In November 2023, we had our first post-COVID workshop weekend, featuring Kofi and Liz from Ottawa.

Kofi provided a fantastic list of resources, listed below.

Music

Significant Jazz musicians with birthdays the week of Nov. 25th

 

Hoagy Carmichael

Tommy Dorsey

Coleman Hawkins

Willie “The_Lion” Smith

Teddy Wilson

Scott Joplin

 

Playlists

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/09EwYUqHjQTH2eCCqbaNcU?si=1e587c7e193d4cc4

 

If you want to geek out on Jazz Music, check out:

https://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions/index.htm

 

Inspirational videos

A class in swing – Artie Shaw		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNlOfD56k8
The Spirit Moves – Shim Sham		https://youtu.be/yHf4tBmAlpI?si=rnPUmAqFueSTG3xw&t=1174
Texas Tommy /		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EljmkQSf7s
After Seben		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyQHEqOp84
California Routine (spirit moves)		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43rpgGN-eE

Books and blogs

https://www.frankiemanning.com/book.php

“Swinging at the Savoy”  by Norma Miller
” Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century”  by Lindsay Guarino (Editor), Carlos R. A. Jones (Editor), Wendy Oliver (Editor)

“America Dancing: From the Cakewalk to the Moonwalk”

by Pugh, Megan

“Blues People” by Amiri Baraka

“Lady Sings the Blues” Billie Holiday / William Dufty

Swungover – Bobby White – https://swungover.wordpress.com/

Takeaways

• Feel the music, dance to the music
• Repetition is good
• “Commit to the bit” – Billie via Greg
• Repetition is good
• Keep your feet underneath you
• Your moves are yours, do them like you own them
• The Elders are a source of inspiration seek them out (their videos) and learn
• Make it a daily habit to dance at least one song
• Repetition is good!

TICKET SALES NOW CLOSED

Eventbrite Page

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Meet in the Middle is an annual Lindy Hop and Blues exchange hosted by the Queen’s Swing Dancing Club in Kingston, Ontario. Join us on January 25th and 26th for two nights of sizzling live bands and DJ’d blues, plus a full day of professional workshops taught by QSDC alumni.

This year we’re celebrating QSDC’s 20th Anniversary in proper birthday party fashion, so cake and pointy hats are guaranteed! You can find details on our workshops and musical guests below in the schedule!

Make sure to read the Event Guidelines

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Full weekend, one-night and workshop-only passes will be available for purchase on Eventbrite as of November 1st. Register before December 1st for an early bird discount!

Limited housing is currently being organized on a first-come, first-serve basis through Eventbrite!

Schedule

All events will be in the John Deutsch University Centre at 99 University Ave, Kingston, ON, at Queen’s University Find us at Wallace Hall!
Friday	8:00 PM	Beginner Lindy Hop Lesson
	9:00 PM	Live Dance with Gordon Webster!
	Midnight – 3:00 AM	Late Night Blues
Saturday	10:00 AM	Lindy Hop Lesson – The Music and Movement – All Levels
	11:05 AM	Lindy Hop Lesson – Connection: Going Steady – All Levels
	12:10 AM	Solo Blues Lesson – Grooving the Gauntlet – All Levels
	1:10 PM – 2:25 PM	Lunch
	2:25 PM	Lindy Hop – Connection: Direct and Redirect! – Intermediate	Ballroomin’ Blues – Comfy, Close Embrace – All Levels
	3:25 PM	Wildcard Class! – ! – QSDC Mob Dance – Intermediate	Jukin’ Blues – Move YOUR Body – All Levels
	4:30 PM – 8:00 PM	Break!
	8:00 PM	Beginner Lindy Hop Lesson
	9:00 PM	Live dance with Gordon Webster!
	After Midnight	Late night blues

Workshops

The Music and The Movement

All Levels Lindy Hop Lesson

Let’s start at the very core of why we dance: because the music tells us to! In this class we’ll explore swing from the music up, with much ado about rhythm and phrasing, and a focus on staying in the music and playing together with your partner.

Connection 1: Going Steady

All Levels Lindy Hop Lesson

Sure, you can stretch apart and come together.. but what happens in between? In this class we’ll explore keeping the connection steady even in “neutral” moments, and see what we can do when the lines are always open!

Grooving the Gauntlet

All Levels Blues Lesson

Build your vocabulary of solo blues moves while keeping the groove!

Connection 2: Direct and Redirect!

Intermediate Lindy Hop Lesson

Building from the concepts we explored in connection 1, we see what happens when you use a steady connection to put a new twist on classic ideas!

Comfy, Close Embrace

All Levels Blues Lesson

Join us as we dive deep into close embrace connection and make it as comfy as can be!

QSDC Mob Dance!

Intermediate Wildcard Class

Join us in creating something special for the QSDC! In this class we’ll teach you a brand new solo routine made just for the club, that you can use and pass along to new waves of students! This class is participatory… students will have a chance to brainstorm and add a QSDC twist to the routine, to really make it your own!

Move YOUR Body

All Levels Blues Lesson

Explore your own movement in within partnered dancing!

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The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called “The Charleston” by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin’ Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade. Runnin’ Wild ran from 29 October 1923 through 28 June 1924. The peak year for the Charleston as a dance by the public was mid-1926 to 1927.

Today Charleston is an important dance in Lindy Hop dance culture, danced in many permutations: alone (solo), with a partner, or in groups of couples or solo dancers. The basic step allows for a vast range of variations and improvisation. Both the 1920s and Swinging Charleston styles are popular today, though swinging Charleston is more commonly integrated into Lindy Hop dancing.

Source: Wikipedia

Swing music, or simply Swing, is a form of American music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1940. Swing uses a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums as the anchor for a lead section of brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophones and clarinets, and sometimes stringed instruments such as violin and guitar, medium to fast tempos, and a “lilting” swing time rhythm. The name swing came from the phrase ‘swing feel’ where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music (unlike classical music). Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement.

The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, a period known as the Swing Era.

Source: Wikipedia

Some swing dance music examples (both more modern and older!)

This one is a classic:

This one is more modern, from 2009 by Carsie Blanton.

And a few more:

Some electro swing!

The type of swing dancing that we do at Queen’s Swing Club is Lindy Hop!

What is Lindy Hop?

The Lindy Hop is an American dance that evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and 1930s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston. It is frequently described as a jazz dance and is a member of the swing dance family.

In its development, the Lindy Hop combined elements of both partnered and solo dancing by using the movements and improvisation of black dances along with the formal eight-count structure of European partner dances. This is most clearly illustrated in the Lindy’s basic step, the swingout. In this step’s open position, each dancer is generally connected hand-to-hand; in its closed position, men and women are connected as though in an embrace.

Revived in the 1980s by American, Swedish, and British dancers, the Lindy Hop is now represented by dancers and loosely affiliated grass roots organizations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Source: Wikipedia

Here are some videos of people doing the Lindy Hop very very well.

Other types of swing dancing include West Coast Swing, which is usually danced to more modern pop music and evolved from Lindy Hop.