Ok, I have posted the classes for November on the website, so go on and get registering to reserve your spot! Swing 1 is an entry level swing class, no experience or partner required! Come out and enjoy dancing to great music. Swing 2 is a continuation from Swing 1 and will expand your lists of moves and techniques, this class will prepare you for the craziness that is Swing 3!
The Toe Tappin’ Swing Performance Team, currently deciding on a new name, will be holding auditions on Monday, November 16 at 7pm, Mount Pleasant Community Hall, 602 – 22nd Ave NW. If you are interested in taking your dancing to the next level, we will take you there with the performance team. We perform at charity galas, fundraisers and corporate events. Our current competition goal is to blow away all the other groups at Lindy Bout 4 in Vancouver in 2010! Watch for the videos. Audition cost is $5 for the hall rental and the audition will be an hour and a half long. Expect to learn some choreographies with the current team members and perform them at the end. Hope to see you there!
It is that time of year again! You guessed it, Halloween, a time to get dressed up and come out on Friday night to the Carpenter’s Hall to show off your costume! Regular times for the dance, as well as a costume contest and spooky themed music! I might even try and get the DJs to break out ‘The Monster Mash’. See you all there on Friday October 30th!
Well, it has been a long few weeks! Here is a recap on things and notice about things coming up.
A bunch of Albertans made the trip down to New Orleans this past weekend for the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, known as ULHS. This event is one of the premier events in the world to go to for Lindy Hoppers and I have been meaning to go for years now. I am very happy that I got everything coordinated and made the trip, it was worth the time and energy. We left Thursday morning catching a 7am flight from Calgary and managed to make it through a massive line at customs to catch our flight to Houston and then to New Orleans. Got to our hotel in the French Quarter that was close to a majority of the venues for the weekend. After unpacking, Charles and I headed down to Bourbon St and had a beer while we waited for the Riverboat Cruise to start. The cruise was enjoyable, with music from the Loose Marbles and another band. I ended up spending most of my time catching up with old friends that I hadn’t seen in a long while. Next there was the late night at the Spotted Cat, a small jazz bar on Frenchmen St. which is the heart of the local jazz scene. Lots of dancing ensued and we retired to our beds nicely exhausted.
The next morning, or should I say afternoon, involved dancing outside, wandering around the French Quarter, and having Beignets at Cafe Du Monde! If you are ever in New Orleans, you have to try these things, they are covered in enough icing sugar to have sugar fights with, which did happen! The evening dance was located at the Wax Museum and we were allowed to wander around looking at all the exhibits. The hall was a bit small for the large number of people there, but the music was amazing, as was the calibre of dancing. I have been to many places to dance and this event by far has the best dancing I have ever experienced. The choreography showcases and pre-lims for the Jack and Jill happened throughout the night, there is a video playlist at the end of this section, check it out! Afterhours dancing happened at Fritzel’s, a jazz bar with two levels and live music all night. Another night of blissful exhausted sleep followed.
Waking up on Saturday morning was oddly easy as I knew there was going to be more dancing! We headed down to the French Market to dance outside on a portable wooden floor, it ended up raining and some of the competitions had to be pushed back to the evening. We did get to dance though and it was fantastic. So much happened that it will be hard to write about it and keep this relatively short, so I will try and just stick to the highlights. My favourite venue by far was the WWII museum that was the location of the Saturday night dance. Imagine a hanger with old fighter planes hanging from the ceiling and a massive dance floor, if I wasn’t drinking water or toweling off, I was on the dance floor. Met some more amazing people and had some of my best dances ever! The evening was broadcasted online live by the local News stations. Another late night at Fritzel’s and got a chance to work on my balboa a lot as we were packed in there like sardines. More sleeping…
Sunday there were classes and a club crawl that meandered around to a bunch of different jazz clubs on Frenchmen St., there are literally 6-8 of them within two blocks. Dinner and then off to the House of Blues to dance, watch some performances, listen to some great music, and the last of the competitions. Winners were announced and prizes were handed out, check out the ULHS website for the results. Earlier that evening I had the opportunity to meet Joseph Wiggan, one of the world’s best tap dancers, while we were walking back to our hotel. He and his friend Jason are amazing guys and really enjoyed the chance to chat and talk tap for a bit. I was also privileged to be invited to jam with them during the dance before they performed with the band onstage! This was by far the best moment of the weekend and has inspired me to take up my taps again and get back into practicing. This dance went late into the night and goodbyes had started, it was sad to have to say farewell to so many people that I had just met, but I know I will see them again at another event sometime. Mmmm blissful sleep…
Monday was filled with lots of rest and eating. Birkley and I managed to head out to the Garden District and catch the musicians vs. dancers baseball game. I ended up getting to play a bit and was dubbed ‘Matt from Canada’ as I was the only Canadian on the field. Managed to do decent with my rusty baseball skills and the dancers took the musicians to town and stopped their bad mouthing. Back to the hotel to shower, nap and change before wandering down to Frenchmen St again and catching the remnants of the lindy hoppers that were left in town and still able to dance. Got about 2 hours of sleep before having to wake up and head to the airport to catch our flights home. Quite the change in weather as we had been having 25-35 degree and humid weather in New Orleans and it was -7 and snowing in Calgary.
All in all, I highly recommend this event to anybody interested in experiencing some of the best lindy hop out there! The city was a great time to hang out in and there was live music everywhere! Words can’t begin to explain how much fun I had, so I will leave you with a playlist of videos from the weekend!
Just a reminder that the Todd and Ramona workshop weekend is happening up in Edmonton this weekend. If you haven’t signed up, I highly suggest that you go to this event. Ramona won a few of the competitions at ULHS and her dancing is amazing. Check out the Sugar Swing Website for more info. See you there!
Last thing to note, I have just booked more hall space and will be running another series of classes starting in November! Swing 1 will be running again, so if you are new to swing dancing, this is the class for you. Swing 2 will also be running, take this class if you have taken Swing 1 and want to keep moving forward or if you have previous dance experience in other social dances. If you have any questions about the classes please Contact Us. Classes will be posted in the next day or two, sign up early to reserve your spot!
Longest post yet! Thanks for reading and look forward to see you out on the dance floor!
Another update coming your way via the Toe Tappin’ Swing Blog! It has been a crazy few weeks and things aren’t about to slow down. So here is the news!
The Joel and Louise Workshop put on by Swing Dance Calgary was a huge success and the energy was rockin’. As far as instructors go, Joel and Louise are among my top favourites and I always try to make the classes that they teach. Not only are their classes informative and engaging, but they are also fun and insightful. My favourite class of the weekend was the last class on Sunday when we all sat down and talked about musicality, highlights included getting an inside scoop of what goes on in Joel’s brain when he is dancing to a song. Much different take on a musicality class and I really enjoyed it, I might have also been exhausted from all the dancing the previous two days. The music on Saturday night by The Bow Djangos was off the wall and I had a hard time not dancing to all the songs they played! Thanks again to all the volunteers and people who made the weekend a success, also to Joel and Louise for coming out.
Note: Unfortunately I have had to cancel the Joel and Louise Review Class that I had planned for this session, all registered students have had their money refunded. Instead I present you with some youtube clips filmed by Glenn Farn:
Alberta Arts Days kick off this weekend and Toe Tappin’ Swing has been invited to show off some social dancing at the Opening Gala this Saturday Sept 19th. It starts at 11am and goes until 5pm at the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, we are on the second floor of the centre court. If you want to stop by, there will be music and a small place to dance. Dress up and come say hi.
Last but not least, I have posted October Classes starting Wednesday October 7th, 2009. There is a Swing 4 class for all of you dancers that have taken some 1.5/2.0 classes with Swing Dance Calgary. We will be focusing on Lindy Hop and Charleston (20s and 30s), there will be moves you have never seen before. You should have a solid understanding of the swing out and the charleston basics for Swing 4, if you have any questions come talk to me at a dance. The second class is a Teacher Training class that will also be starting on October 7th. This is the class that you want to take if you are interested in teaching with Toe Tappin’ Swing or want a foundation on how to teach swing dancing to other people. We will go over different teaching styles, how to break down moves, and the different types of music to play during a class. I am really excited to be sharing my experience with others that want to share their love of swing dancing.
That concludes this broadcast of the Toe Tappin’ Swing Blog!
So there have been quite a few changes in the past few weeks since I last wrote. First off, the Swing Dance Calgary Performance Team has asked me to work with them under Toe Tappin’ Swing! I am very honored and excited to work with such a great group of people. We will be looking to expand our base of performers in the next two months, so look for open auditions coming up. We will also be renaming the team to something cool and fantastic! If you know of any opportunities for the team to perform please let us know: events@toetappinswing.com We can do performances, teach lessons and provide DJed music for an event.
Secondly, I have just booked hall space for more classes in October. These classes will be focused on dancers that have been dancing for awhile and need some new material and techniques. I am also planning on having a class for people who are interested in teaching swing, either with Toe Tappin’ Swing or other groups like UofC. Class descriptions and dates will be posted next week.
Lastly, mark off the weekend of November 27-29, 2009! Toe Tappin’ Swing in association with Swing Dance Calgary will be hosting the next Alberta Inspiration Weekend! Expect classes by local instructors to blow your mind and make you think outside of the box! Keep checking back for more information, I will post once I have more details nailed down.
Swing Dance Calgary is bringing Joel & Louise over for a wonderful and fun filled workshop weekend. There are two full streams, one for intermediate dancers and one for advanced dancers, check the website for more details. The Bow Djangos will also be playing at the Saturday night dance. Yes folks, there will be two dances this weekend, the regular 10th Street Stomp on Friday and then another dance on Saturday night! Early Bird registration ends Sept 5th, so go sign up before it is too late.
One of the most well known and spectacular events in North America has moved to New Orleans this year! The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, usually called ULHS, will rock your socks off. Expect to see the best dancers and performers in the world to be at this event. If you are looking for some major inspiration for your dancing, this event is not to be missed. I know there are quite a few Albertans headed down for this, so be sure to ask around and see if you can share a hotel with some friends. See you there!
Sugar Swing is bringing in two amazing instructors in October. Todd Yannacone and Ramona Staffeld are teaming up to bring Alberta a great chance to learn from some of the best instructors in the world. Keep an eye on the link above for more information.
One of the best ways to improve your dancing is to take workshops and travel out of town. Not only will you get a chance to dance with people you have never met before but you will also experience what a great culture there is within the Lindy Hop community. If you know of any other events happening in the next few months, please Contact Us.
So things have been busy since I got back to Alberta, lots of traveling and not much sleep! The lack of sleep has been worth it though, as I have had an amazing time and glad I finally have some time to write up about all my experiences. So here we go!
First off, the Femme Fatale Carnivale 4 put on by Marsha Meidow was a huge success. You wouldn’t know that they had to change venues a few days before the show, everything went smoothly if only a tad behind schedule. The show got moved to Flames Central, downtown Calgary and it was an amazing location. I believe the previous venue would’ve been too small as this place was packed! Great performances that spanned the spectrum of performances. From an amazing Blues singer, Layla Zoe, to a burlesque version of Little Red Riding Hood that knocked everybody’s socks off. The girls from the Swing Dance Calgary performance team did their Sister Kate routine. Leah and I performed our Taking Care of Business routine as well, I had my face airbrushed with a mask by Samantha Rae, who was doing all the performers makeup. There were about eight of us that went for Dim Sum at around 1am, got home around 3:30am after some great food and conversation.
Woke up at 6am and packed for Edmonton, picking Meghan up on my way out of town. Three hours later we were at the hall, just in time to say Hi to Birkley and Julie as they started the first class of the weekend. I decided to take that time and snooze, as I was still running on 2.5 hours of sleep, Meghan had managed to sleep most of the drive up. The classes were a huge success and the Saturday night dance was quite enjoyable. I am glad I pushed myself to do the workshop. Highlight of the weekend was getting a chance to hang out with Birkley and Julie and go for dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. Here is a playlist of all the workshop classes, minus the last one on Sunday afternoon.
Thanks again to Birkley and all the people involved with making it such a great event to be a part of.
Classes are posted for September! They will start on Sept 18th, the week after the Joel and Louise Workshop put on by Swing Dance Calgary. We will be running a Swing 1 class as well as a followup class to the workshop for everybody that is interested in solidifying the moves and techniques they learned. Check out our Classes Page or click on the Take A Class link on the left hand sidebar. If you have any questions or suggestions on what you would like to learn, drop us a line on our Contact Page.
Sitting here in the Vancouver Airport and waiting for my flight back to Calgary at 9:30. I have some time to put my thoughts online about the exchange. First off, I was quite nervous about transportation as this would be my first time going to Seattle and staying at a hotel without a local to guide me around. My fears were completely unfounded though, everything went smoothly and with Eric’s help, we managed to hit all the events on Friday and Saturday.
We hopped on the Victoria Clipper, I was spending some time with friends in Victoria, and made our way uneventfully through Customs, landing in Seattle around 2pm. Something to note if you are traveling from Victoria on the Clipper, if you can bring everything with you without checking a bag, debarking the ship will be much faster. After getting through Customs, we shared a cab with a friend of mine from Victoria and made our way to the Silver Cloud on Broadway. I highly recommend this hotel to any swing dancer that is headed to Seattle for dancing, it is blocks away from the famous Century Ballroom and not far from other venues. The service was great and friendly, if you are interested in doing some tourist activities, look into the courtesy shuttle that will drop you off at various downtown locations.
After we dropped off our bags and grabbed dinner at a great Italian Pizza place around the corner from the hotel, we grabbed our dancing gear and headed to the Friday night venue. The place was great, music awesome (live music by Blackstick) and not supper packed. I got to reconnect with quite a few old friends that I hadn’t seen in ages and had some amazing dances to start off the weekend. After the band finished everybody was herded outside to make their way downtown to the Washington Dance Club for late night dancing (Lindy and Blues) til 5am. We left sometime around 4am and crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillows.
The next morning we woke up early to see some of the sites, taking the courtesy shuttle down to Pike Place Market. We wandered the stalls and stopped at the Crumpet Shop to grab some tea/coffee and crumpets! Next we headed up to 7th Ave and Pike St. where there is the most amazing crepe place I have been too, make sure you check it out if you are ever in Seattle.
We grabbed the shuttle back to the hotel and headed to the Saturday afternoon BBQ at Cal Anderson Park. Much fun was had as we engaged in various forms of activities, all quite spontaneous. People brought hula hoops, frisbees, mini trampolines, and a multitude of objects to juggle. Highlights include, watching Bobby do a front flip off the trampoline over three guys laying on the ground and a weird form of tug of war that involved a plastic bar where you couldn’t move your feet or hands off the bar.
After the park we headed back to the hotel and took a late afternoon nap followed by dinner with Eric, Meghan and some great people that I got to meet. Food was great and the company fantastic. Once the gorging was over, we piled into Eric’s car and hit up the Washington Dance Club for three live bands, Karaoke, a bar and close to 8 hours of straight music. The three bands included The Pacific Northwest All Stars, Active Ingredients and last but not least Casey McGill & Friends. All the bands had everybody dancing and having a blast. Again we lasted until well after 4am and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Hotel and bed were next on the list, we decided to scrap the sightseeing in the morning, as we were quite exhausted and I had managed to bail near the end of the night before, bruising my left knee. No worries as I am used to it from years of break dancing and jumping off bridges, things are already nearly better today. Around noon we checked out and took the shuttle down to Pike Place Market and wandered along the water to the Clipper. Met up with friend from Victoria and went for dinner at Pier 66, great food and we took the extras with us to the ferry. Crossing back to Victoria was great, with lots of napping and snagging our share of duty-free alcohol.
So ends the trip to Seattle for the 10th Annual Seattle Lindy Exchange and we were very pleased at how the event was put on. I highly recommend this event to all dancers who are looking for a place to go and experience some truly amazing social dancing. Unfortunately due to work and flights out of Vancouver we were unable to stay for the Sunday night event at the Century Ballroom, a true shame, as I really enjoy dancing there and the venue is beautiful.
Look forward to seeing you there next year!
Edit: Here is a video montage of the weekend by David Soltysik.
And like dreams, everything will float around until you grab a hold of it with your bare hands and make it real. So starts my journey of turning my life long passion of dancing into a life of joy and excitement as I create and explore my own dance company. Along the way I will be taking stock of what it means to be a dancer, giving my thoughts and opinions on the events and places I travel, as well as inspiring others to join me on my journey.
In my opinion, the best way to start a journey should be to look back at where everything started. I shall stick to the briefest of details, else this will turn into a very lengthy post. I started dancing at the age of 9, mainly in Tap, Jazz and Modern. Continued dancing until I was 19, when I discovered Hip Hop and Break-dancing in the clubs. Even though I don’t frequent clubs much anymore, I still keep the ideas and movements in my dancing. I discovered swing dancing when I moved away for school and have been addicted for the past 7 years. It has become a passion, an outlet for my creative and artistic sides.
Combine dancing with my passion for business and you get the basis of running a swing dance company unlike any others I have seen. I have been thinking about this for a few years now after seeing ways I could improve other businesses. After visiting Calgary for a few weeks, I realized that there was a great opportunity to grow and develop the dance scene to become one of the largest scenes in Western Canada.
And so here starts the journey of starting my own dance company, strap in and enjoy the ride. I appreciate any and all feedback and encouragement.
Thanks to Jodie Struthers and Aron Burrell, the Toe Tappin’ Swing website is up and running. We are planning major improvements over the next week so stay tuned.
Toe Tappin’ Swing will get you out on the dance floor and enjoying yourself after only one class! Calgary’s newest Swing Dance Company offers classes that will take you from stepping on your own two feet to dancing like a pro in no time.
