www.dance2swing.com, Dance2Swing Studios, swing dance

© 2005 Jim Morrison

Swing into 2006

Have you ever seen a couple dressed in their Saturday night best floating flawlessly, fluidly, and
seemingly without effort across a wooden dance floor in front of a live swing band? It is nothing
short of entrancing, and even if you’ve never given it much thought before, it makes you wish you
could do that too.

Well, you can. Really.

Swing music began sometime in the 1920’s, but wasn’t popular until the 1930’s when legends
like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway and their bands were touring the country
playing to halls filled with men in zoot suits jitterbugging and lindy-hopping with women in flapper
gowns. And it continues to fill dance floors to this day.

The music was already popular when the Big Band Battle of Swing was held at Harlem’s Savoy
Ballroom on January 16, 1938. The Savoy was already so famous that swing dancers are said to
have worn grooves into the dance floor. The event sold out quickly, leaving hundreds of people in
the streets and stopping traffic for blocks.

Dancers cast ballots for their favorite acts at the end of the evening. Chick Webb’s band beat out
Count Basie’s, and Ella Fitzgerald edged out Billie Holliday and James Rushing that night. Duke
Ellington and Lionel Hampton were also there that night. It was a historic night that pumped
momentum into Swing music’s already growing popularity and was every bit as historic as the
signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Unfortunately, you and I missed it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get in on the action. Alan
Cormier and Luan Morrison from dance2swing studios (www.dance2swing.com) are teaching
people of all ages and abilities from all over New England how to swing dance at several Northern
Worcester County locations. Every Sunday night for $10 a lesson (just $5 for college students),
you can learn several styles of swing dancing, and there are more than you’d think:

STYLES
(Men are referred to as leaders and women are called followers.)
Savoy Swing: very fast, jumpy, casual-looking
Lindy-hop: is a smoother-looking, bouncy dance.
Whip: emphasizing moves spinning the follower between dance positions with a wave rhythm
break.
Push: emphasizing moves spinning the follower between dance positions with a rock rhythm
break.
Carolina Shag: a style of Swing popular in the Carolinas featuring the leader's nimble feet –a real
workout.
East Coast Swing: a 6 count style of Lindy done to medium tempo music. It is more circular and
showcases the leader.
West Coast Swing:, slotted, slower, and showcases the leader.
Jitterbug: The most basic and versatile form of swing also considered the easiest to learn.
And there’s Cajun Swing, Pony Swing, Jive, and others.

It’s a fun new skill to learn, a fantastic way to meet new people, and it’s a workout whose intensity
you control. There are usually anywhere from 60-170 dancers of every age, size and ability at the
open dances –and they are very nearly evenly divided between men and women. Some folks work
on their jitterbug all night, some nights college kids show up and do aerials, kicks, dips, and other
tricks, but most folks fall somewhere in the middle. Everyone has fun.

Paulette, a swing dancer, entrepreneur, Harley enthusiast, and you’d-never-guess-from-looking-at-
her, grandmother, put it to me like this: “Beginning dancers (like me) sometimes feel
uncomfortable because they don't know many people and it seems that everybody else at a
dance knows each other. I encouraged new comers to participate in the lesson before the dance.
It is a good way both to warm up and to get to know people, especially because everyone
constantly switches partners. By the time the dance starts, you've shared a common experience
with anywhere from ten to twenty people…. Luan and Alan make it a FUN time for everyone. The
instructions are easy steps to follow and you are encouraged to participate, regardless of skill
level".

The music is genuinely infectious and makes even the most intrepid dancers (like me) start
bouncing instinctively to the beat. Paulette’s advice to the shy beginners?:
"If you've got some rhythm and aren't afraid to move your feet on the dance floor, you've got it
made. The bands are awesome, you can't help but dance to the music".

Alan and Luan move so well together, I assumed they’d been dancing together forever. But when I
admitted to them what an awkward dancer I am, Alan confessed he was just as bad until he took
his first lesson at age 47, and he and Luan met while dancing shortly thereafter. Watching them
glide around the floor, Alan in his stylish fedora, and Luan all in black, it’s hard to believe.

The typical Sunday night format starts with two lessons for beginners and intermediates followed
by a short intermission. After intermission, the live bands come on, and just about every chair
empties out onto the dance floor. I got to see two of them, and these guys can get the joint jumpin’.

The Fat City Band. Here’s one of those rare instances where you can believe a band’s own
press. Their web site says “the Fat City Band sound can be tagged with many different labels---
rock, jazz, R&B, swing, jump blues---yet the best way to describe it is music that demands you
have fun.” And you can take that to the bank. If you’re not having fun when the Fat City Band is
playing, ask someone to check your pulse. They’re great musicians and Paul Redmond, the
energetic lead singer, is funny and engaging between songs.

Rhumboogie (www.rhumboogie.com), the Concord, NH-based swing band plays authentic swing
covers and originals on vintage equipment. According to Steve Prisby, the pianist/harmonica
player, they see themselves in a three way partnership between dance2swing and the dancers to
“save live music”. These guys are veteran rhythm and blues men and had everyone in the place
on their feet from the first note. It’s worth noting that they had the dance floor full of dedicated
swing dancers on the Saturday before Christmas Eve, a night with a lot of competition.

Most of the people who go to the dances are single, though many couples come as well.
Regardless, leaders and followers switch dance partners every half minute or so during the
lesson, so every follower gets a chance to dance with every leader once or twice during the lesson
before the open dance begins. During the open dance, women ask men to dance just as often as
the men ask women, and just about everyone dances every dance. You might see someone
sitting out a song or to for a rest or to catch up with someone they haven’t seen in awhile, but
these folks come to dance and have fun.

There even instructors from other schools at the open dances. Some of the dancers know each
other from attending other open dances on a regular basis as well. It turns out there are swing
communities all over New England, and it isn’t unusual at all for folks to drive more than an hour
one way to come to the dances.