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Event Review: PittStop Lindy Hop: X

This past weekend was the tenth anniversary of PittStop, the Pittsburgh Lindy Hop exchange. For year 10 they went all out, having a live band at every dance. Totaling at seven bands, this lineup included; The Boilermaker Jazz Band, Solomon Douglas Quartet, and the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn.

As an attendee of last year’s PittStop, one of the big improvements I was thankful of was the change to the Pittsburgh Opera as the late night venue. Last year it was in a school that due to noise laws, windows had to be sealed. In result, last year’s late night venue became a sweat lodge for those inside.  However at the Opera venue this year; there was two large separate rooms for Lindy in one and Blues in the other, nice wood floors, and decent ventilation. One thing that they continued from last year was how ample amounts of food and reasonably priced drinks were provided, so getting food in between the night and late night dances were more of a fun break and less of a desperate necessity.

As usual the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial Hall and Museum was a pleasure to dance in. Dedicated in 1910 its an amazing venue to dance in not just for the breathtaking atmosphere the ballroom provides and but also the ability to during the day tour the museum free is a blast for historical geeks like myself. Particularly fun this weekend was an orchestra was having their rehearsal during the day and a performance at night in the auditorium, nothing like a free concert. Fun fact according to wikipedia, Silence of the Lambs had the hall fill in for the “Memphis Courthouse” scenes, including the escape scene.

This year there were performances as well. Some of the performances were from the local Pittsburgh residents and others invited from Ohio. I was excited to see in person Mark and Ellen’s updated routine, that I wrote about in a post about a few weeks back.

Overall, I had a ton of fun. But talk is cheap, here’s a bunch of videos for you guys to see how the weekend went.

Videos of The Weekend

Saturday Afternoon Dance Jam Circle to Jimmy Sapienza’s Five Guys Named Moe

Sunday Afternoon Dance Shim Sham to the Boilermaker Jazz Band

Titled: Best/Worst Moment of PittStop 2010

Update: (12/7/2010)

Christina from SwingColombus wrote about PittStop as well!


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Killin’ the Floor

I was listening to the yehoodi talk show today and it featured an interview with Minn Vo, a Lindy Hopper (among other dance styles) from Los Angeles. If you haven’t listened to it, I would catch it on this following link: Yehoodi Talk Show 6×17

During the interview Minn Vo mentions how the Killer Dillers were in town and he invited them what the facebook group of the event describes as a,

“A Rhythm Improv Night. A place of freedom & expression for musicians and dancers”

I could attempt to explain what goes on here, but I think Minn’s interview and the videos below do more justice.

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Judging: A First Time Judge’s Experience

Can’t read my, can’t read my, can’t read my judging face. (I’ve got to judge everybody)

– Song running through my head this Saturday before the Jack and Jill I had to Judge

This past weekend I popped my judging cherry by judging for a  local Jack & Jill at my college. It was a low pressure competition, that the rules barred anyone who has placed 1st in a regional Jack & Jill or who has competed at big competitions like Camp Hollywood, ILHC, and et cetera.

‘to the victor belong the spoils

Questions…

Bobby White’s post at Swungover’s about judging questions segement hit the nail on the head of some of the questions that swam through my head as I was judging:

How much time do I spend on each person? That person is dancing technically great but looking down and not energetic, do I rate them over an individual who is the exact opposite? That follow is having salsa arms, do I penalize for that? How do I make absolutely sure my previous knowledge of some competitors does not make me positively or negatively biased against them? Oh god, that guy led a drape, do I let the extremely negative connotations of that move completely discount him from the finals? These people have the exact same scores on my prelims sheet, how do I choose which one goes to finals? That person’s number is flapping do I wait until they stop rotating so I can read it, or move on and come back?

Preparation

When I was first starting to compete, one of the important things I wanted to find out was how competitions were judged. Up to the point of this past weekend information I had to work with was:

  • Two Camp Hollywood: So You Want to Compete Classes. Year 1 by Ben and Sheri Yau, Year 2 by David Frutos & Kim Clever. These were helpful in they went over how they judged competitions and gave tips especially for first time competitors.
  • Private on Judging/Competing with Nick Williams: Amazing lesson, most of it was fixing technical issues that people are marked off for in competitions. But part of it was he went down the three T’s (Timing, Technique, Teamwork) and really broke down what he looks for in each category, immensely useful in not just competition but judging as well.
  • Reading a yehoodi thread on judging and two essays found inside: Unfortunately I was unable to find the yehoodi thread, but these two articles by both nationally recognized and experience judges were useful:
  1. Nicole Frydman (On Judging): https://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhkhj8sz_14dt5c26hn
  2. Tena Morales (On Judging): https://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhkhj8sz_15dcv6ndd3
  • Sylvia Sykes LED Talk at ILHC on Judging: Really informative talk where she went over the ideal situation for judging, dealing with possible biases and just funny things she has seen in competitions.
  • Watching competitions and judging them, then later seeing how they compared to actual scores: This is something I do once awhile when watching competitions as a game, but its great practice to do it. So when the pressure is on when you actually judge, there are less things you can worry about. You can even do this online with youtube if you want.

Actually Judging the Competition

Prelims

For the prelims we had two heats with 10 leads and follows in heat one, then slightly less then that in heat two. Two of the judges got leads, two of the judges got follows, I was the unlucky one who had to judge both. You know how judges say they only get five seconds to look at you in prelims in Jack and Jills? They are not kidding. What was a bummer as a judge, is I saw some people who normally lead/follow decently at bad moments and had to mark them down. Because I had to go through 30-40 people in the equivalent of 4-5 minutes of music, I literally did not have time to give people a second glance.  Sylvia Sykes said during her LED talk something similar to these words, “Part of being a judge is sometimes awarding people you hate 1st place and keeping your best friends out of the finals.” it really came to mind in this situation.

For judging I used the system Kim mentioned in her Camp Hollywood talk in which I awarded pluses or minuses next to numbers and at the end of the heats tallied it up and the individuals with the most points went to finals. First thing I did the second any song started was scanned the room and saw which leads started on time after the intro, any leads who were off instantly got one minus off the bat. Then I looked at each individual one by one and awarded or subtracted points based on different criteria (on time, paying attention to partner, et cetera).

At the end though there were still some ties which required some thought to break. Ultimately what was the tie breaker for me was I chose individuals who I thought would make for an entertaining final. It was looking down or having the “thinking dancer” look that lost some people a chance to get in the finals.

Finals

I thought it would be easier judging finals because there was less people, boy I was wrong. With more time to pick apart a couples dancing, more questions were raised.

For the finals there was just four judges including myself deciding the placement of 5 couples. It was phrase battle style, with a warm-up (not judged) followed by an all-skate. It was a different animal to deal with because I was judging people as a couple and not as individuals. Which was killer because in some cases there was one person doing awesome but their partner was having issues keeping up.

For the finals I went with Camp Hollywood judging criteria of 50% Three T’s and 50% showmanship. I would watch each couple during the spot light and write down notes of positive and negative things I saw. The main question I struggled with was do I award more a couple who danced mostly clean but did not do anything amazing, to a couple who made some technical errors but got the audience cheering. What really made my final decisions were which couples took me along for a ride, made it difficult to not look at them.

Overall

I think it was a great learning experience and as a competitor it will help me be much more understanding in competitions I enter. It has also made me not envious at all of people like Sylvia who have to judge events like ILHC.

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Event Review: Steven and Virginie in Rochester (Rochacha)

This past weekend Rochacha had for their 13th year their event Steven and Virginie in Rochester. As someone who attended the past year, I may be slightly biased when I say it was awesome and I am still wondering why I left (or didn’t hitch a ride to Montreal instead of Pennsylvania).

Classes

The cool thing about the Steven and Virginie in Rochester workshop is the class labeled as “Musicality with Gordon Webster and his Band“. It is an unique opportunity to learn material, then actually practice it to a live band. Especially since this band is fricken Gordon Webster, with Jesse Selengut in the lineup.

While that particular class made the weekend amazing, the other classes taught by Steven and Virginie were nothing to scoff at either. What I liked is each class seemed to offer something to individuals of every level of dancing from the experienced veteran to the green newbie. In particular Virginie was consistently offering styling options to follows, so it didn’t become all about the leads.

The soul dancing class on Friday was also a nice change of pace. I arrived late so I didn’t want to jump in the class, but I watched from the side and picked stuff up. I’m still uncomfortable dancing to Soul music, but it always seems like a big party when its played and everyone has fun.

Dances

The Swing and Soul Party on Friday was a blast. To be honest it felt more like a dance party then a typical swing dance, complete with a soul train. Like I said before the music pushed me out of my comfort zone, but in a positive way. It was a great atmosphere to get acquainted with people at the event.

The Saturday dance with Gordon Webster and Friends was a splendid affair. They played a variety of tempos that kept the nimble-footed Balboa dancer to the sensual Blues dancer happy. Unfortunately Steven Mitchell was sick this year, so he didn’t step in for a few songs. But Brianna Thomas, the featured vocalist of the night did a superb job. Her and Gordon closed the house with an encore performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

Lindy Compound

Probably one of, if not the most infamous late night venues in the United States is the Lindy Compound. The walls are all decorated with references from the jazz era or in one case a framed photo from a recent Lone Star Championship moment.

After most Rochester event’s dance, everyone stops by the nearby Wegmans (similar to Whole Foods if you are unfamiliar with it) and picks up some kind of food or drink for the event before showing up to the late night venue. To the right of the doorway there is a kitchen/dinning room where there is a large variety of food ranging from various types of humus, fruits, cheeses to marshmallows. In the center of the house is a room with danceable floor. On the left side of the house is a lounging area with this custom video game setup that has I think 2000+ games on it ranging from pac-man to street fighter.

Sorry if the description was long but I wanted to try to accurately portray how awesome this late night venue is. To reinforce it, here is an informative list:

Things I Have Witnessed at the Lindy Compound:

  • Two women jousting, outside in the snow, riding piggy-back on two very tall men.
  • Mad Libs, dancer version in which nouns like Wayne Gretsky were used.
  • Canadian women making me feel ashamed of my abilities to consume alcohol.
  • A rap performance.

Here is a video if you still aren’t convinced.

I could go keep going on about this place, but what is special and I think adds immensely to Rochester events is this venue allows people to genuinely socialize and get to know each other well. I would care to bet more so, then most events I attend. It is probably due to this place that half the time I can’t understand my facebook feed due to my poor French abilities.

Overall

Rochacha, once again I had a blast.  Even though I will be based out in California next year (instead of a four hour drive away), I am going to fight to make it to my third Steven and Virginie in Rochester.

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Nostalgia from Songs: The Carioca

To quote Don Draper from the television series Mad Men,

Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.

There are songs that to individuals, that once they are played, bring back strong emotions and memories. T’aint What You Do by Jimmy Lunceford and Love Me or Leave Me by Nina Simone are examples of that in our swing dance community.

Today I am going to share a song that has that effect on me.

The Carioca

Introduction:

To quote wikipedia, the Carioca is a word that refers to inhabitants of Rio De Janerio. It was originally made popular in a recording featuring by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn.

Flying Down to Rio (1933):

Our first stop down memory lane is a 1933 musical film known as Flying Down to Rio. Even though this is not their best dancing, this film is noted for being the first on screen dance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

The Carioca is also the name of the dance Fred and Ginger performed in the film, which was a combination of Samba, Maxixe, Foxtrot and Rumba. It was supposed to be promoted as a ballroom dance, that did not have much success.

When I hear any versions of the song the Carioca, I can’t help but be reminded of the superb technicality and the finesse possessed in Astaire’s dancing.

Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1939) & Buddy Rich (1982):

I won’t be shy about it, music by Artie Shaw is some of my favorite music to dance to. But this is especially true when Shaw had Buddy Rich on board, as a drummer, for his orchestra. For those of you who do not know swing era drummers, Rich is a beast.  Check out this 1982 performance of him at the Montreal Jazz Festival:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xajrpn_buddy-rich-the-carioca_music#from=embed&start=7

One of the myriad of reasons I like Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five is the fact that they really kill Shaw’s charts. A big factor in that is Josh Callazo who is an amazing drummer himself and captures Rich’s spirit when he plays. Check out Man From Mars from Jonathan Stout Orchestra’s performance at Lincoln Center (2006).

The Carioca reminds me of what past and present, it really means to have a band that ‘swings’ and that doesn’t just play swing dance music.

NADC (2003) [Kevin and Carla]:

In 2003 at the North Atlantic Dance Championships, Kevin St. Laurent and Carla Heiney competed with this routine to two songs. ‘Deacon’s Hop’ by Big Jay McNeely and to an edited version of The Carioca by Artie Shaw.

What strikes me is just the flow and musicality of the routine, while still maintaining the high energy of the song. I am reminded when I hear it of how some can rise to the occasion of interpreting music through motion.

Camp Hollywood Underground Jitterbug Championship (2009)

Camp Hollywood 2009 was my first ‘big’ Lindy Hop event and was a drastic change from usual cozy and smaller workshops/exchanges I was used to back East.  I was confused when I saw posters all over the walls Saturday night with cryptic messages suggesting something was going on at the blues room of all places at 2:00 AM in the morning. Then this happened….

Tiffany Wine & Kenny Nelson versus Dax Hock & Max Pittrezella. It was raw, vicious, and amazing to watch.  As someone who was starting to see what the national scene was like it was an amazing first impression.

What this added to the song for me was how the intensity of the song could be visually represented and the whole idea of “laying it all out on the floor”.

The Fly Rights: Camp Hollywood Showcase Division (2010)

To quote the poster who uploaded the following video on youtube,

What you are about to witness is a video whose sheer magnitude of awesome will shatter your eye sockets. This is the beginning of the end of an epic saga of a lone choreographer and a ragtag gang of misfits whose only goal was to perform at Camp Hollywood’s 2010 Team Division competition.

I could probably write a separate blog post about this performance, how awesome they all are, and how I don’t still have my Fly Rights flag from Camp Hollywood decorating my room.

But what this added to the song for me, is the idea of how hard work and dedication truly pays off.

In Conclusion

The Carioca is such song loaded with nostalgia for me because ultimately it reminds me what it means to be a dancer and a “swing” dancer. They are two questions I struggle to answer everyday, but feel I get slightly closer to the more experience I get.

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Repost: Are lindy and blues exchanges losing their way?

This is a repost of a note that I originally read on facebook written by Bill Speidel, a well known and respected Lindy and Blues DJ out here on the East Coast.  To rephrase what I originally sent to Bill when asking for permission to repost this, I believe this note expresses a sentiment that many of us who consistently visit smaller scenes and smaller events have, but often do not publicly voice due to not wanting to be seen as “elitist”.

Lost
Who is running this event and what is supposed to be about?

Are lindy and blues exchanges losing their way?

(or “I smell what you’re offering to exchange and I don’t want to step in it”)

For about the last year I’ve been making the argument that the poor economy has led to an influx of novice or bargain basement organizers throwing a growing number of sketchy events that leave me wondering where is the value for the price they’re charging and what they are hyping?

Words have specific meanings and create certain expectations – “nationally known DJ’s”, “live swing bands”, “hosting available”, “free”… even the terms “lindy” or “blues exchange” themselves.  Truthfully, I believe, if your home lindy or blues “scene” can fit in one or two vehicles, you can’t throw an exchange, you can merely throw a party.  Also, a list of recommended hotel accommodations is not “offering housing”.   Lindy bombing a street festival where the local municipality has hired an Elvis impersonator is not “4 hours of continuous lindy dancing”, neglecting to point out someone has to pay a $7 parking or entrance fee to some third party doesn’t constitute “Free” just because the organizer didn’t get the money.  Lastly, a local laptop owner who has also played his usual setlist somewhere else while visiting his parents out of state does not make a DJ headliner.

In the last month I’ve been invited to a couple “exchanges” that have me particularly shaking my head and wondering where things are headed.

The first incident was a trio of new organizers who were completely forthright (although misinformed) in their advertising of their new blues event, which, they said, would bring blues to the southeast, where there has never been any blues scenes or events before.  They explained blues has gotten too prissy with its ballrooms and instruction & their event was a dirty, raw, blues bomb to bar bands w/ plenty of drunken grinding & beer.  They mentioned the local swing club had told them they weren’t cool enough to hang out with since they didn’t care about the techniques of partnered dancing, just blues and enough beer to enjoy the dirty thrill of it.  To drive their point home, they’ve added a soul, modern tango, and fusion pajama party late night and a “blues ball” that pokes fun at the blues elite by “deconstructing traditional black-tie attire and replace it with an attitude that says “Hey, I’m awesome, and I know you’re jealous” man-smile.”

The other was a lindy exchange tacked onto an annual Winter Festival at a national historic site by an instructor whose scene is mostly 14-16 year old children.  She contacted me to say although she had no budget to hire me to DJ she wondered if I’d burn a CD full of my best mp3’s to play for dancers?  She’s since gotten a fife and drum processional, a bluegrass/hot trio, and put out a call landing DJ’s willing to work for free.  “Hosting” is any available hotel space not booked by visiting holiday tourists.

Honestly, I love fun as much as the next person, but seriously, this recent explosion of every single collection of 2 or more blues or lindy dancers feeling they need “to throw their own exchange to be taken seriously and make a name for themselves” is a load of crap.  When I first started DJ’ing, one of the top DJ’s on the east coast approached me after a set to say, “I owe you an apology.  I’ve heard your name for a while but never took you seriously because I heard you were from Virginia Beach and automatically assumed you sucked.”  Trust me, sometimes there are worse things in life than not having made a name for yourself.

Before deciding you need to have your name on the marquis, consider helping established organizers run respected events and find out why they don’t embellish their marketing or short change their musicians, teachers or DJ’s; also, why they confirm their logistical arrangements and are aware of what others are doing in scenes around them.

I’m sorry to wrap myself in my “blanket of elitism” but we’re fast approaching the point where we don’t need any more half-baked, poorly planned events that underwhelm but overcharge.  They do everyone a disservice and just provide unnecessary noise and distraction that cloud the water.  If you don’t have a burning passion for this that goes beyond your own ego, please leave it to those who do.

As someone who organizes smaller events, please just be honest in your advertising. I’ve danced to bands like Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five and the Boilermakers in multiple states, please don’t bill the local band who is playing borderline concert jazz as ‘one of the best swing bands you ever heard’. Don’t bill your event as a Lindy Hop event then have half the DJ set be Blues or West Coast Swing music. As a customer I take it as an insult when you attempt to mislead me and I will not attend your events or recommend them to other dancers in the future.

If you have any comments regarding this note, I encourage you to post below.

PS: Bill also has a blog that can be found at this link: http://auralmajority.blogspot.com/