Scratchin Circles on the Old Dance Floor: April 2013

This is a new event for me that I attended and got more out of than I anticipated. About two months ago I was contacted by the Regis University’s “Swingin’ in the Rain” swing dance club. They had asked me to choreograph their routine to perform at the local schools dance contest. I was flattered and glad to do so since this would be my first teaching gig in my Lindy Hop career.... Continued Below Videos

My Students Performing Their Routine I Choreographed at the Swing Battle.

Me in the Lindy Hop Jack and Jill Finals.

I Placed 3rd!

More Photos Below

...It was a big compliment as well. So I sat in a coffee shop for about three hours listening to the song they provided me over and over. After about three cups of coffee I had choreographed a whole lindy hop routing. The following week I went to Regis and taught the first part to a group of performers who were so excited and eager to learn. After the class the team had memorized the first part. After seeing the perform that much, I got a rush of excitement and happiness by seeing my choreography come to life. We all met up weekly I taught them the routine piece by piece. In no time, their show was a few days away. I met up with them to see their run through and give them some final coaching. I about jumped for joy when I seen them perform the full routine. The run through looked great. Unfortunately I missed this performance because of my own rehearsals for the Student Showcase. They were excited to tell me they did well in their dance off and placed third.

I then convinced them to perform at the intercollegiate swing battle in the contest. At first they didn’t want to but after all their hard work I had to talk them into it. So sure enough the signed up for the team contest. The Intercollegiate swing battle event was the following week. They rehearsed two more times with me and several times amongst themselves to prepare. I could not miss this performance for the world because it was at its best and I wanted see the artwork I had created. So… I moved all of my plans around to make this event the upcoming Saturday. Friday rolls up quick and fortunately my plans for that day fell through. I decided to go the Swing battle event and just do that evenings dancing dancing. I walk up to the registration booth and asked how much. It was quite pricey for just one evening of dancing on top of that I would have to pay again to watch my students performance on Saturday. I just decided to get the weekend pass since it would me more worth it than paying two different nights at high prices. I got my wrist band and noticed the signup sheet for the Lindy Hop Jack and Jill Competition. They said it’s free to sign up, so I figured, “What the hell” I walk in the ballroom and my favorite jump blues band “The Lucky Few” was on stage. I danced for while and it was a good time. At about 10:45 the announcer called all the competitors downstairs for the jack and jill preliminaries. We all danced off to four different songs with four different partners. I felt like I did really well. After it was over the dance continued upstairs as the judges tallied up scores. An announcement came on the intercom shortly after saying, “Competition results are up”. I walked to the booth and seen that myself and nineteen others made the finals. Finals were scheduled for the next day of the event. I was so excited and glad I purchased the weekend pass to the event.

Saturday came and I was so excited to see my students in their team competition and also the jack and jill finals I was selected to participate in. About hour later I meet my team down stairs and answered any final questions about their routing then had a pep talk and took some great photos. After the photo session my students surprised me with a really sweet thank you card containing a really sincere message in side. They thanked me for my time and I thanked and hugged them all. It was a good moment for me. After a great team chant we all went up stairs and my team was on deck to perform. I found a great spot in the audience as my team went up on stage. As the music started to play and the dancers started dancing, I nearly cried seeing how great they were doing and seeing my artwork come to life on stage. The feeling was so over whelming and exhilarating hearing the cheers from the crowd. They were amazing. I was so proud of them for getting out there and doing what they love to do and executing all the moves and aerials of the dance. After seeing the final bow I clapped and whistled as loud as I can. Then were amazing.

Shortly after came the Lindy Hop Jack and Jill Finals

Intercollegiate Swing Battle Lindy Hop Finals

This was a great surprise for me since I was only there for my students and at the last minute signed up for the contest and making finals. I anticipated the finals for three hours at the dance and finally 11:00pm came around and they started calling all the finalists on stage. I was first to be called and the rest followed. They lined us all up and rotated the follows. My partner for the contest was a girl from Utah. The music came on and we all did some free dancing for a warm up. She and I danced so well together and we connected on all the moves and stylings. The song ended and it was time for our spotlights. During the spotlights, each couple gets eight eight-counts of music to show our best moves. Each couple then gets two spotlights. She and I had a really great first dance so I was confident we would do great during our spotlights. The song started and we started dancing. Right off the bat we busted out some great moves, stylings and stops. We went to the end of the line to wait for our next spotlight. We discussed a few special moves to do while waiting. Our next spotlight came and once again we were awesome. At the end all the competitors went out and danced for a final all-skate. It ended and we all were applauded and cheered for. About a half hour later the results were in. To my surprise my partner and I was called up on stage for the 3^rd place winner. I was so excited to win 3^rd since this is the first Lindy Hop competition I had ever placed in. It was so worth it to purchase the weekend pass. What a great weekend full of excitement and joy.

Great Photos Taken from Various Photographers

In my two years of dancing, this is one event I look forward to every year. Once again “The Swing Dancers Student Showcase”. This is my second year participating in this event but this time with a bang. In my time of getting really good I have be indulging in as many swing dancing performance opportunities. I took advantage in this opportunity and performed in three routines in this event. I did the Charleston, Lindy Hop, and 23 Skidoo performances and had two supporting roles in the narrative. In addition I also designed the official poster that advertised the event. Just like last year this event was so much fun and entertaining for the audience as the performers. We all put on a great show.

23 Skidoo Performance