Tampa Bay's Swing Dance News for February 18th 2019

Intermediate Swing Wednesday — Advancing Your Swing is a series of intermediate-level swing lessons, happening 6-7pm Wednesdays February 20th & 27th at the Gulfport Casino Swing Night. Learn Cool Moves, Footwork Variations, Multiple Turns, and more. Add style to your swing dancing. Become a better leader or follower, and get asked to dance more often. Advancing Your Swing is taught by Sam, and for dancers who've taken this series before, we have some fun new material in store!

This Thursday, February 21st, Swing Time's Swing & Lindy Hop Courses start and run six Thursday evenings at Simone Salsa studio in Tampa. Registration is now open for Swing I (7pm), Lindy Hop II (8pm), and Lindy Hop I (9pm). (See class descriptions below.) Thursday, March 21st, we're taking all classes on a field trip to Palladium Theater to dance to hot NYC swing band, Svetlana & the Delancey Five! (See bottom of newsletter for show details.)

Blues Dance Lessons happen every Wednesday in March, 6-7pm, at the Gulfport Casino Swing Night, featuring special guest instructors, Will & Katy Flanery. Blues Dancing, simply put, is techniques for dancing to slower music, whether it be groovy, funky, soulful, modern, ballad, or actual blues music. Come any week, or take all four for the full experience!

One of our swing dancers recently passed away, a lifelong musician who left his impression on the Tampa Bay jazz scene as a trumpet player in many bands, including Dan McMillion's Orchestra, the 42nd Street Band, and the Tom Kats, to name a few. Wayne's life passions were playing the trumpet, photography, hiking, and traveling the world. A native of St. Petersburg, Wayne was a St. Petersburg High School graduate, a USF graduate with multiple degrees, a four-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a geologist, a speech therapist, and a man of many interests and talents.

You're invited to a Celebration of Life this Sunday, February 24th, 5-9pm, at Gulfport Casino, where Wayne's "music family" will dedicate a jazz jam to his memory. Please bring your instruments, dance shoes, and stories to share. La Lucha will provide the rhythm section for the jam. Musicians who wish to participate in the jam, please contact Ginger at gingakb@aol.com. Food will be provided, along with a cash bar, so RSVP's to Ginger are appreciated.

This Thursday, February 21st, 7:00pm, Swing Time starts a new 6-week course at Simone Salsa studio in Tampa, SWING - BEGINNER I: Introduction & Foundations of Swing Dancing. This course is designed and taught by Sam, it's a progressive series of lessons where each week builds upon prior weeks, and it's for people with zero prior dance experience, and for experienced swing dancers who want to correct any bad habits and fundamentally improve their overall dancing. In this 6-week course, you'll learn how to dance the easiest and most popular form of swing, known as East-Coast Swing or 6-Count Swing. You'll also gain a solid foundation in swing dancing that'll prepare you for 8-count forms of swing such as Lindy Hop and Charleston. After six weeks, you'll know how to lead or follow 20 different moves & turns, plus how to combine these moves & turns into infinite variations. You'll gain footwork and turning skills, dance to a spectrum of swinging music, and learn solid partnering and dancing techniques. At the end of this course, you'll be able to attend any swing dance and enjoy dancing the entire evening! More Info / Registration

This Thursday, February 21st, 8:00pm, Lindy Hop II starts, Swing Time's new 6-week course at Simone Salsa studio in Tampa. This course is designed and taught by Sam, and it's a progressive series of lessons where each week builds upon prior weeks. In this 6-week course, you'll become a better Lindy Hopper. You'll learn more Lindy Hop moves and turns, more advanced footwork and styling, plus better Lindy Hop partnering and dancing techniques. You'll become more comfortable Lindy Hopping, and your partners will better enjoy dancing with you! More Info / Registration

This Thursday, February 21st, 9:00pm, Lindy Hop I starts, Swing Time's new 6-week course at Simone Salsa studio in Tampa. This course is designed and taught by Sam, and it's a progressive series of lessons where each week builds upon prior weeks. In this 6-week course, you'll learn how to dance the Lindy Hop. After six weeks, you'll know how to lead or follow more than 16 Lindy Hop moves & turns. You'll also learn the fundamental Lindy Hop positions and footwork, plus solid partner-dancing techniques. At the end of this course, you'll be comfortable with Lindy Hop, and will enjoy dancing the Lindy Hop anywhere there's music! Whether you're new to Lindy Hop, or have taken classes but are not yet fluent in Lindy Hop, try this course out — we'll get you dancing the dance! More Info / Registration

Friday, March 8th, is Soul Night at the Gulfport Casino. Dance 8pm-midnight to the best in Funk, Soul, Disco, Motown, Rhythm & Blues, featuring an exciting mix of retro & modern dance music, great for a variety of partner dances (Hustle, Swing, West-Coast, Blues, Fusion, etc) plus group, line, and freestyle dancing! Arrive early for a Rumba Lesson 7-8pm. Just $10 includes the dance AND the lesson. Students get $6 admission if they show up by 7pm and take the lesson. Soul Night happens at the Gulfport Casino the 2nd Friday of every month.

Lesson Info — Learn Soul-style Rumba...how to Rumba to Soul music! This class, taught by Sam from Swing Time, will broaden your musical dance skills, so you're no longer limited to boogying back & forth between two feet. A surprising number of soul, funk, blues, and R&B tunes, including many of your favorite songs, have a slow-quick-quick rhythm that's perfect for dancing Rumba, and we're going to dance to a variety of these songs in the lesson. In addition to typical Rumba moves, we'll learn some new ones, borrowed from other dances. For experienced dancers, we'll show you how to convert your entire repertoire of Salsa, Bachata, and Cha Cha moves to Rumba dancing! If you like dancing to Soul, Funk, Blues, or R&B music, including live bands, then you'll enjoy adding Rumba to your repertoire.

Thursday, March 21st, our friends at Palladium Theater host a concert & dance in their Side Door Cabaret featuring hot NYC swing band, Svetlana & the Delancey Five! Only 180 tickets will be sold, and yes, there will be a dance floor! Based out of New York City, Svetlana & the Delancey Five are a critically acclaimed act that have headlined sold out shows across the U.S. and abroad, from theaters and nightclubs to Jazz & Blues festivals. The band loves to play for dancers, and they include dancers onstage in many of their shows. General admission tickets are $25 in advance, but use promo code swing to get $20 advance tickets. The historic Palladium Theater is one of Tampa Bay's best and most affordable performing arts venues. It's located at 253 5th Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (Phone 727-822-3590).