Thursday 27th - Sunday 30th November
But we find that international visitors (and we welcome more and more each year - especially Koreans...) like a little advance notice as we're so far away.
We're interested in international DJs at MLX, so please drop us a line (pm me or email: sam[at]mjda[dot]org[dot]au).
About MLX:
Australia's longest running swing dance event (8 years this year), MLX has been run by the Melbourne Jazz Dance Association since 2005. While we've come a long way since the shoestring budget and program of MLX5, we're still sticking to our goals of cheap, excellent social dancing. And lots of it.
Music:
The MLX program always [s]boasts[/s] brags the very best live bands and DJs in the country (though we borrow DJs from overseas every now and then), and while our focus is always on excellently swinging jazz, our late night back room has become a focus for everything but.
We usually put on one or two live bands every evening Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then feature DJed music in two rooms til the morning.
Venues:
Melbourne has lots of great venues from the olden days. Some are really big, some are not. We've relied on dance studios for our late nights in the past, and last year we used the gorgeous art deco Ormond Hall for our Saturday night ball.
Other stuff:
Most MLX visitors stick around for a week or more to see the city. So we like to offer daytime activities as well. Daylight (usually afternoon daylight) is devoted to shopping tours (lanes and arcades in the city or bargain outlets), pub crawls, more live music (usually in pubs with beer or in tents with beer), trips to the St Kilda Baths, trips to the parks (Melbourne has some of the largest stands of Elms in the world - right in the inner city).
We offer hosting for pass holders, but Melbourne has a range of affordable hotels, motels, hostels and B&Bs. And some very flash boutique hotels if you're looking to spoil yourself.
About Melbourne:
Melbourne is one of Australia's largest cities, seriously multicultural and right on the ocean, down there at the bottom of the continent.
This means that we have amazing food, lots of beaches and can see Antarctica from the foreshore*.
Because the winter weather here is pretty nasty, we're pretty good at indoor entertainment.
We like music here - not just jazz but a whole range of live bands and excellent clubs are open every night and every day for dancing and listening.
We also like art and films.
Melbournians are also a bit keen on beer. We make all sorts here, from the big breweries to a host of microbreweries. And because so many of us are from Greece, Italy... well, all over Europe, really, we like good cake. So we have lots of it available. And I mean good cake. Melbourne has a reputation for excellent food. And it's true: we do have excellent food.
We also have trams**. Which visitors really like.
And because inner city Melbourne is really flat, it's a great place to ride a bike or walk.
And if you're into that sort of thing, there's a whole lot of nature just outside town:
More about the weather
We are known for our changeable weather - four seasons in one hour, usually. So summer temperatures can range from 14c to 44c during a week. This means that we tend to like wearing layers and talking about the weather.
Spring in Melbourne, however, can be quite special, tending to be warm and fine. Lovely for touristing during the day (about 25c average), cool enough for hardcore dancing at night.
Melbournians have a reputation as fashionistas - lots of black clothes in winter. Come summer, though, we take them all off and wear very little. So you might like to stay a while and see some more of Melbourne. Or perhaps the other parts of Australia. Or our neighbours.
Getting around Australia:
We have a few airlines, including:
Qantas (most expensive, best service)
Virgin (cheaper but not the cheapest)
Jetstar (cheap and a bit crap, but cheap)
Tiger (cheap and just as crap - but cheap)
Our country is really big. As in bigger than Texas. You can catch trains and coaches around the country, but it will take you a really. long. time. Here, Google will show you what I mean.
We do have healthy dance scenes in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth, where there are nice people who'll show you around.
Come to MLX8 - we're nice and it's good.
*This is a lie.
**Flinders St Train station, 1946.