Charm City Swing will be hosting an amazing event, the LINDY 500, June 19-21. This is actually our second year hosting the event — it was held under the name “Leap Year Lindy Weekend” last year.

Just like last year, we have an amazing lineup of guests dancing with us and teaching workshops:
Kevin St. Laurent, Jo Hoffberg, Nina Gilkenson, and Michael Seguin.

We’re now less than 2 weeks away. Registrations are starting to pour in from everywhere — DC, Philly, New York, Boston, Cali, Atlanta, and more! We’re going to have a ton of great dancers again this year.

Last but not least, the band lineup:

• Friday: Cangelosi Cards
• Saturday: Boilermaker Jazz Band
• Sunday: Sac Au Lait

Whether you’re a beginner or very experienced, there will be something for everyone. Hope to see you there!

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Fletcher Henderson was a trendsetter. Beginning in 1923, he closely marks the transition from New Orleans jazz to big band. He was one of the first black artists to successfully collaborate with white artists. He cultivated amazing talent in his band including the beginning of Louis Armstrong’s career. His contributions drove the swing era to its heyday.

I first heard Stealin’ Apples almost exactly one year ago when I began getting into pre-big band music and it has been in my top ten ever since. This song is a perfect combination between a catchy riff, a nice tempo at 185bpm, a relaxed sound, and something that makes me want to bounce and dance. There are quite a few versions of this song, but the one on the album The Fletcher Henderson Story is my absolute favorite.

• Purchase the song
• Purchase the album

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Keeping with the Lindy theme, I thought I’d post a really great interview with Frankie Manning a couple years ago. Most interesting to me is his description of what it was like to walk into the Savoy Ballroom every week. I can only imagine stepping into a ballroom full of 2,000 people with a band as amazing as Chick Webb or Duke Ellington playing. Man, what a time to have lived!

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Today is a perfect day to followup my last post where I had a few people ask me, “What is Lindy Hop?”

Lindy Hop formally began in 1927 using elements from jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston; and evolved with jazz music to become what we see in early videos like the infamous Hellzapoppin:

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My first and primary hobby is swing dancing — or more specifically, Lindy Hop. There are plenty forms of dance that end up encapsulating “swing dancing”; from West Coast to East Coast; to Jive or Jitterbug; or even things like Charleston, Peabody, Fox Trot, and Turkey Trot; finally, there’s even a style of Ballroom Swing.

I think it’s great that a term can be used so widely and encompass such a large group with love for dancing. But sometimes it really screws things up, like when corporate moguls get the idea to cover a specific form of dancing and get it completely wrong.

Dancing with the Stars just recently aired an episode where the dancers performed the “Lindy Hop.” Except that nothing anyone did even remotely resembled the Lindy Hop. The best metaphor I can give is that this episode was like eating yogurt and calling it ice cream. Yea it’s food but it ain’t even frozen!

The worst part about how wrong Dancing with the Stars portrayed the Lindy Hop is that everyone I meet who learns or knows I’m a dancer always asks me, “Oh! Do you watch Dancing with the Stars?”

Think about it. What do they think now? What do you think now?

Emily’s and my witty little line has always been, “No, we actually dance.” But from now on, I don’t think I’ll be able to restrain myself from going on a tirade about how much this show absolutely sucks. I imagine they’ve bastardized other forms of dance but until now it has never affected me. It’s downright embarrassing.

Go ahead, watch if you dare… and if you’re a “swing dancer” please know I warned you!

I just received a call from a friend a few minutes ago asking if Austin Grill was still on tonight. Since the last thing I wrote said there were no more CCS dances at AG, I figured my blog needed to be updated.

The dances never actually stopped. Lots of people sent emails and as of right now there will be no changes with Austin Grill. Meaning, if you want to dance and want to show your support, come out with us sometime this or next week. Up to date information can be found weekly on Charm City Swing’s mailing list, located here.

Last night was the last swing dance at Austin Grill. They’ve decided to discontinue swing dancing in lieu of Monday Night Football. Needless to say, I’m very disappointed.

If you’ve ever been there dancing or ever wanted to, or have been dragged along by me and enjoyed your time there, now is the time to act. Send an email to Bill Duffy. Tell him how much you loved Austin Grill. Tell him how great it was. Tell him how you see the ads for dancing at Austin Grill in the papers ALL the time. Here’s what I said:

Hi Bill,
I just wanted to tell you how disappointed I was to hear Austin Grill decided to stop hosting swing dancing on Monday nights. I’ve been at Austin Grill nearly every Monday since March 14, 2005 when it first started and honestly can’t imagine what my life would be like without it. Honestly! I met my girlfriend there the week it started. I’ve made countless friends, including much of the bar staff. It is literally THE BEST reason to live in Baltimore. It was a wonderful and unique venue, the staff there has been incredibly supportive and friendly, and your food is awesome. I speak for many of my family and friends — Austin Grill will not be the same without it and we will all terribly miss this event.

Unfortunately, the decision has been made. Unless someones mind is changed, there is no more dancing at Austin Grill. We’re looking for other venues. We want one with a big floor, a parking lot, and a safe neighborhood.

And most unfortunately, this isn’t a good time for Dorry, Sommer, Emily, or me, or anyone who might actually be able to help rescue it.

This past weekend, I travelled to Danvers, MA for Boston Tea Party 2008. When I first started dancing, BTP was the event everyone at Charm City Swing suggested I go to. I’ve been for the past three years now and have enjoyed each.

This year, in addition to taking classes and competing in a Jack & Jill contest, I chose to compete in a Strictly Lindy contest with Emily. We had a lot of fun doing that and I threw in our jumprope aerial because we knew we wouldn’t make it to the finals. Adam caught a quick 30 second video of us right as we did it.

On Saturday, Emily and I both competed in the Intermediate Lindy Hop Jack & Jill competition. I ended up making it to finals and competed again on Sunday with a final placing of 6th with a very nice partner named Zia Mareck-Loftus (who in googling I think might rock climb!) I’m completely thrilled with placing 6th! From what I’ve been told, the competitors in my division were very good. I went from thinking I’d simply be happy if I made it to finals to then thinking my goal was placing in the top 10.

My friend Elaina Hirsch won the Novice Lindy Hop Jack & Jill with her partner, Adam Dau. To say the least, I was thrilled. That means a Charm City Swing dancer has won the competition two years in a row. AWESOME!

In a change up from previous years, we flew into Boston and stayed directly in the hotel where the event was taking place. It was wonderful being able to dance very late into the night and then go directly to bed. I did miss having a fridge and being able to go to the grocery store and stock up on cheap foods. Staying in the hotel didn’t leave much room for cheap and quick food. Because of that, this year ended up being quite a bit more expensive than previous ones. If you’re going, drive yourself, and tight on money, then staying in a hotel that gives you a kitchen is always a nice thing.

In total, Charm City Swing had 30 people come to Boston Tea Party this year. We had three tables! Many of us competed, many for the first time. Shannon Young made it into Novice Jack & Jill finals and Colleen made it into the West Coast Newcomer Jack & Jill finals (but didn’t stay to compete… we all know she would have won).

A list of highlights:

1. Elaina winning the Novice Jack & Jill competition.
2. Placing 6th in Intermediate Lindy Hop Jack & Jill.
3. Emily and I performing in a strictly together.
4. Emily and I joining in on a jam Friday night and ending a song with our jumprope aerial.
5. Having a front row center seat to all competitions, courtesy of the three tables Charm City Swing purchased at BTP.