August 8-10 - Orlando, FL: The Sunstate Jam is a weekend of great dancing and so much more! The goal of the event is to inspire and advance your dancing through workshops and competitions. Continuing with the traditions of the awesome Central Florida events that came before it, the Sunstate Jam will feature a host of competition divisions for dancers of all levels… amateur to advanced. In addition, there will be two full days of workshops and classes with nationally known instructors. So what are you waiting for? Set your calendars for the weekend of August 8-10 and come to the Sunstate!

The website will be online soon. Keep an eye on www.SunstateJam.com for more info.

Saturday, April 12th: DJ Steve Tester returns to spin the vintage vinyl and take you back to the 1950’s. It will be a night of great danceable rock-n-roll and early R&B. Come celebrate the era when American Bandstand ruled the airwaves and the jitterbug made it’s last rounds in the eyes of pop culture. As always, the beginner dance lesson is at 8pm and the dance starts at 9pm and goes to midnight. Admission is only $6. All ages are welcome! Click here for more dance information.

People often ask what we do when we aren’t teaching dancing or putting on swing dance events. I could tell you about our day jobs working on computers and web sites, but I wouldn’t want to let the secret solution to insomnia go public just yet. Instead, I’ll tell you about Dawn’s alter ego… Dawn, the animal lover. A simple walk around the block during a break today turns into adventure as Dawn rescues two baby ducks from being hit by cars as they cross the road. As she watches the babies scuttle along to the pond, wild kingdom unfolds before her eyes as a hawk swoops down and carries off one of the babies. Not having anymore of that, Dawn, champion of all fluffy defenseless cuteness, ensures the other duck’s safe voyage to the pond. Unfortunately, mother duck was nowhere to be seen. After monitoring the situation all day, the outlook for the baby duck did not appear to be good. As I was sitting at my desk this afternoon, Dawn walks in with a box. She had rescued the ducky!

Who else do you know that keeps a baby duck at their desk?

We’re taking the little bugger into a wildlife rescue this afternoon.

Here is a selection of songs available on iTunes that I put together for a practice Balboa playlist. While there are tons of great songs for Balboa out there, I selected these for their solid rhythm (good for learning and practice) and sorted them on increasing beats per minute (BPM) so you can start slow and up your tempos from there.

Artist & Name (iTunes Link)	BPM
Artie Shaw - Begin the Beguine	141
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Gotta Do Some War Work	150
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Stuffy	152
The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra - Streamliner	155
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Squatty Roo	167
George Gee Big Band - Basie Boogie	167
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Grand Slam	173
The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra - Twelve Cylinder	189
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Hop Skip and Jump	191
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Bloodhound	213
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Cottontail	225

Dawn and I frequently get a lot of people ask us about music to practice to, so a while back I created a page with some music suggestions with links to various CDs. I’ve been amazed how quickly this page has become a dinosaur. Being in the tech industry, I was an early adopter of MP3’s and digital music. As a DJ, it makes life much easier as you don’t have to carry around cases of CDs. So I am well aware of how CDs are giving way to the era of online digital music. No matter how much the music industry wants to protect their control of music distribution and keep them stocked in stores, the CD is going the way of the 8-track. What has surprised me is the extent and speed that CDs are becoming antiquated. When I tell people asking about practice music to go to a page of CDs, I now almost always get asked about online sources or music on iTunes. This would seem logical if I was talking about the younger generation, but this has been true across almost all age demographics. It seems the majority of people don’t want CDs anymore and demand digital downloads.

So why am I still linking to CDs? I guess I didn’t realized the extent to which they are dying off. Going forward I will start providing links to iTunes. After all, it is the  #2 music retailer in the US. However, I will still provide some links back to CDs. Not that I’m grasping onto a dying technology, but, I believe in supporting independent swing and jazz artists. Many of these artists still rely on CD sales and I believe we should support their livelihood. However, I think we should encourage them to offer their music for sale in online stores such as iTunes. Hopefully this will further advance their music sales and give them the ability to keep doing what they do best.

A very special thank you to everyone who came out to the very first Thursday night dance! We were expecting a modest start, but were surprised to see attendance was much higher than we anticipated. Feedback was very positive and it seems everyone had a great time! The night was not without glitches (to be expected with a first night), however, we are working to get those corrected and resolved by the next dance. Photos are now online in the gallery!

Starting Sunday, April 27th: Looking to get a solid foundation in swing dancing? Ready to improve your lead/follow technique? Want to learn a ton of easy to execute moves? The six week Swing Dance Series Class is for you! The class will feature the 6-count basic and progress into a variety of moves, turns, and combos based off of it. The goal of the class is to make you a strong dancer that is knowledgeable and feels confident on the dance floor. To do this, the class will introduce solid lead/follow techniques and explain how the dance works as opposed to memorizing steps. From the basics, you will learn turning techniques, double turns, tuck turns, kicks, sugar pushes, and more. Each class will build upon information from the previous class to continuously further your knowledge week by week. Classes will be an hour long followed by a half hour of practice, questions, and individual help. No previous dance experience is needed and no partner is required; individuals and couples welcome!

Also starting on April 27th is our six week Intermediate Lindy Hop Series. Ready to take your Lindy Hop to the next level? Reserve your spot now!

On Saturday, March 22nd, special guest DJ Natch spins the tunes for your dancing enjoyment. Natch is a longtime swing DJ in Orlando and has been a staple in the scene for years. His song selections are solid and will keep you tearin’ up the hardwood all night long! We are very excited to have him back in the DJ booth at Whirl & Twirl.

As always, the evening starts out with a beginner swing dance lesson from 8 to 9pm and dancing follows from 9 to midnight. Admission is only $6.

Okay, time to stray off topic for a minute. I’m a big Indiana Jones fan… have been for many years. It could be that the movies gave me my fascination for the time period that eventually lead to me getting into swing dancing… but I’ll leave that for a shrink to figure out one day. Anyways, I’ve known that a new movie has been in the works for a long time. In fact it’s been in the works for a very long time. Back in the 90’s, I was very excited about the prospect of another Indy movie, however, by the time the movie was officially announced, the excitement had been replaced with skepticism than it could still be pulled off this long after the last. Well, the official trailer has finally been released. Seems the news media (or paid media promotion?) is reporting that everyone loves the trailer and is saying “The (only) negative comment from people was that they have to wait until May to see the movie”. I don’t know if I’d agree with that statement.

My initial  reaction to the trailer as a fan is that it’s “okay”. The trailer looks to play up the nostalgia of the old films more than it promotes the new one. A large chunk of the trailer’s time is dedicated to flashbacks from the previous three films. This seems to be Hollywood’s trick these days; promote nostalgia of great old stories while serving up new garbage (*cough* Star Wars prequels *cough*). Put into perspective with other sequels, prequels, and remakes, it started to make me sad that they actually made another Indy movie. I think even the new generation knows who Indiana Jones is so I don’t think a rehash is needed. Anyways, the scenes from the new movie look okay. They appear to stay true to the character, and Harrison Ford’s love of the role seems to shine through once again. However, the action sequences seem strikingly similar to action sequences we’ve already seen in the previous films. Could it be that the concept has been worn out already? I’d like to think it hasn’t, but these scenes do look really familiar. Overall, it looks more like you are going to sit and dust off a photo album with your cool old uncle while he once again regales you about his old adventures rather than actually going on a new adventure with him. The trailer makes me want to watch the original movies (and the Young Indy series) again rather than wanting to go see the new movie. Will I go see the new movie? Sure I will! I’m a sucker for an Indiana Jones movie! But I don’t know if I will be there opening weekend.

Will an AARP card carrying Indiana Jones still kick butt? I’m sure he will. Oh… and stay off his lawn!