Tonight I had a super-fun time dancing at the Jazz Jam in Stockholm Sweden this evening. A competition, concert and swing dance, it's quite a full evening of entertainment for anyone who loves swing and jazz. I originally wanted to enter the Jack and Jill competition, since I find watching them less fun than participating….
Category: Dancing / Music
Herrang Final Party: Letting Your Inner Animal Swing Out
The 2010 Herrang International Dance Camp has finally come to a close. I'm sitting in the bar of the Folketshaus, the heart of the Herrang Dance Camp, surrounded by dancers grabbing breakfast before catching busses to the airport or to Stockholm. Meanwhile a small army of volunteers is dismantling the entire camp to return it…
Herrang Last Day: The Spirit is Willing But the Body is Shot
It's the last day of the Herrang International Dance Camp and there's a feeling of melancholy as the hundreds of dancers get in their last classes, meals together and dances this evening. For some it has been up to five weeks of camp, so quite a significant investment of their summer here. For myself, a…
Dawn Hampton dancing to the Carling Family Band in Herrang (pic)
Here's a cool pic of Miss Dawn Hampton dancing to the Carling Family Big Band at the dance last night at the Herrang Dance Camp. Dawn does these incredible motivational talks / dance workshops here (and elsewhere) that serve a very important role in imparting the values of lindy hop: kindness, joy, and personal expression…
Herrang Day Five: Teaching Lindy Hoppers How to Break
Sorry that the updates have been infrequent here at the Herrang Dance Camp. It's been a whirlwind experience and I haven't had much time to process or write about it. And frankly I've enjoyed being completely offline for once in my life. Anyway, today I found myself teaching an introduction to breaking class as one…
Herrang: Mind Officially Blown
Why do people come to Herrang? It's remote and hard to get to, over-crowded, hot, and full of mosquitos. There are many other camps, workshops, exchanges and dance events that occur all around the US, Europe and other parts of the world all year. And yet Herrang is still the gold standard of lindy hop…
Herrang Dance Camp Day One and Two: Auditioning and Fast Lindy Class
This is my second day at the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden. It's been three years since I've been here, and the camp has grown quite a bit in that time. The main outdoor dance floor seems about twice as big as before, they have added more tents for the daytime classes, and participation has…
Off to the Herrang Lindy Hop Dance Camp!
Starting tomorrow night, I will be travelling to Sweden to participate in the Herrang International Swing Dance Camp, sort of the mecca for lindy hoppers. Every year, a thousand or so swing dancers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to Herrang for a five-week celebration of dance, featuring workshops, dance parties, shows, and…
The LXD Episodes 6 & 7: The Duet and the Dark Doctor Deal
Episode six “the Duet” and seven “The Dark Doctor Deal” of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers came out tonight. One was very strong and different in tone from the previous episodes; the other was a bit of fluff but still entertaining. “The Duet” features a very creative use of split screen to highlight two contemporary…
New Midsummer Night Swing Promo Video!
The nice folks at Lincoln Center sent me a link to a new promo video that they produced about Midsummer Night Swing. It features some nice band footage, the lively crowd, testimonials by dancers … plus a brief appearance by me dipping the lovely Emily V at the very end of the video! By the…