This past weekend (18 to 20 May) I was at Brisbane’s first ever Lindy Exchange. It was lots of fun! It consisted of meeting interstate and out-of-town dancers, socialising, picnicking, a trip to Dream World for those who were keen and many many hours of swing dancing (16.67 hours for me, but others stayed for even longer at some of the events). We danced to two live Brisbane bands, the Calibre Cats on Friday night and the Caxton Street Jazz Band on Saturday night. Both are excellent jazz bands, and I highly recommend them to any dancers or lovers of jazz music.
At the Saturday night event there was a Jack and Jill competition. For the unfamiliar, in a Jack and Jill competition, individuals enter and are randomly assigned dance partners for the different dances in the competition. It’s a chance for dancers to show off their technique and their leading and following skills. It was truly amazing to watch the finalists strut their stuff—some of moves I saw would have been impressive enough choreographed, but to see them in a Jack and Jill was brilliant!
To any readers who live in the Brisbane area and have never been swing dancing, Empire Swing, who organised Sunshine Swing, have beginner classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings in fairly central locations, and social events every fortnight. Get to it!