Welcome to our dance at Carpenters’ Union Hall!
301 10th Street NW, Kensington

Every Friday!

(there will be no dance Dec 19 or 26)

Dance starts at 9:15
$7, $6 for Students

Drop-In Beginner Lesson 8:45-9:15
Included in Admission!

Drop-In Beginner Lessons give you a taste of the movement and music involved in Lindy-hop. They run with a variety of themes including 20’s or 30’s Charleston, Jigs and Six-Count Lindy.  Come and find out which lesson will be this week.

Swing Dance Calgary is a community, and requires help from everyone in order to succeed. Here are some simple ways you can help out:

1. Come to the dance with a smile!

2. Volunteer at the door.

We are looking to fill 4 shifts every dance:
8:45 - 9:15, 9:15 - 9:45, 9:45 - 10:15, 10:15 - 10:45
If you are able to fill one of these shifts, let us know via message board, facebook, or email. Volunteers get into the dance for $5.

3. Help clean up after the dance.

Tasks are easy, and it goes by quickly if everyone pitches in. Tasks include helping Dave tear down the music equipment and putting it into his car, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, putting away the chairs and tables, throwing out empty cups, and emptying the garbage.

4. Invite all your friends.

Share the greatness of Swing with those around you. New faces help the community grow and thrive.

5. Add your photos to our Flickr group.

We have set up a Flickr group so that everyone can see your great swing dance photos, not just your facebook friends. You can create an account for free, and upload your photos for our enjoyment!

Their bio’s.

SCHEDULE AND CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
-all classes (saturday and sunday) as well as the Saturday night event are at the Mount Pleasant Community Hall. 602 22 Ave NW

Saturday:
10:00-10:30 am - confirm registration and warm-up
10:30-11:30 - Connection & Momentum fundamentals: movement and partner basics
11:45-12:45 - Lindy Hop Essentials: foundations of dancing fast (an essential element of Lindy hop)
12:45-2:00 LUNCH
2:00- 3:00 - Just Keep Kicking: Charleston extravaganza (Lindy hop Charleston fundamentals and figures)
3:15-4:15 - Advanced: Fast Lindy

Sunday:
11:30-12:30 - Connection & Momentum fundamentals II
12:30-1:30 LUNCH
1:30-2:30 - Transitions: connection & momentum and keeping the rhythm in the flow of your dancing
2:45-3:45 - Creativity: building musicality into your moves
4:00-5:00 - Advanced: music, rhythm, and all of the above

Registration

Intermediate Package
Includes Friday & Saturday dances
and 3 classes each Sat & Sun
Saturday night features the Big Beat Band!

Early Bird Price: $85/person
After Nov 1: $100/person

Advanced Classes:
Please send an email request to gilmore.meghan@gmail.com before November 1st. You will be notified of your acceptance shortly after the 1st. The class will be kept quite small, please speak with Meghan (in Calgary) or Julie (in Edmonton) if you have any questions regarding the advanced level.

If you are registering for the whole weekend, pay for the intermediate now and we will collect the remainder later.

Advanced Package
Includes Friday & Saturday dances
and 4 classes each Sat & Sun
Saturday night features the Big Beat Band!
Early Bird Price: $115/person
After Nov 1: $130/person

Advanced Classes Only
Two advanced classes, one Sat & one Sun
Early Bird Price: $37/person
After Nov 1: $47/person

If you would like to participate in Housing, please send an email to gilmore.meghan@gmail.com and specify the following:

Hosts (Calgary dancers)
1. How many people you can host
2. If you have pets
3. If you have a car or not

Playing Friday, Sep 12

The Solomon Douglas Quartet

We are thrilled to have Solomon Douglas here! Solomon’s bands (including the Solomon Douglas Swingtet, Back Pocket, Corner Pocket, and the Solomon Douglas Trio) have played at countless exchanges, camps, workshops, and other events in North America, Asia, and Australia since 2000. His experience as a swing dancer and dance instructor gives him an understanding unique among musicians of the music that swing dancers and blues dancers like to dance to!

$20, $15 for full-time students and out-of-towners

Dance starts at 9:15

Drop-In Beginner Lesson 8:45-9:15
Included in Admission!

Sharon Davis and Juan Villafane Workshop

May 10-11 in Calgary

and

The Big Beat Band

Saturday May 10

Thanks to everyone who participated! It was a great success!

This article is adapted from tips4me.com. You can find the original here.

The way you conduct yourself on the dance floor tells a lot about the kind of person you are. Here are few tips for enjoyable, respectful social dancing:

• Always introduce yourself to someone you don’t know, and then invite them to a dance. Ask politely, “Would you like to dance?” Avoid grabbing a partner and pulling them onto the dance floor.
• Treat your partner the way you would wish to be treated…
• While dancing it’s a common courtesy, if you bump into someone, or step onto someone’s feet, to apologize before you move on.
• Once it’s realized that the people appear to be enjoying the music and appreciate their efforts, the band or DJ plays better songs.
• Air steps, lifts, drops, etc are not considered appropriate for social dancing at any time. You could put your partner as well as other dancers at the risk of an injury. You can showcase these “show off” steps for performances and competitions or “Jam Circles”.
• When you wish to decline a dance, be polite: smile and say “No, thank you.” If there is a reason why you can’t dance to that song, give the person a reason.
• It is considered the worst possible etiquette to accept an invitation to dance to a song after declining an invitation to the same song by someone else.
• Do not stare at your partner, make proper eye contact. It shows you are paying attention.
• While dancing focus on your partner, make him/her feel good.
• Remember for traveling dances like the Foxtrot, Waltz, etc, the “Line of Dance” is Counter-Clockwise around the dance floor and should make an effort to follow the line of dance. If you are stationary, you should dance in the center of the dance floor, otherwise, you will end up as an obstruction to others.
• Don’t forget simple courteous statements like a ‘Thank-You’ after finishing a dance.

Thanks to our friends at Red Hot Swing for finding such an articulate, complete article about an important topic.

The Beat Niq Jazz Club will be hosting lessons and live music

House Swing Band

Doors at 8, music at 8:30
$10 Cover

Wednesday May 7, 14, 21
Tuesday June 3, 10, 17
Wednesday September 10, 17, 24

Check out beatniq.com for more details!

Juan Villafane and Sharon Davis Workshop
Calgary, May 10 - 12

and

——

The Big Beat Band
Playing Saturday, May 10
Mount Pleasant Community Hall
22 Ave & 5 St NW, Calgary, AB

——

Check out Sharon & Juan’s website
www.sharonandjuan.com

“Juan Villafane and Sharon Davis are performers and teachers of vintage swing and jazz dances. Juan hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina, while Sharon calls Perth, Australia home. Together they represent a diverse social and performance dance talent, including not only Lindy Hop, but also Charleston, Cakewalk, Blackbottom, Vintage Jazz, Breakaway, Balboa, Big Apple, Blues, Collegiate Shag, Burlesque and various other performance artforms of the jazz era. Sharon and Juan tour throughout the year, combining their loves for dance and travel.“

Classes for the Weekend will include:

• Hot Solo Charleston
• Hardcore Solo Jazz
• The Art of Improvisation
• Hit the Breaks!
• Leads only/Follows only (Slides and Burlesque)
• Exploring the past: Learning from Lindy-hops Greats

The classes will be geared at an intermediate level (level 2.0 in Calgary). If you are unsure of what this means ask Meghan (Calgary) or Julie (Edmonton).

REGISTRATION

Due to a shortage of leads there is now a waitlist for follows. Follows can still register and if space doesn’t come available will be fully refunded. Ultimately, it’s first paid first served. so don’t wait.

For weekend, one day payment or for the Big Beat Band only you can use Paypal

Your registration includes:
-Friday night dance at Carpenter’s Hall
-6 Workshop Classes (sat and sun)
-LIVE MUSIC on Saturday Night with the Big Beat Band!

All of this for the low low low price of ****** $80 before May 1st! *********
We can offer this exceptionally low price for a workshop weekend thanks to the contributions and support from the ALBERTA INSPIRATION WEEKEND. Thank you to everyone who was involved, teaching or taking classes.

Prices go up to $95 after May 1st so sign up right away!

There are several methods of payment
1. Paypal
2. Cheque to Swing Dance Calgary
506, 924 14 Ave SW
Calgary, AB T2R 0N7
3. Cash to Meghan (Calgary) or Julie (Edmonton)

In any of the above cases, please send an email to indicate:
a) lead/follow
b) need housing or can provide housing
c) can volunteer either night

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Hot Solo Charleston
The Charleston was the dance that captured the spirit of the 1920s, danced with wild abandonment across America and the world, ushering jazz dances into their place in popular culture for the next three decades. It’s also experiencing a huge revival in swing dance scenes around the world and, well, it’s a heap of fun! This class will give you a flexible repertoire of classic solo Charleston movement, an understanding of musical phrasing and some killer Charleston variations to bust out on the social floor. No experience needed.

Hardcore Solo Jazz
Get those feet flying! Learn some solo jazz moves that pack a serious punch! This is the razzle dazzle of solo jazz dance - killer footwork variations and tap-influenced flash steps, inspired by tap greats like the Nicholas Brothers, Berry Brothers, Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelly and Bill Bojangles Robinson. No solo jazz or tap experience needed, suitable for all levels.

The Art of Improvisation
Like jazz music itself, improvisation gives Lindy Hop its unique flavor. Like musicians, we improvise rhythms and movements to respond to the music and our partner. Through a series of exercises, Sharon and Juan will help you to eliminate redundant leading/following in your swingout and clarify your connection, to leave room for improvisation, musicality and styling. To put theory into practice, you’ll also learn some fun rhythmic variations to explore and start taking your dancing to the next level. Lindy Hop experience needed.

Hit the Breaks!
Learn some of Sharon and Juan’s favorite Lindy Hop breaks, for both the leader and the follower, as well as how to understand the music so that you can hit that break every time! Learn how to play with the intensity, style and rhythms of your breaks and communicate this to your partner, for exciting and dynamic musicality. Take away some cool new moves for the social dance floor, plus a whole new range of musical possibilities! Lindy Hop experience needed.

Burlesque with Sharon
Burlesque is the hottest trend in town, a type of performance bringing together a sizzling dance style with elaborate vintage costumes, cool retro tunes and a lot of sassy fun! As a dance form, burlesque brings together elements of vintage jazz dance, solo blues, exotic Eastern, African and Latin styles, chorus line dancing and Vegas showgirl, together with the theatricality of vaudeville and the art of the tease. In this fun taster class with Sharon, learn how to get in touch with your femininity and sensuality through dance and movement, and have a lot of girly fun at the same time!

Exploring the Past: Learning from Lindy Hop’s Greats

Join Sharon and Juan in a journey through the history of Lindy Hop. Want to breakaway like Shorty George, swivel like Jewel McGowan,layout like Frankie Manning, boogie like Sandra Gibson or swingout like Al Minns? Can you dance like they did at the Savoy Ballroom or at the Palomar, on the set of Hellzapoppin or at the Harvest Moon Ball? If you don’t know any of these names - don’t worry, you will! Watch the vintage film clips, explore the styles, learn some signature moves and footwork, and get inspired by Lindy Hop’s rich heritage. Whether you strive to dance just like the oldtime dancers, or you love to take your Lindy Hop in new, modern directions, knowing this history is the foundation every great Lindy Hopper needs!

SCHEDULE

REGISTRATION
For weekend, one day payment or for the Big Beat Band only you can use Paypal
Note: an account is no longer required to use paypal.

Questions? Email Us!

All of Swing Dance Calgary’s classes and the 10th Street Stomp happen here:

The Carpenters’ Hall
301 10 St. NW
Kensington, Calgary

This welcoming old hall in the middle of Kensington has become our home. With its hardwood floors and large stage it’s a great location for weekly dances and also live bands. It is block away from Sunnyside C-train station and close to many lovable pubs and restaurants. Parking is available on the north side of the hall, and can be reached from the back alley behind.

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