On Saturday, May 10th: Flyin’ Footwork has teamed up with DJ Natch to take you on a trip down memory lane as we track back 10 years of local history. There will be a decade’s worth of favorite swing tunes to spin for your dancing inspiration. But that’s not all… you’ll see the best (and maybe the worst) photos and videos of the last ten years projected on the big screen. Oh… and don’t miss the feature video presentation starting at 10:30.

As always, the dance starts out with a beginner swing dance lesson at 8pm. Dancing is from 9pm to midnight. All ages are welcome and admission is only $6. Click here for more information on the dance and click here for more info on the event.

We’ve posted some of the “shapshots” of our vacation online. You can check them out on our travels gallery. We’ll be posting some of the more “artistic” photographs we took later on. It takes a bit to process through them all.

So many times we have traveled only to come home with few shots with both Dawn and I in them seeing we’re usually the ones behind the camera… so special thanks goes out to Maria for getting the shots of us together! 

We’re back in town from our travels in the wilderness of the west. We’re catching up on everything right now, but we’ll have the photos online soon. We’ll also have the photos from the last dance online soon too.

Photo by Maria McKee-Gandy

Saturday, May 24th: For the first time ever at Whirl & Twirl, we’ll be featuring a big band! Echoes of the Cotton Club, the Savoy Ballroom, Roseland and Small’s Paradise. These were the clubs and dance halls where jive thrived. Now Kid Dutch presents Harlem Madness to bring it all back! Harlem Madness(tm) is a 9-11 piece band that focuses primarily on hot jazz of the Harlem Renaissance. The list of bands active in New York during this time (the 1920’s and 30’s) reads like a who’s who of jazz history and covers all regions of the country: Duke Ellington, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Cab Calloway, Andy Kirk, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Paul Howard, and the Casa Loma Orchestra just to name a few. Harlem Madness draws their inspiration and material from these groups. They use original orchestrations from the period, along with period instruments and mutes. The band brings this vital and joyous part of American heritage to life for dancing and for listening audiences. From the up tempo to soulful swingin’ slower rhythms, there is something for everyone. Certainly a night not to miss! To complete the theme of the evening, everyone who shows up dressed from the era will get a ticket for a chance to win some great prizes! There will be a beginner dance lesson from 8 to 9pm with the band taking stage right after and playing all the way till midnight. Special event admission is $12.

Sunday, May 25th: The Tampa/Orlando city exchange is once again in effect for Memorial Day weekend! After the invasion of Tampa dancers on Saturday night, we encourage everyone to return the favor and head down to Zendah Grotto in Tampa for their annual 40’s style USO dance. More details are coming in on the night, but this dance is always a blast and the Swing Gang always keeps the dance floor full of energy. Keep an eye out here for more updates.

It’s not an easy task finding new dance venues as it’s often a trial and error process. Due to continued and varied problems with the Elks Lodge, we’ve decided to discontinue dances there. It’s one thing for the venue to be difficult for the event coordinators to deal with. However, it’s completely unacceptable when venue staff’s attitudes and rude behavior is directed towards our guests. We sincerely apologize to anyone who encountered this.

We would like to thank everyone who came out! While the night was short lived, the great energy and good crowd made it really fun to put on. Thank you for your support! This is just a setback, so be sure to keep an eye out here for future announcements. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at the 2nd & 4th Saturday dances.

In May of 1998, Jani Lane’s Sunset Strip changed names and reopened as Rat Pack’s on the Avenue, the first club in Orlando dedicated exclusively to swing dancing. Around the same time, Atlantic Dance Hall on Disney’s Boardwalk started adding swing nights. Hep cats and kittens lined the walkways in front of the clubs nightly waiting for their chance to step back in time to the swing era.

This marked the birth of the Orlando swing scene. Over the next ten years, the scene has rode the high of the swing boom as nightclubs cranked out jumpin’ tunes and survived the low as fads changed and clubs changed formats or perished. We’ve weathered the post boom and seen a renaissance as the scene underwent massive grassroots growth and expanded more than anyone could have guessed. Join us on Saturday, May 10th as we celebrate a decade of swing in Orlando!

On Saturday, May 10th: Flyin’ Footwork has teamed up with DJ Natch to take you on a trip down memory lane as we track back 10 years of local history. There will be a decade’s worth of favorite swing tunes to spin for your dancing inspiration. But that’s not all… you’ll see the best (and maybe the worst) photos and videos of the last ten years projected on the big screen. Oh… and don’t miss the feature video presentation starting at 10:30.

As always, the dance starts out with a beginner swing dance lesson at 8pm. Dancing is from 9pm to midnight. All ages are welcome and admission is only $6. Click here for more information on the dance.