They key to becoming a better dancer, in my humble opinion, is getting the
milage. Once you become better, you feel more comfortable and can really
enjoy the music and the social atmosphere. Salsa achieves this by
presenting opportunities all over town to dance. There are a lot of
people who know at least a little swing on campus from our courses. We
still have large beginner classes. Where are these people using Swing?
While Salsa is a lot of fun, I definitely enjoy Swing and West Coast
Swing. While you can always go to places like the Rose Bowl or maybe
Bradleys for some WCS, they are both Country Western Bars. It is very
difficult to attract a large crowd to go to one of these bars.
What I'd like to see is a club have a Swing night with swing, blues, and
jazz music.
The first thing, though, would be to find someone who would be willing to
DJ a Swing dance. Then we'd have to find a club to go to. I know the
Blind Pig does Salsa on Sundays. I think Gypsies does Salsa on Fridays
along with the Regent. We'd probably not want to do this at the Regent.
At least not yet.
I don't want this to be like "Just Another DI Dance" (*poke Derek*).
Instead, it should resemble something like a Salsa night at another club.
Maybe, though, it is just a matter of pulling out enough good swing music
to last 3-4 hours. You'd just need a DJ who knows what to play when to
work the crowd.
I was thinking about the Brass Rail. I've never been there, but I think
they have some Jazz Bands in from time to time. Do they have a dance
floor?
Chicago and St. Louis have a great swing dance scene. I think we need to
bring a little of that home to Chambana.
(BTW- If the Brass Rail looks good, we might even get them to let us have
one of our theme parties there, like a 50's Mobster Swing Dance. It is
close to campus, too.)
Cory