12/8 Hot Club of Durham Dance – Son of Blues
We had such a great turnout to our blues themed Hot Club last month that we thought we would do it again. So now you have yet another opportunity to blues dance while Dance Blues Friday is on hiatus. Kristy will be back with us, but we will be changing up the lesson and house DJ. It will be tons of fun.
Tuesday 12/08/2009
Hot Club of Durham Swing Dance (Directions)
7pm: Lesson–Slow Lindy
8-11pm: Dancing!
Lesson – Slow Lindy – Starts at 7 pm
With those classy cats, Joe & Rebecca
Ever wonder what the heck to do when the tempos slow down? You don’t have to learn a new dance, nor do you have to revert back to the uncomfortable swaying that characterized your middle school slow dances. In fact, you can do the Lindy Hop you know and love at even the slowest tempos. In this class we’ll cover technique to dust off your slow lindy: e.g. control, balance, play, and “milking it”. Whether you’ve been dancing for years or know only some basic lindy hop (either 6 or 8-ct), this class will be appropriate for you.
Still my favorite clip of slow lindy hop…
DJs Start at 8pm
Kristy Milliken – Our featured DJ for the night wowed you last time. She’s an experienced Blues and Swing DJ. She is multi-talented, multi-faceted, multi-tasking and multi-plied. She is guaranteed to keep you on the floor for multi-ple dances!
Rebecca Brightly – Our house DJ has been testing the bluesy waters by teaching and dancing it. Now she’s going to DJ blues for her first time ever. I’m not sure what to expect, but I expect it to be good.
info@hotclubofdurham.com
http://hotclubofdurham.com
919-627-8678
Filed under: Events, Uncategorized, Updates | Tags: Iron Chef, Shim Sham, Swing Dance
You will eat lots of desserts.
You will eat lots of desserts.
It’s Iron Chef: Hot Club time!
This week, 5 dessert-creating competitors battle for your vote of favorite dish. What’s at stake? A $20 gift certificate to Hot Club! Our bakers for the first Iron Chef: Hot Club are:
- Justin Pascual
- Theophan Thomas
- Jo Anna Wiersma
- Rick Collier
- Rachel Redler
Who will win? Only you can decide. Oh yeah, we’re also hosting a dance.
Tuesday 11/24
Hot Club of Durham Swing Dance (Directions)
7pm: Beginner Lesson: Shim Sham!
8-11pm: Dancing!
Shim Sham–Last week (and the week before, and possibly the week before that), you may have noticed us dancing solo choreography every time a certain song comes on (or sometimes even a random song). If you think we look silly, and you want to join us next time this happens, come at 7pm for the lesson, and we’ll teach you. Here’s some folks dancing the Shim Sham for Frankie Manning on Youtube. (The largest Shim Sham was danced by over 1000 people in May at Frankie’s 95th Birthday Festival!)
Deejays–Ken Hanson will be our featured DJ & Joe Jackson will start us off and close the night as our house DJ.
http://hotclubofdurham.com
info@hotclubofdurham.com
919-627-8678
Filed under: Events, Uncategorized, Updates | Tags: Charleston, Swing Dance
Hot Club will be back to its old self this week after a very successful blues themed week! Thank you to everyone who came to the lesson and stayed all night. We had a great mix of Blues, Slow Jazz, Lindy, and Bal music thanks to Kristy!
Attention!!!
Hot Club will be starting 30 minutes later this week. Beginner lesson starts at 7:30 and the dance starts at 8:30. We will also be playing music later, with music going until 11:30. Plan on staying out later, it will be worth it!
MORE Attention!!!!!
We only need one more person to sign up for “Iron Chef – Hot Club” for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Hot Club dances and classes. We will be announcing the secret ingredient at Hot Club this week, so our contestants will want to be there for the announcement and get a leg up on the competition.
The best part is that everyone who comes in two weeks will have the pleasure of eating their concoctions. So come out this week and find out what you will be eating on the 24th.
Back to your regularly scheduled dance announcement…
Hot Club of Durham Swing Dance
ERRUF Care Building
4907 Garrett Rd
Durham, NC 27707
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Using Your Lats in Swing Dancing
Let’s talk lats! The full name of the muscle in question is the latissimus dorsi (see figure 1). The full importance of using the lats properly is probably unparalleled in dancing lindy hop. It gives you greater control and connection, improving your ability to lead and follow almost instantly. As a beginner or intermediate dancer, how many times in a private lessons or classes has your teacher said, “Don’t let your shoulder out!” And how many times have you thought to yourself, “How the heck do I do that??”
Whether you’ve figured out the whole shoulder alignment thing or not, I’ll explain the structure and function of the lats as they pertain to lindy hop. Then you’ll dance better and get hurt less. And then you can tell your friends, because good memes should travel far and wide. Continue reading
Filed under: Events, Updates | Tags: Hot Club, News, Swing Dance, Weekly Dance
It’s about time for our second weekly Hot Club swing dance! Last week we named our own Chris Wells and Laura Windley the “Fastest Feet in the Triangle.” Who will challenge the champs? You’d better get to Hot Club and start practicing.
This week we will be giving away two $50 gift certificates to Lindy Focus! Come before 9 to get your name in the drawing! Entry into the drawing is free, and the pool will be small, so you have a really good chance to win.
More about Lindy Focus
http://lindyfocus.com
What: Hot Club of Durham Swing Dance
When: Tuesday, November 3
7pm- 11pm
Where: Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF)
4709 Garrett Rd
Durham, NC
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And Why YOU Need to Dance in Other Scenes
To break it down, the Triangle has a “dance scene” (lindy hop-wise), one of many in the state, region, nation, and world. The local dance style in a scene is homogeneous to a certain extent, depending on the number and level of dance teachers in the area, styles taught, and the amount of mixing our dancers do with the wide world of lindy hop.
By mixing with other dance scenes, the following can happen:
(a) You have hella lotta fun;
(b) Your dancing improves;
(c) You bring excitement and new ideas back to your home scene;
(d) Your enthusiasm is catching. Dancers everywhere rejoice.
On the national spectrum, I’d peg the Triangle as a beginner/intermediate level scene on average. There are some advanced dancers here, but put bluntly, we are not a destination of choice for lindy hoppers from other cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or DC. On the other hand, these are all cities I’ve traveled to in the past year.
A Personal Story
I began swing dancing locally one dreary January and quickly became interested in lindy hop. Watching people in the front left corner of the Durham Armory fascinated me. After many months of lindy hop classes, Continue reading
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Hot Club of Durham bravely enters the realm of 2002 era technology with it’s new blog!
Tune in for updates, interesting tidbits, and musings from our own interesting updaters, tidbiters, and musologists.
Hot Blog of Durham 