Tell Us About Your Scene

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mousethief
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Tell Us About Your Scene

#1 Post by mousethief » Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:18 am

I thought it might be helpful if we actually talked about our scenes for a change, from our point of view and without the "I hate this because of X" filter in place. I know it's not truly a DJ Skill, but this is the closest forum I can find.

For me, there's a lot I don't know about several scenes. I know almost nothing about California at all and Reuben can tell you how much I understand LA. Chicago is a total mystery as well.

So I'll start off, since it's my thread.

Kalman
"The cause of reform is hurt, not helped, when an activist makes an idiotic suggestion."

mousethief
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#2 Post by mousethief » Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:32 am

Dallas is a strong and growing scene. We have three main DJs and two or three up and coming DJs. We're a predominantly Savoy-influenced scene with a small contingent of Hollywood (that's the term they use) dancers from Fort Worth. There's some static there, to be sure, but not much of it is dance-related.

You can go dancing most nights of the week in some fashion. Tuesdays you can head over to Southside Preservation Hall in Fort Worth or go blues dancing at the Bone in Dallas. Wednesdays has the longest running event in Dallas at Sons of Hermann Hall. Thursdays has Ricki Derek and the Vegas Six at Sipango. Friday usually has a dance in Fort Worth and most Saturdays there are events thrown by the Dallas Swing Dance Society, for whom I plan and coordinate events.

Dallas got a reputation for being a bunch of snobby bastards but I think it was misplaced. Most of our best dancers don't travel for one reason or another. We have a broad scene; most of our dancers know Lindy Hop, Bal, Charleston to varying degrees. However, we get a lot of new dancers every week at nearly every venue. Our DJs have distinct styles but are good at switching styles to match the crowd. Lately, the move has been on to incorporate more blues dancing and to rebuild the performance and competition base in Dallas.

If you were to come to Dallas, I would say that we are a fun, growing scene of 200 active dancers and that our mainstay events generally see 100+ people on any given night. The DJ might take you from Basie to blues but the emphasis is on swing, not genre. Most of our dancers have had some exposure to either Bal, Hollywood or Shag. There is some incessant wiggling as well. Some dancers are better than others, some are more fun than others. Some are hotter than others. There are not many jam circles or show dances or line dances. It's just dancing.

Kalman
"The cause of reform is hurt, not helped, when an activist makes an idiotic suggestion."

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#3 Post by Shorty Dave » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:48 am

From your post on the Sugarfoot Stomp thread here and your many posts on the Frim Fram thread on Yehoodi, maybe you should tell us about our scenes? LOL

<ducks>

<come on, that was a joke ;) >

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djstarr
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#4 Post by djstarr » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:21 pm

Thanks for the report on Dallas Kalman - I have a lot of family down there and I used to go to Denton all the time for work, so I'll have to finagle a work trip down there to check it out.

The Dallas dancers I have met in Seattle and at other exchanges seemed more Westie influenced to me - great dancers but more tango/westie/blues feel rather than lindy hop - it's nice to hear there is a wider scene going on.

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#5 Post by mousethief » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:36 pm

We don't talk about those people - especially if their name is Tommy Falgout.

Ooops.

Denton sucks. It's like a tar pit.

Kalman
"The cause of reform is hurt, not helped, when an activist makes an idiotic suggestion."

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djstarr
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#6 Post by djstarr » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:48 pm

Travis just posted a thread on the Seattle Delphi forum about how people feel about the Seattle scene and what folks are working on - it should be interesting to see what has been posted.

I'll give you my impression of Seattle - there are several Seattle folks on here so my disclaimer is that all of the below is IMHO.

We have dancing Sunday, Monday, Weds, Thurs, blues night once a month on Friday and vintage night 2nd and 4th Sat of the month.

The Sunday and Weds dances are at the Century Ballroom. Several of us on the board are house DJs now; Tonya, Hep Jen and Kevin T have been Dj'ing there over 5 years; Tonya and Hep Jen do occasional guest appearance (every other month or so) now that they no longer live in Seattle.

The Century has a great beginner scene now; a small portion of intermediate dancers and a strong core (20 or so) of advanced dance whores (people who come out several times a week to dance). It's a challenge Dj'ing there since the owner has asked us to make the first hour beginning friendly - if you can keep everybody there dancing until midnight you've done a good job. The DJ rotation has 6 regulars including myself, Travis and Kevin T. Two of the other guys play mostly post war swing; one guy does primarily east coast/rock n roll/top 25 hits.

Monday is a dance sponsored by the Savoy Swing Club - it's been at a dance studio venue for almost 5 years now. It's close to my house and feels very comfortable to me, although some people don't like it because the seating is chairs and benches around the sides and there are mirrors along one wall. The floor is nice and slick. DJ'ing is on a volunteer basis here - a woman here organizes the DJs and tries to get new people to come in and play here. There is also small live bands every month or so. It's primarily an advanced dancer venue - tends to be a tad groovier then the Century - this depends on the DJ however.

Thursdays Chris Chapman runs his dance - fairly well attended - usually lots of college kids and a much younger crowd in general. Some of us go to the New Orleans earlier in the evening to dance to Ham Carson (and of course drink since you can't drink and dance anywhere else in Seattle now!).

Friday is Blues Underground - David Mortensen runs this dance every third Friday of the month as well as running a Wednesday dance in Tacoma. I haven't been in a while but I think it's been a successful dance.

2nd and 4th Saturday of the month is One O'Clock Jump (OOJ) - at the same venue as the Monday dance. This dance was started by Travis and Joon to bring pre-war music into the scene. It's a pretty fun dance.

There are 3 or 4 performance groups and a lindy hop competition once a year. The folks who are intermediate dancers who make it into a performance group and who are not dance whores tend to stop social dancing; while the other intermediate dancers tend to leave the scene after 2 or 3 years, so I've scene a lot of folks disappear (which I'm sure is common). There is a strong core of advanced dancers who have been dancing 5 - 7 years and can do most styles of dance. A year ago we heard people say swing was dead in Seattle, but then the newbies started showing up - we just have been transitioning over the past year.

Chris Chapman still teaches, Lorraine and Travis have taken over Tonya's classes, and Mark and Rachel and Michael Seguin and Mia are now teaching classes at the Century. The instructors at the Century are great dancers and I think they will really help promote the beginners there to grow the scene.

The Savoy Swing Club runs Swing Out Northwest every other year - a new group of folks are organizing the event and it looks pretty good - Barbara Morrison will be playing one night, and there is a great instructor line up - check it out at http://www.swingoutnorthwest.com.

A new group of folks also worked on the exchange this year, which was very successful.

A lot of people travel to exchanges and competitions and I think we are doing a good job of keeping lindy hop alive in Seattle.

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#7 Post by djstarr » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:53 pm

ha! I'm not going to leave anybody else anything to say.

Special shout out to Tonya - she's been doing Jitterbug Weekends once a quarter and Camp Jitterbug once a year and this has really brought diversity, great instructors, and gotten folks from around the country to come to Seattle. Now that she is getting more involved with LA I hope that someone steps up to fill in the workshop gap. I know she is planning on doing Camp Jitterbug in Seattle next year but I'm not sure if she's planning on keeping the quarterly events.

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#8 Post by Toon Town Dave » Sat Oct 23, 2004 3:07 pm

I tought there was a thread like this somewhere ... oh well, here it is again.

My scene is relatively small, geographically isolated with only a few people that have travelled or experienced a larger scene. We have a kind of bi-modal distribution of dance experience between the old guard and the new crew.

There are a few of the old guard still around that learned to dance >5 years ago. This group was dancing to a lot of neo, jump blues and Glen Miller, not much swing and certainly no groove. This group is the most vocal about music. There's about 10 of us in this group that are still active or semi-active in the scene. The old guard had a scene based around occasional dances with a band and a weekly night at a club that was normally top-40. Instruction was basically a know-it-all ballroom instructor that leeched the scene. By the time she was replaced, her replacement instructors were pretty jaded and this really killed the vibe of the scene. Our regular night was DJd by one of the instructors who played primarily neo stuff. I talked my way into helping out in the booth and added a little jazz to the mix. Almost all of these dancers can trace most of what they learned to a workshop 7 years ago with an instructor formerly from Seattle who doesn't appear to be active in LH anywhere now. Another note is this group never really experienced the whole groove style that was commonplace a few years ago. We never stopped doing Charleston with our Lindy Hop.

The new crew have mostly started within the last year. They've been exposed mostly to LH and 6 count swing. Most are still novices there are a few that took their first lessons elsewhere before moving here. The new group is mostly students and our current weekly night is organized by the U of S swing dance club. This group now has several instructors each teaching and so there's a variety of influence/styles. Instruction is also based alot more on how to do a move (connection/lead-follow) than the old semi-choreographed style. We now have 3 main people DJing including myself.

We primarily dance LH, ECS, WCS. We don't really have any instructors at a level where they can teach Bal, Shag, Shag or Shag or even Boogie Woogie all of which I'd like to see happening. I'm starting to introduce a little bit of 20's/solo Charleston.

Music wise, everything goes. I tend to play mostly classic swing, boogie, early rhythm and blues, some jump blues, soul and the odd pop/hip-hop recording as a novelty. Because of some politics, one of our other DJs started playing a lot of top-40 and novelty stuff just because it was the antithesis of what our former instructor would play. He's starting to play more normal stuff now. The third DJ is a relative newbie to DJing but is willing to help out. His tastes tend to be a little more jazzy, not quite what I'd call groove but leaning that direction. Our dancers have a variety of tastes.

Size wise, it's hard to measure because it's a lot of students who are not out every week. A typical week will have about 20-30 of which there are 5 or 6 of the old guard. I'd guess thare are about 50-60 semi active people.

We are eclipsed by the ballroom dancers, the U of S club has about 1200 members this year. Their idea of swing is very different from ours, they teach "Jive" to beginners which is really just basic 6 count s-s-rs swing. At the intermediate level, they teach ECS and at the advanced level they teach WCS. Unfortunately they don't devote enough time to WCS to really teach the fundamentals plus moves so many ballroom dancers find WCS difficult and Lindy Hop even more-so. This makes it harder to attract ballroom dancers to swing events.

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#9 Post by julius » Sat Oct 23, 2004 3:57 pm

Los Angeles:

best place in the world to dance lindy hop. more updates as events warrant.

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Titus
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Chicago

#10 Post by Titus » Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:52 pm

Since Kallman specifically mentioned Chicago, I'll throw my biased two cents in the mix. Also, I'll add the disclaimer that I haven't been out dancing in Chicago much recently, I've been getting my dancing fix with almost weekly trips to other cities on the weekends.

I find it ironic that Brenda mentions that there was talk of Swing being dead in Seattle last year. When I moved from Seattle to Chicago last year the change was shocking.

Chicago's dance scene is going through a rebuilding phase. Chicago has a large portion of loungers or socialites who primarily come out to drink, smoke and hang out at dances. Some never really danced, some used to dance a lot and are amazing, but rarely dance anymore. I've been surprised over the past year how many times good dancers are present and I ask them where they are from only to learn they are from Chicago but just don't come out regularly. Vast majority of venues serve alcohol. Relatively few dancers for the size of the city, and the scene is very resistant to change. :)

There are 8 weekly (plus one frequent but irregular) venues in Chicago.

1) Hothouse (Monday)- Jazz club usually with Yoko Noge playing, More of BYO partner kind place. Lots of non-dancers watching. Usually leave early to go to Fizz.

2) Fizz (Monday) - the "main" venue in Chicago, the place to find the best and most active dancers. 50 people is typical attendance, but will range from 40-80. Doesn't really start picking up until 10:30-11 or so, and it isn't unusual to have more people sitting down drinking/smoking/hanging out than on the dance floor.

3) Big City Swing (Tuesday) - Julee Mertz's studio dance. Typically the people in her classes attend this one, I think because it is less intimidating than places like Fizz, but the result is beginning-int level. The fact that it is a small room, and a dry venue tends to keep people away.

4) Green Dolphin Street (Wednesday) - Swank supper-club atmosphere with expensive drinks. The only place I've ever felt out of place being in a t-shirt. The band is overall awful, and the floor small & crowded. A lot of good dancers go to hang out. A great Lounger venue.

5) Frankie's Blue Room (Wednesday) - Suburbs dance. Jump Blues band plays every week. Tends to be beginner-intermediate, but high energy.

6) Green Mill (Thursday) - Another Jazz club, but small & smokey with a postage stamp sized floor, but has tons of atmosphere and history, and big acts play there regularly. Almost exclusively a lounger venue.

7) Jefferson Tap (irregular Thursdays) - Riley & Harry's gig, is especially well attended when they hire live acts, which they often do. Floor is smaller than Fizz & tends to have a higher dancer to lounger ratio, though not usually as many people.

8 ) Java Jive (Friday) - U Chicago dance, mostly students, the only other dry venue (though there is a bar 3 flights down), a high energy dance

9) Willowbrook (Sunday) - Gorgeous, large ballroom in the suburbs. Has a bar, but still all ages. One of my favorite places to dance in Chicago. Huge variety of skill level, but usually enough good dancers to make it fun.

It has been discussed that there has been a kind of "missing" middle class of dancers in Chicago. Lots of old schoolers who don't dance much, and lots of beginner-intermediates who do, but not many intermediate-advanced dancers to really keep the scene alive and strong and growing. I think this is changing, though it is hard to say for sure.

It was a completely new group (of about 15) that ran this year's exchange, which ended up receiving great reviews. There is a lot of energy from a number of people wanting to improve the Chicago scene. We'll see where it ends up. The bottom line is that I get my dancing fix in other cities, and miss Seattle terribly. :)

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#11 Post by Shorty Dave » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:56 am

There's no other scene I'd rather be a part of than NYC. In addition to having so many good dancers, in the past year alone, there have been swing dances here with the following musicians or bands:

Junior Mance Trio
Ray Bryant Trio
Ken Peplowski
Allan Vache
Harlem Blues & Jazz Band
Art Baron
Paul Tillotson
Benny Powell
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Wycliffe Gordon
George Gee Big Band
Ron Sunshine & Full Swing
Carla Cook
Harlem Renaissance Orchestra
Illinois Jacquet
Michael Arenella Roaring 20s Blue Orchid Orchestra

And that's just off the top of my head, and, of course, that's not counting all the cats from the Basie weekend.

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sonofvu
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#12 Post by sonofvu » Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:37 am

Hey Titus, do you ever go home?
Yard work sucks. I would much rather dj.

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#13 Post by Dr. Feelgood » Sun Oct 31, 2004 5:08 pm

New York has a budding Blues scene (one that I'm proud to say Devona
and I are building), that is holding late night parties about every 5-6
weeks so as not to over-saturate. We held our first large (venued) event
at the tail end of the Basie Cent. Weekend. There will be more to come!

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djstarr
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Re: Chicago

#14 Post by djstarr » Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:41 pm

Titus wrote:The bottom line is that I get my dancing fix in other cities, and miss Seattle terribly. :)
We miss you too. Looking forward to seeing you over Christmas/New Years. Thanks for the report on Chicago, hopefully i can make it out there next year sometime.

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#15 Post by jmatthew » Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:13 pm

Let's see...my scene is Corvallis, OR...it's umm...exciting really...

We probably have about 100 swing dancers at the beginning level. 20 or so in beginning-intermediate. About 10 of those dance on a regular basis. We used to get nights where 20 of us would drive up to Portland or down to Eugene to dance, but lately things have been kind of dead.

A local club started a swing night every tuesday with myself as DJ, but it never caught on. No advertising and no lesson, so was pretty much dead in the water to begin with, although it started out well and had a few spurts of revival over it's 6 month run.

We have two mixed dances every week. The Monday night dance is commercial and I DJ a variety of swing, club, latin and ballroom. Attendance varies from 20 to 80 people depending on time during the school term, averaging around 40. the Oregon State University Ballroom Dance Club also puts on a mixed dance every wednesday night, I DJ every 3rd week. It has about 50 people each week.

Corvallis' Dominant dance is West Coast, although there are probably as many Lindy Hoppers as Westies, the westies are about 10x as active as the Lindy Hoppers.
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