Tonight I went dancing at The Bossanova Ballroom, for their weekly Swing Time Speakeasy event. It was all kinds of fun, prior to dancing I participated in charleston lessons, something I've been wanting to learn for a long time. Hopefully next week I'll improve!
The guest entertainer was Bronkar Leetap, a dancer/beat boxer/juggler. Yeah. He was pretty amazing, I can't even juggle, let alone juggle and beat box.
Anyone in the Portland area should come next Wednesday at 8:00, especially if you want to learn how to swing dance! And it's only a $5 cover, thats pretty darn good.
11 comments:
I do swing dancing classes in Australia and I absolutely love it! Especially getting all dressed up.
I'm a fan of tandem charleston, so much fun!
Looks like so much fun! I haven't been dancing in many, many months and this is making me want to go again! ;)
♥ Casey | blog
Yay for charleston! We just learnt tandem charleston this week... it is pretty awesome.
This lokos like so much fun - unfortunately I have NO coordination so there isn't much point for me, but I love to watch other people who can dance properly!
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Beautiful photographs, looks like great fun!
Wow! Such a fun place! I know there are things like that around here...I have to find them and go! :o)
This looks like so much fun! Wish they had things like that here!
I noticed you put this post up and today's my first day taking lindy hop classes =)
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Oh my goodness! Swing dancing is my favorite thing to do in the WHOLE WORLD!
I love these pictures!! Josh and I got married at the Bossanova, so it's fun to see other people enjoying that space. If I wasn't losing my balance all the time lately, I'd so come join you!
*Sigh* Swing dancing. Too bad it's not fun anymore. I've had it with the snobs, the drama, and the pedophiles. With the exception of the San Fransisco scene, and maybe this, whatever is left of the scene in the States is a perversion of what swing is and should be about.
Here's a little something I wrote last year that I will share with you:
HOW DOES A SWING SCENE BECOME A SNOB SCENE?
In my opinion, the main thing that really “killed” (actually ghettoized) the Nineties Swing Dance Scene was not the music as much as the fact that dance troupes and societies were entrusted to run the scene. It would seem that professional dancers would be the people most interested in dance, and would therefore be the right people to be entrusted to run a dance scene. Ironically, just the opposite is the truth: they were the nails in the scene’s coffin.
Dance troupes and societies, like everyone, have self-interest, and their interest is in being seen and applauded (i.e. famous), which is not in and of itself a bad thing. What makes it harmful is that when they take control of a dance scene, they place themselves at the top and the scene at the bottom, and then organize the dances into a large, ongoing dance contest that they can pull talent from. All dancers are expected to improve as potential competition dancers if they want to be popular at the dances, and if they can’t shape up into this, they are sidelined and/or expected to ship out. People can feel the hierarchy and do not feel accepted for who they are, and over time they circulate out and generally don’t come back. Or, they will only come to swing dance events in groups and hang out just with their group, which contributes to a cliquish and therefore even less friendly vibe. With time, this overall devolution sinks the original scene to the point that all that is left is a "ghetto" of the snobs, their devoted fans, and some stragglers. That is where we seem to be with the swing scene right now.
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