"You don't find swing dancing, it finds you."

During a conversation over drinks with my dance performance team mates, I just heard a line that made it all come together . "You don't find swing dancing, it finds you."


About a year ago I was invited by one of my good friends to try Lindy Hop Swing Dancing, a vintage partner dance that was popular between the late 1920's into the early 1950's. The venue was at the Turnverein Ballroom in Denver. It started with an hour long lesson then a dance after. My friends and I did the lesson and I learned how to do the basic step as well as few tricks. After the lesson I had enough skill to get out and start dancing.


When the dance started my friends roommate, that came with us, had a bad night and hid in the bathroom. My friends being girls and close friends they all went with her and left me by myself. I sat for about a half an hour waiting for them so I can dance and they still didn't come out. Me being as shy as I was, I was starting get bummed because I only wanted to dance with them. I then got up and decided to get over myself and ask gals to dance. I went out there and asked the first girl I saw to dance. In a welcoming tone she said, "yes."


We started dancing and I quickly noticed that she probably had been dancing for years. It was intimidating at first but I didn't let it bother me. I used the five move I just learned and owned the dance. She was impressed how fast I caught on, on my first day. During this dance she showed me some new moves to add to my dance vocabulary. At the end of the song I dipped her the best way I knew then thanked her. I sat back at the table as the next vintage jazz song started playing. As I was watching, this feeling of euphoria came over me and I realized this is exactly where I wanted to be.


I got back up and danced to every song and with almost every gal in that ballroom. I learned more moves and had the best time of my life. After it was over my friends finally came out of the bathroom and apologized to me. All I had was a big smile on my face.


Before I know it I was taking classes and dancing every week. I haven't stopped since.

Every week I was taking lessons at the Turnverein and dancing my ass off. I quickly met lots of great people and made some new friends and just been having a great time. About 2 months in I discovered another dance venue called the Mercury Cafe.


The Mercury cafe is an eclectic restaurant that has great food with stage were they have many great performances. They have a second floor that is a large ballroom with another stage. It's a really great place for food and entertainment.


I quickly shuffled my busy schedule to accommodate for the many dance nights between the two venues. I danced at the Turnverein every Friday and at the Mercury cafe every Sunday.


I quickly discovered that the Mercury Cafe offers dance lessons before the dance on Sunday nights. I quickly signed up to learn the style that was taught that evening, Jitterbug AKA East Coast swing.

Jitterbug A.K.A East Coast Swing

Jitterbug was a slimmed down version of the Lindy Hop. I took the six step basic from Lindy Hop (which has an 6, 8 , and 10 step basic) and was renamed. This dance became popular through the 50's rock and roll era. This dance included many more flips and move that were eye candy for onlookers.


Much easier to learn, I quickly excelled in this dance and got good very quickly. Meanwhile I was still taking the Lindy Hop lessons at the Turnverein. It wasn't soon after I got really good at both.


During one of the dances, I was having a conversation with my teachers, Tiffiny Wine and Ceth Stifel. They are nationally known swing dancers and the symbol of Denver's Swing dance scene. During this conversation Tiffiny asked me if i do Lindy Hop. I told her I was doing lessons at the Turnverein. She told me to check out her DenverSwingDance.com and then invited me to take her Lindy Hop Lessons and dance on Thursday nights. 

Lindy Hop

That Thursday I came the dance only. As I do always I started dancing with people and having a great time. I sat down and all the swing dance gods, I call them, started coming in. When I saw them dance to these impossibly fast songs, I was in amazement. While I was watching them swing out and flip each other, I know this is the place I want to take lessons. I quickly signed up for Tiffiny and Ceths lessons.


Throughout the year I consistently started taking Lindy Hop and Jitterbug lessons with Tiffiny and Ceth. I quickly moved through the beginner classes into the intermediate classes and now on an exclusive and advanced dance team. 


I cannot wait to see how far I go and how good I get. I want to world to shine its light on me and entertain people with my new artistic ability.