Eileen’s Note: I am continuing to update this blog on a weekly basis, but I’ve turned off my weekly email subscriber updates until the blog has more significant updates to share.
______
QUARANTINE VIDEO OF THE WEEK / MONTH (DEPENDING ON WHAT I FIND)
Fleur Seule
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Frankie Manning Emergency Fund is seeking donations for an emergency fund with matching funds to help support full time professionals in the Lindy Hop Community.
Times are tough for our friends who are musicians, dance teachers, studio owners, event promoters. Here are ways you can help support them, if you are able:
Keep scrolling for what’s happening online…. This Week in Swing NYC.
Regular weekly NYC Swing Dancing events not included in the calendar below:
- Mon: Practice with Bobby White
- Mon: Free 20’s Charleston Class with Yuval & Juls
- Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun: College of Swing Era Knowledge– with Joel Plys 10pm
- Tues: Solo Jazz with Akemi; Donation Based – 6:30pm
- Tues: Swing/Lindy Charleston with Elena Iannucci; Donation Based – No class June 30
- Tues: Mother Africa – presented and created by Breai Mason-Campbell
- Tues/Thurs: JitterBlast with Nick Williams; Donation Based – 8pm
- Tues/Thurs/Sun: Solo Jazz with Stina; Donation Based – 7pm
- Wed: Live Stream with Evita – 3pm
- Fri: Solo Dance with Margaret – 1pm; Donation, email for zoom link: marg@nyc.rr.com
- Fri: Creative Balboa with Yurina Shin – 6pm
- Fri: Blues Dance New York, 8pm Virtual DJ set / lesson – Not July 3
- Sat: Saturday Sessions with Remy Kouakou Kouame, Virtual Learning Fun-12pm (Not July 11)
- Sun: Champian Fulton-Live from Lockdown-5pm
July
Monday, July 6-Friday, July 10
Swing University: Jazz 101
Monday, July 6 at 12:30 pm Swing University, Jazz 101
Class 1: The Building Blocks of Jazz Swing University’s Jazz 101 opens with a short overview of the development of Jazz, and its progression. We’ll also go into the building blocks of Jazz: what is Swing, what are the Blues, and what is Improvisation? In this class, we’ll help you to hear song form, and also help you hear how Jazz musicians approach their solos! Closing out, we’ll begin on the history of the music and cultural movements that helped create the conditions necessary to engender Jazz’s birth in New Orleans. Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/268713207
Tuesday, July 7 at 5:30 pm Swing University, Jazz 101 Class 2: The Birth of Jazz We say that Jazz was born in New Orleans, but why? What was special about that city, and the people in it? During this class, we will explore the cultural make-up, the unique diversity, and the interplay of cultures you find in New Orleans. We’ll also listen to some of the earliest musical styles to come out of there, and we’ll give you insight into what the very earliest forms of Jazz might have sounded like. Zoom: TBD
Wednesday, July 8 at 5:30 pm Swing University, Jazz 101 Class 3: The Birth of Solos and The Great Migration In this class, we’ll explore the earliest solos in Jazz and chart their evolution out of the collective format. Additionally, we’ll learn about the spread of Jazz outside of New Orleans, and the rise of some of the art form’s geniuses like Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/985352366
Thursday, July 9 at 5:30 pm Swing University, Jazz 101 Class 4: The Emergence of Big Bands and the Jazz Age Jazz musicians note the rising ballroom dance craze in America during the first decades of the 20th century, and they join the practice by forming dance orchestras. These ensembles serve as the earliest Jazz big bands. Zoom: TBD Friday, July 10 at 12:30 pm Swing University, Jazz 101
Class 5: The Swing Era By the 1930s, Jazz will transition into America’s popular music, and big bands will serve as the style’s primary popularizers. Bands become larger, arrangements become more complex, and record sales skyrocket by the end of the 1930s. We will explore how the music changed throughout this time.
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/268713207
Saturday, July 11
MOVE Together ~ Dancing Towards An Inclusive Community & Global Social Justice
JOIN THE GLOBAL LINDY HOP, SWING DANCE & BLUES DANCE COMMUNITY for an online forum featuring Black artists and academics Saturday, July 11th, 2020 from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific Time to discuss the pressing issues facing us as a society and as a global dance scene. Let’s talk about how to be anti-racist; making the dance world more inclusive; and how we can all do a better job making the scene safe and welcoming for everyone.
1-4pm Eastern
𝑷𝑳𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑬 𝑺𝑼𝑷𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑻 𝑼𝑺! 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝:
https://pacificswingdancefoundation.org/campaigns/movetogether/ We believe we have the power to shape the future starting with our global dance community first, as part of a broader global social justice movement for equality. Hollywood Television Editor, LA-based dancer & DJ SHAHEED QAASIM is leading the discussion, and the panelists are:
•RYAN FRANCOIS: Broadway, TV & Movie Dancer & Choreographer
•REMY KOUAKOU KOUAME: International Lindy Instructor & DJ
•KIM NALLEY: Iconic Jazz & Blues Vocalist Featured at Lincoln Center, Ethnomusicologist, Dancer •DAMON STONE: International Blues & Lindy Hop Instructor
•BRITTNEY CARAWAY: Dancer, Jazz vocalist, Event MC, past Miss Camp Hollywood
•ODYSSEUS BAILER: Dancer, Actor & Workshop Leader on African-American Cultural History of Lindy Hop
•MARIE N’DIAYE: Teacher at Herräng Dance Camp and Managing Director/Choreographer at HotCha Chorus Line •AISHA QAASIM – CA-based Lindy Hopper, Attorney & Academic
•KENNETH SHIPP – St. Louis-Based Blues Dance Instructor, DJ, Dancer
•DR. ANDAIYE QAASIM – PhD in Ethnomusicology, Diversity & Anti-Racism Trainer
The purpose of the event is three-fold:
1. EDUCATION: To further educate people about the nature of racism in a “Racism 101” educational segment, presented by diversity and anti-racism trainer Dr. Andaiye Qaasim, who will deconstruct some of the prevailing myths and misconceptions about racism; give a brief overview of the historical context of racism in the U.S.; and help define terms like systemic, institutionalized racism, and white supremacy.
2. STORIES: To have a “real-talk” conversation, amplifying the voices of Black dancers, musicians, artists, and academics, who will share their experiences in dealing with personal experiences of racism, and their ideas about ways to make the global dance scene anti-racist, and more welcoming and inclusive.
3. ACTION: To establish a baseline Code of Conduct to help make the dance scene truly anti-racist by delineating what is appropriate and inappropriate, and to provide tools to empower us all to have more open conversations. We plan to leave everyone with clear action steps designed to create positive change in the global dance community, to help us move forward together as a community, and make this a sustainable movement. Some of the tools we will provide as suggested actions steps are: – an anti-racism pledge for dancers, musicians, and organizers. – anti-racist and inclusive language and guidance for teaching contracts – guidance on language or commitment statements organizations can incorporate in their mission/ vision statements We believe that we as dancers can be an example of how to create positive change in our global community, and have a ripple effect on the world.
Sunday, July 12
Central Park Summer Dance Camp with Adrienne Weidert – Big Apple
Central Park Summer Dance Camp Sundays, 4:30-5:30pm starting June 21 with the Big Apple! with Adrienne Weidert A socially-distanced solo jazz hangout…
We found a small, perfect out-of-the-way plaza–in front of The King Jagiello Statue facing Turtle Pond. You can find it on Google Maps–enter on 79th St from 5th Ave. We will also probably bring casual picnic stuff and meet (*socially distanced*) earlier so show up as early as 4pm… as well as possibly staying later to hang out nearby on the Quiet Lawn next to the pond – just south of the Great Lawn. Please feel free to join us there as well! (*sorry*–bring your own food and blankets & mask!)
This will be a donations-based class where I will donate 50% to Black Lives Matter organizations weekly. So come learn the Big Apple and work on your solo jazz swing dance vocabulary with your friends (and masks) this summer in our CENTRAL PARK SUMMER DANCE CAMP! (Weather Permitting)
July 13- 17 and 2o-24
Dancing Classrooms Summer Intensives
Keep students dancing this summer with courses in Jazz, Swing, Latin Dance, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Contemporary, and MUCH MORE!
Registration and additional information
Friday, July 17/strong>
Solo Jazz with Gaby Cook!
Join us for a solo jazz class with Gaby Cook, a Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz instructor from New York! Gaby has been an active professional dance instructor for the past 15 years and tries to be playful, informative, and honest with her teaching. This will be an all-levels class and is open to anyone, free of charge. Friends are welcome! We’ll post a Zoom link to this event 15 minutes before, and recommend logging in a few minutes early to test your audio, microphone, and video. We look forward to seeing you there!
Hosted by Boston Swing Central