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Swinging Projects for Lindy Hop & Balboa Dancers

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Swing Group Of Friends

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
«30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge«.

I'm late again…

Week #14: My Best Friends Are Dancers

Most of my friends nowadays are dancers. It just naturally happened.

Many of them are longtime friends since the beginning of my swing dance career.

When I started dancing Lindy Hop more than 10 years ago, I was regularly travelling from my former hometown to Zurich (one hour drive) to dance as much as possible.

Marcia, my present dance and teaching partner – who actually was my first regular Lindy Hop teacher! – introduced me into the Zurich swing scene. Thus it happened that I met a lot of new people and soon after, I was part of a performance troup.

The majority of these guys are still involved in my local scene and over time, I became best friends with a few of them.

Through my extensive travelling I also made international friends. I even got two brothers: a Catalan and an Austrian :). I love to hang out with them and spend time as much as possible when I see them.

I have non-dancing friends as well but I have to admit, that most of my activities and social contacts are somehow related to dancing.

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30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Dancing Memory

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
«30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge«.

Well, it's already Sunday, but here I am with this week's topic:

Week #13: Herräng Changed Everything

Herrang Dance Camp

As you already know, I attended Herräng Dance Camp in 2000 for the first time.

Before I left for Sweden, everybody who had been to Herräng before was telling how special it will be and that I will get into this special 24h swing mode and that this is a feeling I haven't had before with Lindy Hop dancing.

Well, that set my expectations very high. Too high, I have to say, at least for the first few days when I was at the camp. There was no such feeling at all and I felt lost.

Instead, it was overwhelming. So many options (and I would say nowadays there are even more): daily meeting, evening classes, talks, lectures, parties, etc.

I had the feeling I need to attend all of these, otherwise I would miss something. Overwhelming indeed.

Then, I think it was on Tuesday night, I had this magical experience that changed my dancing and how I looked at it forever.

I was dancing with a friend of mine from Switzerland and it was like having a conversation with each other. She was doing something and I was responding, I was doing a move and she took it and made something out of it.

When you're an advanced dancer, then you think: So what? That's the idea of social dancing.

Right!

But to me, that was completely new.

At that time, I already was dancing for several years, ballroom and all kind of other stuff. And as to me, it was about learning steps and moves and choreographed patterns. No improvisation at all. The music was just decoration.

And here I was as a Lindy Hop newbie (I started 9 months before), under a charm, improvising TO the music and dancing WITH someone.

«Now, I know what dancing is!» That was my conclusion after these extraordinary dances.

Of course, I was looking for this magical feeling again and again and more often than not, it was not there while dancing.

But I had now something to strive for.

There was something else I could take from that experience

You don't have to be a super advanced dancer to have these magical moments while dancing. Just enjoy yourself and don't think too much about your dance level!


<< Last Friday: #12 Your Swing Crushes / Favorite Pros

>> Next Friday: #14 Your swing group of friends

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Swing Crushes / Favorite Pros

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
«30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge«.

This week, we're talking about..

Week #12: Favorite Pros

My first thought about Swing crushes was: «Come on, I'm not twenty anymore.»

I know, I know, having crushes is not about age. Anyways, I wouldn't write about it.

So, let's talk about favorite pros.

Here is my list:

Nick Williams

I guess, Nick influences my dancing more than any other person. With his style and his unique musicality he's always been a big inspiration.

Laura Keat & Jeremy Otth

Both are very likable and awesome dancers. They are not afraid of taking a masterpiece of dancing and recreate it. Spectacular!

Kelly Arsenault & Mickey Fortanasce

The two of them preserve the heritage of the old-time Balboa dancers and add their own style to it. Always able to push the boundaries again and again.

Maeva Truntzer & William Mauvais

Maeva & William are presenting a new generation of swing dancers. Original and hilarious. With this routine they captured my heart immediately.


<< Last Friday: #11 Favorite song(s) to dance to

>> Next Friday: #13 Favorite dancing memory

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Song(s) To Dance To

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
«30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge«.

Let's talk about music.

Week #11: Many Favorite Songs To Dance To…

DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week | Shuffle Projects

Since I'm a Swing DJ there is for sure not only one favorite song I could name. I'm an avid collector of Jazz, Swing & Blues and I'm acquiring «new» songs almost every day.

The best way to get an idea about my favorite songs is to check out my series

DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week

But I agree, it would be too easy just leave you with a link. Here are some lists with my all-time favorite artists and songs (I like find as many different versions as possible of these).

Artists

  • Artie Shaw
  • Benny Goodman
  • Charlie Christian
  • Count Basie
  • Duke Ellington
  • Jimmy Rushing
  • Sidney Bechet

Contemporary Artists

  • Bernard Berkhout
  • Gordon Webster
  • Linnzi Zaorski
  • Meschiya Lake

All-Time Favourite Songs

  • Blues My Naughty Sweety Gives To Me
  • Four Or Five Times
  • I Found A New Baby
  • Some Of These Days


<< Last Friday: #10 Favorite workshop weekend

>> Next Friday: #12 Your swing crushes/favorite pros

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Workshop Weekend

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
«30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge«.

This week's topic is

Week #10: Favorite Workshop Weekend: The Snowball

The Snowball

Like all the other «favorite» topics, there doesn't exist ONE favorite weekend for me. They all are different and special in one way or another that it would be unfair to compare and rate them. So, I have chosen one I really like to attend.

My focus has changed over the years. I don't attend that many workshops as a student anymore and if so, then it's preferably a Balboa weekend. Most likely I'm DJ'ing, I'm social dancing and sometimes I'm competing.

If there is an opportunity, I like to attend an event with my family.

My girlfriend and I attended the Snowball in 2006 for the first time. It's in a beautiful city (Stockholm Sweden) and it's around a calm time (after Christmas and over New Year's Eve). I remember the New Year's Eve party as one of the most relaxed one I've ever experienced. We wanted to go back one day. It took us five years.

Since 2008, all the evening events of the Snowball are happening in one place, in the Clarion Hotel Sign, which is centrally located and close to the train station. Just the perfect situation to bring my family, since we have a son now. While he is sleeping in the hotel room, we're still able to enjoy our passion.

This time, we won't wait another five years. See you in December in Stockholm!


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>> Next Friday: #11 Favorite song(s) to dance to