On this date in 1939, the New York World’s Fair opened. To celebrate, here is some rare early color footage of dancing at the fair. While color was new, portable film recorders did not yet have sound… so we’ll have to enjoy in silence. Note that the world famous and historic Savoy Ballroom had an exhibit.

Looking to get started with swing dancing? Starting Sunday, May 23rd, we’ll be offering our ever popular Lindy Hop Series Class! This class will cover all the essential moves and variations of the dance. It is designed to get you comfortable on the dance floor. It will start with the 6-count basic and progress into the 8-count swing out. Each week will build on the class before and take you step-by-step thought the dance. Click here for more info.

Also starting on May 23rd is the Balboa 2 Class. This class is a continuation of the Balboa class that wrapped up 3 weeks ago and is open to the public. This class is open to all dancers who already know the basics of Balboa. This six week series class is your chance to dig deep into the complexities that make Balboa such a fun yet challenging swing dance! Not only will you learn new moves and combos, the class will take a detailed look at technique, connection, and style. Click here for more info.

Just a quick note to let you know that we are working on the schedule and will be announcing our next set of classes shortly. As it looks now, the next series will probably start on May 23rd and will most likely include the ever popular Lindy Hop series class. We’re still in the planning stages, so be sure to check back here soon.

Also note, we’re planning to take a bit of a break this summer, so this will be the last set of series classes until we resume in the fall. That being said, if you are looking to join in on the classes, now is a great time!

Let’s face it, swing and big band music disappeared from the airwaves years ago for most of the country. In Orlando, we use to have a “music of your life” AM station, but that switched formats a while ago. We do have a local jazz station that will occasionally play some swing, but overall, they are a jazz format, not vintage big band and swing. For those of us who love the format, we are left finding other sources.

But wait, isn’t radio dead? We all have iPods now. Why not just use that? Good question. Well, to start, many people may not have extensive swing music collections. For those of us who do, it’s really nice to hear the variety of other people’s collections. Swing is a huge genre and I am always looking for songs and renditions of songs that I have never heard before. I often jot down notes of songs I want to get while listing to various swing stations.

There use to be a good swing/big band music channel on Brighthouse cable. However, I recently flipped over to the channel and found that they altered the format. It’s now something like “sing and swing” and it’s simply horrible. Very little swing and a lot of sleepy show tunes. Not that I am looking for strictly dance music, but the music selection left much to be desired.

My other source recently has been XM radio. Their 40′s station use to be somewhat sleepy. While it was good vintage music, for every one up-tempo song they played, there were about 3 to 5 slow ballads. It was so bad, that I even isolated their pattern. They would never play two up-tempo songs in a row. However, that all seemed to change sometime after the Sirius merger. Now their music mix is quite good and is probably one of the best vintage swing and big band mixes around. The only problem is that I hate paying the ever increasing rates for XM and I worry how long they will keep the format since everyone seems to be targeting stations to the tastes of a certain mainstream market.

The other option, of course, is to go online. I have to admit, the selection is large. Almost too large. The wide selection seems to allow people to focus online stations on certain niches. I’ve seen everything from straight up Lindy Hop dance music to really obscure pre-jazz era music. The problem seems to be finding something good and general. A nice mix of everything. Lately, I have been listening to The 1920′s Radio Network. Despite the name, they play everything from the 20′s through the 40′s. Their music seems to range from recognizable swing era tunes to the very obscure. Maybe not the best mix out there, but overall, enjoyable!

So here is my question to you: What is your swing/big band music source? Know of a good online station? Please feel free to post it in a comment!

Looking to get started with swing dancing? Our Sunday afternoon swing dance class started this past Sunday… however, you can join in on the second week! Please contact us about joining the class. We will offer a brief review before the next class to get you up to speed.

This six-week series class is designed to give you all the fundamentals of swing dancing, plus some great moves and variations. The class will feature the 6-count swing dance basic and progress into a variety of moves, turns, and combos. The goal of the class is to make you a strong dancer that is knowledgeable and feels confident on the dance floor. Each class has an hour of group instruction followed by a 30 min. practice period where we go around and help you one on one. Click here for more info.

After hosting events for upwards of a decade, I can honestly say one thing: Nothing ever runs smoothly. For every event you attend that appears to run like clockwork, there is at least one somebody behind the scenes ripping their hair out. From sound system glitches, to weather problems… restroom “malfunctions”, to miscommunications with staff and venues. You are always fighting a battle with something that threatens to disrupt the event or worse… bring it to a grinding halt.

When I got the message on my phone Saturday from Maria saying there was a double booking for the night and the dance had to be cancelled at the last minute, I could feel her pain. It’s an event organizer’s worst nightmare. What do you do? The only thing you can. You extend an apology, offer to make things right with your audience, and move on. It seems most people I’ve talked to have been very understanding about this glitch. We hope you will be to. If you can, rally the troops and we’ll see you at the next dance on March 13th.

So Maria doesn’t feel so bad… here are a few memorable event glitches that Dawn and I have gone through:

Weather: Yes, we’ve had to cancel a dance at the last minute too. In 2004, Hurricane Charlie was bearing down on Central Florida. Leading up to the weekend, the storm wasn’t supposed to hit Orlando. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that it changed course leading to a direct hit Friday night. After weathering the storm and accessing the damage at our own house, it suddenly hit us… what about the dance? We made a hair-raising drive across Orlando (with no working stop lights) to check out the situation at the venue. The venue was okay, but there was no power and there was at tree down in the parking lot. We decided to cancel the event. However, since we had no power ourselves and the cell phone network was intermittent at best, we had no way of letting anyone know. The best we could do is post a hand written sign on the venue door. To this day, we have only met two people who ever saw that sign.

Power: I’ve encountered a lot of technical glitches. From missing adaptors to the blue screen of death (why do you think I DJ with a Mac now?), however, there is one technical problem that is almost impossible to overcome… loss of power. One night power to the venue suddenly cut out due to some mild weather overhead. I mean, what do you do? Whistle and hum? How do you prevent something like this? Most portable UPS units will only last for few minutes. Even then, what about lights? Fortunately, the power came back on a few minutes later. Over the course of the night, this happened twice. Five minutes after the dance was over, the power blinked out and stayed out. We had to break down and clean up by pointing our car headlights in the front door.

Venues: There are a few factors in event planning that are out of your control. The venue is one of them and the one that leads to the most issues. Sure, you try to prevent problems by securing contracts, but even then, there are no guarantees. I don’t think I have ever worked with a venue that didn’t have one issue or another over the course of holding events there. As an event coordinator, this one constantly looms over you. From the A/C units undergoing “schedule maintenance” on the night of your event to last minute schedule changes and cancellations, I can’t even begin to tell you the number of times we’ve had to make emergency adjustments due to an issue related to the venue. One venue suddenly changed their close time and informed us during the dance. Another promised to provide food and drink for a special event and reneged the day of the event. The worst? One venue cancelled our booking at the last minute because they had an offer for more money… yes, they even admitted that. Obviously, that ended any future business they got from us.

So in the scheme of things, an over 8 year run at a good quality venue with only one scheduling glitch is pretty darn good! And to Maria… it happens!

Happy Birthday Dawn! Feel free to leave a comment with birthday wishes!

That’s right, the next Sunday class in the 4pm time slot is the Swing Dance series class that starts in April. This is the ideal class if you have never danced before, or need to freshen up your 6 count swing basic or moves. The class is structured in a way that is very easy to follow with clear, concise communication in a relaxed and casual atmosphere.

This six-week class is designed to give you all the fundamentals of swing dancing, plus some great moves and variations. We will cover the 6-count swing dance basic and progress into a variety of moves, turns, and combos. The goal of this course is to make you a strong dancer that is knowledgeable and feels confident on the dance floor. Click here for more information.

Only a little over 24 hours are left to sign up for the Balboa Series Class or the Lindy Hop Series Class and get the early registration rate of $60/person. All of the follow spots are full, but there is still room for guys and couples to sign up. There is also a waiting list for follows in case a registered follow cannot take the class. Just email us any names that you would like us to place on the list.

The Balboa class start at 2:30pm – 4pm and the Lindy Hop class starts at 4pm – 5:30pm. 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. Previous dance experience is helpful, but not required. No partner needed; individuals and couples welcome! Class size is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot soon!

A little inspiration from the 1943 short “Maharaja”.

Dancers: Hal & Betty Takier