the Swing Slate refresh

A few folk had noticed that the look of my blog had changed but a few more were briefly confused if they had ended up on a completely different page altogether, so this is just a quick public service announcement to confirm those suspicions: the Swing Slate has been redesigned.

As to why - that is due to one reason in particular.

For my previous background I had made a montage of photos of the dancers who have had an influence on me and how I (hope I) dance. Some had influenced me directly through classes and workshops, some indirectly via videos online, and in the case of a few significant others it was my way of paying homage to historical figures who have played such a key role in establishing the dances that I love.

But recently, a couple of dancers on my background were identified as the subjects of a string of allegations and I certainly do not wish to lionise any such individuals so I thought it best to change things up. And I'd also like to apologise to anyone who may have been offended by the presence of those individuals on my background while it was up.

For my redesign I also thought I would give a bit of a nod to the music genre and era that I love above all else: Rock & Roll and the 1950s.

Adroitly this also allows me to side-step the issue of picking sides between a 1930-40s aesthetic that might be more reminiscent of the original Lindy hop generation, and a more contemporary theme to celebrate my other love of west coast swing.

So before any swing-era purists or WCS aficionados point fingers querying my blog allegiances, know that I am sitting squarely on the fence!

Interestingly, when I was doing a bit of research on period-authenticity I disappeared off down the wikipedia rabbit hole and found articles on gramophones/phonographs, microphones and all sorts of things that I may share later (e.g. the gramophone logo I had been using previously, had been modelled on the iconic Victor V and, like many gramophones, would have been extinct long before the swing era!).

Finally, if anyone finds any bugs or issues with my new site please let me know and I shall try to fix them as soon as I can!

Thanks!