Reviews

Leicester Swing Dance Extravaganza

took place on Sunday 11th March at De Montfort Hall, Leicester
featuring Drummin' Man, King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys and the London Swing Dance Society.

Those of you who know that I live in Leicester are aware that it is the Lindy Hop black hole of the entire universe. But that was put very firmly to rights on Sunday 11th when the Swing Dance Extravaganza came to Leicester's DeMontfort Hall.

DeMontfort Hall is a superb venue with excellent acoustics and a large dance area unfortunately usually covered in seats for "Sit Still and Listen" events. But this time the floor was large and clear which was a good job as the evening started with a lesson from Simon Selmon from the London Swing Dance Society. We estimate there were 300+ people who joined in which must be some sort of record. I've got to hand it to Simon for the speed in which he got us all sorted into lines and dancing. It's always difficult to teach something to a very mixed ability class, and these ranged from "Never seen a dance floor before" to "experienced hopers", but I thought it was well pitched with some simple moves, so everyone could dance, and a clever little new bit for the more experienced. The only question I had was "Where are all these people on Tuesday night when I do my lessons ?".

Then the fun began. As the lesson was free the organisers then had to turf everybody out so they could let them back in again whilst checking their tickets. This was most hilarious as most people had left their coats behind (to reserve their seats) with their tickets in. Anyway, that's the way we do things up North. The evening proper started with music from DJ "Paul's Big Broadcast" who put some very danceable stuff on. I wasn't miffed that he was billed as "The UK's Top Swing DJ" as everyone already new that I was. Then came the band I was personally looking forward to. "Drumming Man", A Gene Krupa tribute band composed of some top flight musicians including Bruce Adams on trumpet, Pete York on drums and Val Ashworth on vocals. Musically, they were superb but, as quite often happens, almost impossible to dance to. They were either 200 miles per hour or to slow. Opus 1, my personal favourite, was so slow I could do a full lindy turn, "with scissors", without fudging a single step which, for me, means they were very slow. I cannot understand why bands do this. It was quite clearly a dance and Opus 1 is a superb dance number, especially Krupa's version, so why did they slow down the tempo so much ? Anyway they were very good to listen to and I needed the rest as they were followed, after Simon Selmon led a mass Shim Sham and Madison , by King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys.

They were superb. Very tight, very danceable and very enjoyable. This showed the professionalism of these guys as, I'd spoken to Mr Pleasure himself earlier and, as well as having a major change of line-up, their pianist was in hospital after some idiot had put a glass in his face thus removing a major chunk of the rhythm section. This certainly didn't stop them as they ripped through some superb numbers. These were mainly Jump n Jive, but that is much more predominate up here, and the crowd loved it & we finally finished the evening with Paul's Big Broadcast again, very tired, very sweaty and very happy. (Us not Paul that is).

This may seem very ordinary to you Big City Slickers down in London, where this sort of thing happens every day and twice on Sundays, but up here it's a very rare and very pleasant treat. So do appreciate what you've got and we'll be happy with the occasional extravaganza and "our cheap bar prices".

Enjoy your dancing All Ruzzit Buzzit

Back to Reviews and Photos page

First place for Simon & Taina in Lindy Hop division!!!

United Kingdom Open Jive Competition Saturday 3rd March, 2001

The competitions were held in the wonderful Winter Gardens in Blackpool - the same venue where the world famous ballroom competitions are held every May. The organizer was Chance 2 Dance - a jive company from Stockport - and even though this was the first competition Chance 2 Dance has organised, the day was a huge success with lots of competitors (for example, 114 couples in Take a Chance!) and spectators.

Competitions were held in seven different divisions from Modern Jive to Lindy Hop, including a special Spotlight division for a more show oriented performance. The audience had a possibility to practice their own skills on the dance floor as there was lots of social dancing between the heats. As a special treat, 'King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys' provided the live music.

London Swing Dance Society's Simon Selmon & Taina Kortelainen won the Lindy Hop division against couples from the UK and USA. In the Lindy Hop division's preliminary round the couples had to dance to slow and fast music, in order to find out the couple's abilities to cope with different speeds. The judges were looking for Style, Presentation, Musical Interpretation and Dress.

Results: 1. Simon Selmon & Taina Kortelainen 2. Ann Peskett & Graeme Puckett 3. Jim & Christina (USA)

Back to Reviews and Photos page

Valentine Vanities

£700 raised for the British Heart Foundation

On the 15th February members and friends of the LSDS put on another show to help raise some charity dough for the British Heart Foundation. Great fun was had by all and I think this year exceeded itself in the huge pool of talent we were able to call on!

Many thanks to all of you who took part and those who came to support us.

UK Open Lindy Hop Championships 2000

click on the picture to see more photos from the event

On 19th October 2000 the UK Open Lindy Hop Championships were held at the Beechen Grove Church Hall, Watford.

Originally held in 1991, this year's competition took place on the Thursday before the London Lindy Hop Festival. There was a dance class at the start of the evening, and, as usual, plenty of social dancing before and in between the competition rounds.

As an open competition, this means that anyone can enter. We were really pleased with the turn out and the number of high quality couples taking part in the competition. This made for a very exciting and breathtaking event.

We were pleased to have as judges Sugar Sullivan (USA) - 1955 Harvest Moon Ball Lindy Hop Champion; Olive Elderton (UK) of Dance Diary; and Dave Cook (USA) - US dance competitor and judge. The event was compared by Eddie Foulds (Dance Diary).

The competition was run in two heats: in the first heat all the couples danced to two tunes, chosen in this case by Chazz Young, while judges had time to walk around and select five finalists. Then in the finals the five couples were able to dance one by one to their own music. And the results of the finals: 1. Simon Selmon & Taina Kortelainen 2. Nigel Anderson & Nina Daines 3. Carl Wilkinson & Judith Hammer 4. Olivier Mewicott & Jackie Clarke 5. Adrian Van Dang & Angela Billingsley (USA) The first three couples received certificates and gift vouchers. The proposed date for the next UK Open Lindy Hop Championships is 13th October 2001.

Simon and Taina at the competition

took place on the weekend of October 20-22 at its regular venue, the Priory Community Centre, Acton. Based on the collective talents, skills and enthusiasm of its three host organisations - the internationally acclaimed Jiving Lindy Hoppers, Simon Selmon's popular London Swing Dance Society and the irrespressible junior crew, the Chestnnut Grove Lindy Hoppers, the LLHF presented once again a packed weekend oif classes, cabarets, dance demonstrations, social dancing to a different band each evening along with the regular ancillary swimming sessions, discussions and video shows.

This year's special guests from America were Pete Loggins, and Lisa Ferguson - two of the foremost Dean Colins (Hollywood) style Lindy Hoppers around today; Chazz Young - the son of Frankie Manning, a popular and remarkable Lindy Hop and Tap dancer and teacher; "Sugar" Sullivan - one of the few surviving leading female dancers from the Savoy Ballroom days; and "Dickie" Harris - Artistic Director of "Mama Lu" Traditional Dance Company, a stylish Lindy Hopper and dance teacher.

Simon and Taina taught many varied workshops throughout the weekend and did a demonstration of social Lindy on Friday night, the Charleston on Saturday, and a stunning blues performance to Harlem Nocturne at the Sunday Night's Cabaret. Everyone would agree, this year's cabaret lead by the Jiving Lindy Hoppers, was the most spectacular we have seen at any dance camp, and would have been better suited on a London West End stage.

The LSDS also had a stall with a selection of merchandise from the Lindy Hop Shop and friendly advice and chat for all our members and acquaintances.

Dance Holidays - a Swing Excursion to Barcelona 2000

by Simon Selmon

Earlier this year I went off for a week to Barcelona to teach swing for Dance Holidays. DH’s was set up a few years ago to cater for a very small group of dancing friends & now organises dance holidays in Tango, Salsa, Ceroc, Flamenco, & of course, Swing. This was my first trip with DH, and based on this year's event we are planning three new swing holidays next year: two in Spain and one in New York.

I could not have been more impressed with DH’s behind the scene organisation: the hotel was fabulous, the restaurants they took us to were excellent, their reps could not have been nicer, the clubs they found for us to dance in were some of the most beautiful to be found anywhere, and we enjoyed a joint class/dance with the local swing dancers. We had the afternoons free to sightsee & shop in Barcelona or just laze on some of its wonderful golden beaches enjoying the sun and the sea. It really is a city which caters for everyone, clean, sophisticated, stylish and yet inexpensive.

We had two levels of students, each having two hours of classes a day. By the end of the week I was really impressed with the progress that both groups have made. Beginners who had never danced could now social dance, and the more experienced really had come on a long way. It was also fun dipping a big toe into other worlds, such as Salsa, Ballroom and Tango, which are readily available in Barcelona.

Mike Gerrard, a journalist who took part in the trip, wrote a fabulous feature in the Saturday Times on 23 September, where he summed up the holiday “Jive, Jitterbug or Lindy, I had not danced a step of any of them when we started our informal introductory lesson on Saturday night. Soon we were stepping forward & back & side to side & side to side, picking up simple footwork. ... On Friday, in a more relaxed final lesson, Simon gave us our first chance to dance freestyle. The only condition, he said, is that we have to incorporate our latest routine somewhere before the end of the music. ... It felt great. Hey... we are dancing!”

For the details of the forthcoming holidays, check out our website, or click on the picture to visit Dancy Holiday's website.

© 2000 London Swing Dance Society