No Partner Required! The SwingColumbus Blog: 2020

Apr 27, 2020

QuickStop Event Announcement

It is with love that we announce the cancellation of QuickStop 2020.

While it pains us to be unable to dance with you, it is the responsible thing to do. We will continue to follow the guidelines set by the State of Ohio and health professionals, and we hope to see you at the next opportunity we have for a fun, one-day swing-intense day. If you are interested in lessons and dancing in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact SwingColumbus for more information. We encourage you to support the full-time instructors and musicians from anywhere in the world who have lost business from these events, and we thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Please stay tuned to our Facebook page and our website for any updates, and when and how our dancing will resume. Stay safe and healthy!

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/2KDCsyJ

Jazz Appreciation Month: Ivie Anderson

Ivie Anderson was originally from California and started studying music in school at age 9. She sang with Earl Hines in Chicago before she joined Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1931. She was a popular performer and often received top billing for much of her time touring with Ellington. She is known for helping to pioneer the jazz idiom in dance bands, and had a wonderful sophisticated sound. She also opened up Ivie’s Chicken Shack in LA. Ivie had chronic asthma and had stopped singing and touring with Ellington in 1942. She died in 1949 at the young age of 45. Most Lindy Hoppers know of Ivie from the movie “A Day At the Races” . She sings All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm, the song that Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers perform to in the movie.

See more Jazz Appreciation Month Posts on our Facebook page.

Please stay tuned to our Facebook page and our website for any updates, and when and how our dancing will resume. Stay safe and healthy!

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/2YbVvs3

Mar 12, 2020

Weekly Dance and Lessons Taking a Break

SwingColumbus is committed to being a fun, safe community. In order to keep our community safe, we have decided to cancel our weekly dances and our classes for the remainder of March. We are monitoring the situation and while we currently do not fall under the Governor’s guidelines for cancelling events here in Ohio, we feel, given the nature of our proximity to our fellow dances and close contact this is the responsible thing to do. We will continue to follow the guidelines set by the State of Ohio, and health professionals and once we feel comfortable we will return to our regular schedule. Please stay tuned to our facebook page and our website for any updates, and when and how our dancing will resume. Stay safe and healthy!

The Swungover Quick Guide to Coping with COVID-19

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/38Ngtz5

Feb 12, 2020

Lesson Series// Level-Up Your Lindy Hop

This taster course from December is back as a series, now with…more! Do you want to take your dancing to the next level, and enable more fun, interesting, and musical dances with other dancers? Do you feel like you’ve plateaued, and want to go higher? Smoother? Faster? Easier? This class is a great opportunity to push yourself and elevate your dance ability.

The taster course from December is back as a series, now with…more! Do you want to take your dancing to the next level, and have more fun, interesting, and musical dances with other dancers? Do you feel like you’ve plateaued, and want to go higher? (Smoother, faster, easier?) This class is a great opportunity to elevate your dance ability.

We are excited to dive deeper into some concepts we breezed through in the crash course, and develop your style in this incredible tradition!

This class will be taught in 45-minute blocks on Tuesdays in March, from 6:45pm to 7:30pm. (March 3, 10, 17, 24.) Please allow time for registration.

Admission: $45 General Public
Payment: Cash or check made out to SwingColumbus at the door.
Parking: Free Parking in Church Lot & United Way Parking Lot

“Mix and Match,” “Jack and Jill,” Call it what you will; it’s some of the most exciting social dancing to watch, and by which to be inspired!

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
404 S. 3rd. St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215

ADMISSION
$45 General Admission
Cash or check made out to SwingColumbus, Inc at the door.

RSVP on Facebook

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/2OMC6bG

Feb 1, 2020

February 25 // Mardi Gras Celebration: Dinner, Dance, Live Music!

You’re Invited! (Facebook Link)

You are invited to celebrate Fat Tuesday with friends, food, dance, and live swing music–a full night! The church will open its doors for a Jambalaya dinner from 5-7 (donations encouraged), and the music and dancing will follow at 7:30, for the rest of the night. Join us downtown, share your celebration with us!

Music by The Cincy River Rats at the dance, and Brenny’s Birdhouse at the late night party around the corner!

5:00-7:00 – Dinner (Donations Encouraged) by TLC
7:30-8:00 – Intro Dance Lesson by SwingColumbus
8:00-10:15 – Cincy River Rats Band $10
10:45 – Brenny’s Birdhouse Band at Mikey’s Late Night Slice

See you there!

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/31ffLZj

February 2020 Lesson Seminars with SwingColumbus

Frankie Manning with the Big Apple Dancers.

Join SwingColumbus for their monthly lessons, starting TUESDAY, February 4th! This is the first month at our new-and-improved time and location. You’ll be able to practice your new skills at the weekly dance right after class. Even better, admission to class includes admission to the dance!

No partner required! We will rotate during the lesson so everyone can practice. SwingColumbus strongly encourages their students to attend all lessons, as there will be no make-up classes or refunds for classes missed. You must attend the first class to join the lesson series.

February Lessons

Class Location
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
404 S 3rd St, Columbus, OH 43215

Free parking lot available.

Swingout Clinic

The swingout is the defining move of Lindy Hop, and it has endless reward and potential. Even the best dancers work on their swing out to this day! If you’re interested in reinforcing good habits, correcting some bad ones (maybe finding out what yours are!), or clarifying the connection and physics that make it work well, this class is for you.

The prerequisite for this course is to be familiar with moving through the swing out with a partner using triple-steps, but we are open to different confidence levels overall. When you take a swing out class, you can be sure to learn something new and refine your technique no matter your level!

Tuesday 6:45-7:30pm
February 4, 2020

Intro to Solo Charleston

Solo Charleston is a great foundation for your solo AND partnered movement, and is even seen in styles outside of Lindy Hop. Usually danced to relatively faster tempos and characterized by high-energy dancing, the basics can also be as small and quiet as you interpret the mood to be. In this lesson we will cover the basic movements that define Charleston, take you through some expressive variations and stylizations, and help you express music and connect with your body in a way.

No prerequisites required for this class.

Tuesday 6:45-7:30pm
February 11, 2020

Frankie’s Favorites

We will be teaching some of Frankie Manning’s favorite moves. Don’t know about Frankie? Come on out and we will tell a bit of his story, along with some of his moves. He is considered the Ambassador of Lindy Hop and has influenced generations of dancers. This class will share some of his favorite moves that he often lead on the social dance floor, which you see everywhere today. Come learn an iconic part of Lindy-hop!

If you would like to learn more abut Frankie today, visit https://www.frankiemanning.com/

The prerequisite for this class is to know some basic 8 count lindy hop moves, such as the swing-out and lindy circle, as well as your basic 6 count patterns.

Tuesday 6:45-7:30pm
February 18, 2020

Class Admission

$12 per class, or bundle $30 for all three; it’s a steal!

Cash or Check only at the registration desk.

from SwingColumbus.org https://ift.tt/2SdwtEf

Jan 9, 2020

January 2020 Intro to Lindy Hop & Intro to Shim Sham (and Own it!) with SwingColumbus

Join SwingColumbus for their January monthly lesson series, starting tonight January 9th! This 4-week lesson series is held THURSDAYS in January 2020: 9, 16, 23, 30.

Note: Lessons will move to Tuesdays in February 2020 before our weekly dance.

January Lessons

Class Location
First Unitarian Universalist Church
Clintonville 93 W Weisheimer Rd, Columbus, Ohio 43214

Free parking lot available.

Intro to Lindy Hop

Start the new year with dance! This class is for brand-new dancers and budding regulars alike! No two beginner lesson series is the same, so this is a great place to come iron out your fundamentals to open up new worlds of movement.

In this Thursday evening lesson series you will learn the basic techniques in Lindy Hop, the authentic Vintage jazz dance of the swing era! This class will give you the tools to get started, working on footwork patterns and connection techniques so you can enjoy this wonderful partner dance.

Thursdays 6:45-7:45pm
January 9, 16, 23, 30

Experience Required: None!

Intro to Shim Sham… and Own It!

Learn The Shim Sham & Make It Your Own! Learn how to do this fun and easy line dance, then take inspiration from other versions to really dance it with your own style!

This solo jazz series is designed for dancers who have never danced before, or for dancers that want to learn more about solo jazz, different versions of the Shim Sham, and how to create their own variations. No experience or partner required!

Thursdays 8-9pm
January 9, 16, 23, & 30