hoppers who came away with honors (and the most applause)! Even though West Coast dancers took many top honors, Tom/Deb, Steve/Carla, Cameron/Naomi, and Duke/Nina thrilled everybody all weekend. You all rock! I thought everybody did a great job and really raised the bar for dancing in the DC area. This only made it ten times harder to come back to UVA where the Lindy Hop scene is...hmmm...about 2 people strong. But hey, everyone wants to learn. This week in classes, we taught the swing out and the whip and everyone seemed to pick it up pretty well. This coming weekend is the fall break or "reading holiday" so I'll be coming home yet AGAIN! I will actually be reading during the day, but during the night I will be dancing. Everybody here goes home for the reading holiday so I've actually talked to some folks from Springfield, Arlington, and the DC area and told them about America and CCBR so they'll actually get to see the real deal. They seemed as excited as I did about the prospect of real dancing. I'm eagerly awaiting getting back home because since last weekend I have really been itching to go dancing again. So I'll see everybody on Fri.
    Later,
    ---Matt

    September 28, 1998

    Hi, everybody,
    Gretta and I started classes down here yesterday, borrowing heavily from from the Koerner/Sternberg method. I shaved the top of my head, made fun of Gretta for getting old, and told obscene jokes. Gretta made fun of me for being bald and for being a sleazy lawyer. Okay, so maybe we didn't quite do it that way, but we taught a 2 classes yesterday and the response was very positive. They laughed at our jokes and picked everything up rather quickly. We were very pleased. Anyway, after our lesson was over the Prep-Step lesson got our room. We sat in on it because we had never seen Prep-Step before.

    For those of you who don't know what Prep-Step is, I'll do a little explaning. Prep-Step is the indiginous dance of UVA that frat boys learn to impress girls. The idea is that it is so simple you should be able to do it drunk. Anyway, Gretta and I traced the Johny Swing movement back to this dance. The primary goal: throw the girl around in the most ungraceful motion you can muster.

    Well the instructions went like this:

    • Instructor: Okay now, grab her hands like this and give her a good hard shove away from you.
    • Don't do it too smoothly there - try to make it as jerky as possible.
    • No, no. Let your arms fully extend, it looks better that way.
    • Really we don't do footwork, we just fill time between arials.
    • Hmmm...thats looking a little too graceful, try to do it like this...there you go...now really throw her!

    ...and so on and so forth. We actually had some people tell us that they didn't sign up for our class because they were told to do Prep-step first, as a prerequisite! Obviously, these habits are not the habits we want to see our students developing. Our first statement at the next lesson is going to be "FORGET ANY PREP STEP YOU MAY HAVE EVER LEARNED, OBSERVED, OR HEARD OF!!" Gretta compared teaching people to dance is kind of like potty-training. We teach them the rewards of using the toilet, whereas in Prep Step they are told "No, don't wee wee it in there, go back to your bed to do it." It's taking a step in the opposite direction. Anyway, if I offended anyone who is fond of Prep-Step, I'd just like to say: How can you be fond of that ridiculous dance?? At risk of sounding like a dance-snob, I'll try not to dwell on it's shortcomings. Well, thats teh news for now. I'll be back Fri for VSO so I'll see everybody there.
    -Matt Smiley

    PS If you really like Prep Step and want send nasty letters, please write to gt3w@virginia.edu --- Address them to Gretta.




    Richmond

    From: Genea Callahan

    September 14, 1999

    hello everyone!
    i miss you all dearly! *BUT* i have good news from Richmond! the lindy scene is really looking up! with a little elbow grease i think i can solidify the scattered lindy scenes, and make one big happy family. there are a lot of people clamoring for hollywood lessons after seeing me dance a few modest dances with some of the older gentlemen here in richmond who do west coast (you know its as close as i can get without my own private hollywood partner). ~soon~ i will hopefully being spreading the joy of hollywood! there are a few new faces down here about which i am really excited! jason pang (a savoy boy from san francisco) jamie, vina, john, alexis, valerie (who acquired a great passion and talent for lindy hop from going to governers school with naomi) amanda, aaron, and lauren (just to name a few) are a bunch of really enthusiastic and grovin' hepcats who will keep this scene alive!
    let me know whats goin' on!!!
    lovies,
    genea




    Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo

    From: Dmitriy Kumets

    March 21, 1999

    I was very surprised to see your section on San Luis Obispo. I go to college here and have been dancing the lindy hop for a little bit more than six months now. Although like you said in your report, we are dwarfed by Santa Barbara but there is a growing swing scene here nonetheless. Like you said, Jeff Bloom is the top dog when it comes to lindy in this town. All the other instructors took lessons from him in the beginning and many still are. (Useless SLO trivia: Jeff is an internal medicine doctor by day.) In addition to this we have two weekly classes at the Cal Poly Rec Center with approximately 30-50 couples in each one.

    Next time you come to visit, check out the local dance spots. There are two weekly for the under 21 crowd (live big band at Mother's Tavern on Sun. and also DJ'ed Tuesday nights at the Graduate).

    In addition to all this, the Cal Poly swing club is currently celebrating the start of its second year in existence. So far we have brought Lavay Smith, Jumpin' Jimes, Steve Lucky and the Rumba Bums here for concerts and have had Lenhart and Asa (RHS) teach as well as a swing camp with Josie Say. This year We are working with the Cal Poly University Jazz Band to put on our dances. UJB is an 18 piece big-band (plus one vocalist) who play all the faves (Basie, Miller, Goodman and Shaw...and they even made a swingin' rendition of ZSR that I actually liked!) In short, thanks for the report and next time you're in town try swing SLO style :)

    p.s. I am the WWW master and email list moderator for the CP Swing club.




    Stanford University

    Alex

    May 17, 1999

    Hi,
    it's 5 A.M. and I'm wide awake -- and it's not b/c I had an assignment due today -- last Friday&Saturday I spent 12h in Roble Dance Studio first decorating, then dancing from 9 to 6 at Big Dance. To keep the fire marshal happy only 600 tickets were sold -- I'm guessing around 200 people were official all-nighters (arrive before 10 P.M., leave after 6).

    Highlights included: Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums w/ Miss Carmen Getit (got autographs on the CD!), the Jack & Jill swing contest, Vampire Waltz Tag (like vampire tag, but waltzing), Dance Warp contest (switch music and see which couples actually change to a new dance quickly enough to appear graceful), a rally by the incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (who played some modern swing stuff, including Zoot Suit Riot), Polka dodgeball (aka polka bombardment), a Big Apple led my Michael "Shag Daddy" Marangio and Persephone, and various performances (Charleston, lindy, wushu, tap, flamenco). Oops. Almost forgot my favourite: the twist contest.

    Vintage spring show is this coming Friday. Some neat Charleston collegiate and lindy hop. Also a reconstruction of the lindy scene in Day of the Races -- Norma Miller joined forces with the directors of the Vintage dance ensemble to get this one right. It simply looks fantastic.
    Cheers,
    ---Alex

    Hideho,
    If you ever wonder what happens in Stanford, CA on the swing front, read on.

    Social dance has been popular here for quite some time, in part due to Richard Powers' amazing classes "Social Dances of North America" and "Traditions of Swing." (Lines form outside the building at eight the night before registration.) Richard is a renowned dance historian and his classes often emphasize the development of a dance or pattern.

    Swing picked up in the past four years and is now the most popular form of dance at the monthly Jammix dances (eclectic music for dancing).

    The Bay Area is alive and kicking and there are car pools to various swing clubs every Friday and Saturday, as well as the occasional week nights.

    A quick run down of what's going on this quarter:

    2nd Friday of every month: Jammix -- $2 will get you three and a half hours of all sorts of dancing to all sorts of music. Lots of swing, fair amounts of waltz, hustle, and polka, random quantities of tango, foxtrot, bhangra, and other craziness. Sometimes a chicken dance. Always at least one Scotch Reel.

    April 30th, May 7th, 8th: a Swing routine choreographed by Deb Henigson will be performed at Spring Migration, a predominantly modern dance show. The routine is set to "Lucas with the Lid Off" and includes partner stealing, tap shoes, and other mayhem.

    May 14th: Big Dance -- 9 P.M. till 6 A.M. If you stay all night you receive eternal fame. It used to be a pretty select group that endured, but last year there were ~150 people that went all night.

    Some date sometime in the future: Vintage Dance Ensemble Spring Show --- both the Victorian and Swing Team get to show off their moves.

    Somewhere even further on the horizon: The first Stanford Swing Jam is going to be held this summer, July 11th-16th. A full week of swing dancing with Norma Miller (!), Steven Mitchell, Paul and Sharon, and all (y)our other favourites.

    It's right after the Stanford Dance Week, which has Buddy Schwimmer teach some swing, and various other people teach various other less-swingy dances.

    Cheers,
    ---Alex




    Emory University

    From: Anna

    September 27, 1999

    Hey Kids,
    Here's the latest news from Emory University: Under the unfalible leadership of one Megan Rickert we have formed a Swing Club here at Emory, T'Aint What You Do. We are on our way to becoming big, I can feel it. If any of you all have tips for our fledgling club, please, please don't hesitate to email. If you're in the Atlanta Area, don't hesitate to contact us and see whats goin' on. "It t'aint what you do, it's the way that you do it. . . "




    Adelphi University

    From: Tiffany Barbarash

    October 25, 1999

    Hey guys! Well, I'm up at college on Long Island at Adelphi University. New York City is about a 40 minute train ride, so to go dancing - that's the place to be. Finally this past weekend I was able to go and went to the Supper Club (on W. 47th between Broadway and 8th) to see Royal Crown Revue. It was my first opportunity to go dancing since I've been here and it was amazing. First of all the Supper Club is extremely nice , very upscale, and seemingly exclusive. Most nights I heard it is 21 and up, but depending on the band it is occasionally 18+, as it was Friday. It's two levels - the upper with a bar, and tables near the rail so one can over look the dance floor and have a nice view of the stage. The lower level had round booths and a few tables around the perimeter of the floor, and another bar in the back. The majority of people were dressed vintage-esque, and there was a lot of respect for everyone dancing. The crowd was relatively older than the one in DC...but just as fun. There were moments when I felt like I was actually in the 1940s due to the atmosphere. Royal Crown Revue was incredible. The were dressed sharp, sounded great, and put on a wonderful show for the dancers. On "Hey Pachuco" the solos taken by the individual band members were quite impressive...the trumpet had an intense, lengthy solo demonstrating much skill and stamina, and the bass player did some great effects and was joined by the drummer who began to beat his strings. RCR played a lot of songs off their new album "Walk on Fire", while still playing lots of songs off their other albums. The dancers did mostly lindy and east coast swing...and only a few people new shag and could dance it well. There was no jam. And the dancers were overall on an intermediate to advanced level. Everyone was extremely friendly toward me and they accepted me into the scene rather quickly - informing me of who to dance with and introducing me to other dancers, etc. I had a wonderful evening and cannot wait to go out again and check out some other venues. I will keep you posted. Still...I miss the DC scene and everyone back home...




    Syracuse University

    From: Elizabeth Barber

    October 25, 1999

    Hello from sunny Syracuse.

    OKay, so it's already freezing cold and wonderfully gray... BUT an amazing thing happened this past Tuesday. There was a real live band that played here, called "Joe Salzano and the Blue Dogs." They were actually decent, when Joe wasn't explaining the meanings of all his songs. But best of all there were LINDY HOPPERS. I was completely shocked! Now of course you have to keep in mind that Ithaca is a mere hour and twenty minutes away, so plenty of kids from down there treked up to dance with us. Three of us knew Hollywood- my roommate, Mark Eckstein, his friend Lucy, and me, but lots of the Ithacans tried their hand at it. We had a blast. The best part of all is that I teach Lindy for the Ballroom Dance Organization at the University, and a bunch of those kids were out on the dance floor having a good time and looking great!

    I have something else to admit. Although when I'm home I swear by the fast, smooth Hollywood style, when I'm here I actually like doing savoy. Better yet, I made a trip to Ithaca and met some of Minnie's Moochers. Yes, I think they're all 18 and under, but they have got some incredible jazz moves and man do they ever have soul! That and they think it's just the coolest that Casey (who goes to Cornell) and I can do Hollywood, and that we know Steve, and Nina, and Naomi, and Matt and Jeff and Gretta and all of the other DC dancers.

    So for now I'm perfectly content to make the trip to Ithaca, which is about five times shorter than coming back to DC, but I guarantee that if there's not a big dance up here the weekend that Tom Cunningham plays Glen Echo, I will be back in DC dancing with the best dancers I know!

    Take care, and dance dance dance.

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