Birmingham Bounce 2017

After waiting for what seemed like an age for it to arrive, the inaugural Birmingham Bounce has already come and gone.

For me it very nearly didn't happen at all, courtesy of delayed flights and lost, then found but damaged luggage, so I eventually arrived on the Saturday afternoon a tad knackered but raring to go.

Sadly, however, that meant I missed two highlights - the classes by Tatiana Udry, and seeing Swing Belfast's own Anna kicking ass in Friday night's competitions: coming second in the strictly finals with James, and third in the jack & jill.

I'm sorry not to have been there cheering Anna and James on but, just as I had mentioned before, anyone representing Belfast was not shy of support as I think we ended up taking about 35 people to Birmingham, and to say I am not also immensely proud of that in and of itself would be an understatement.

I don't think I've ever been to an event with more than three others from Belfast, so to more than decuple* that number (*yes, it's a new word to me also) was a glorious thing. But quantity isn't much without quality and from the many accounts I heard it sounded like everyone represented Swing Belfast with distinction.

In fact, when I got chatting to Paul on the Sunday afternoon, he told me that a number of people had even described the Belfast dancers as being "aggressively friendly", so it's clear to me that the enthusiasm and warmth that I fell in love with in our nascent scene is also an exportable quality!

Having such safety in numbers I think also proved to be a brilliant way for some of our newer dancers to experience their first ever big event and as I'm sure all of them would agree, the weekend itself was a lot of fun and a fantastic introduction to Lindy hop outside Belfast.

The weekend's teachers were Swing Express' own Paul & Sarah Neary and Scott Cupit & Jenny Thomas with Felix Berghäll rather enviably teaming up with both Tatiana Udry and Katja Završnik (probably my two favourite follows on the planet) for their partnered workshops, and between what I experienced and what I heard, it seems that the classes all went down a treat.

As I said, I missed Tatiana's classes with Felix but I was determined to make up for it somehow and decided that the Saturday night social was where to do it. Not only was I going to try to make up for the dancing I had missed that morning, and indeed the night before, but I was also going to attempt to compensate for missing out on a class with Tatiana by asking her for a dance.

I've commented before how my confidence escapes me when approaching my favourite top tier dancers and as the Birmingham Bounce was my first weekender in over a year, it's safe to say that I was feeling distinctly chutzpah-lite. But the second I rediscovered some testicular fortitude and actually approached Tatiana it turned out, unsurprisingly, that she was absolutely lovely and every bit as spectacular to dance with as to watch.

My erstwhile reticence was then completely shown up by some of the newer Belfast leads (some with less than a year of classes under their belts) who walked straight up to Tatiana and the rest weekend's pros and asked one or all of them for a dance: Brett, Curtis, Luke and Mark and a probably a few more didn't even blink, and I believe a few of our follows did the same!

And then when the inevitable jam circle kicked off, the Belfast crowd once again showed up and made us proud with about a third of the dancers who took the floor hailing from our scene.

Furthermore, a special mention must also go to Mark and Kristina who, despite being one of our newer couples, waited out the regular jam cool as you like and then bounced into the middle of the action as the fabulous Basin Street Brawlers really started to crank up the BPM.

All in all, it was a really fun weekend of dancing that I hope whetted the collective appetites of the 30-odd Belfast dancers for whom this was their first big event. A big thanks must go to Paul & Sarah and Swing Express for putting on a brilliant inaugural Birmingham Bounce (as well as an apology for taking so long to finally write this up but I'm using wedding prep as my excuse!) and I'm sure we're all looking forward to our next trip to Brum!

Budding Belfast: swing is snowballing!!

Attendance at one of Swing Belfast's weekly classes

Last Saturday night I was at our first social of 2017 and as things started to heat up I noticed that dance floor space was at a premium. This may not be rare at many events and rarely is it welcomed at any, but seeing it in Belfast made me feel incredibly proud as it was proof that our scene is very clearly growing.

We have successfully hosted events in and around Belfast for the past few years where there have been north of 120 people trying to find space on a large dancefloor whilst a live band provides the soundtrack. But such events occur only 3-4 times a year and the bedrock of a scene is not the occasional big night out, when the swanky corner of your wardrobe is perused - no no! 'Tis the humble weekly social that provides the bread and butter of a healthy swing diet!

The weekly social is when someone's mp3 playlist is on shuffle (DJ optional) and folk are bouncing onto the dancefloor to practice everything they've recently learnt or perhaps they are taking the opportunity, drink in hand (and some freshly baked desserts if doing it the Swing Belfast way!) to really get to know others in their home scene.

For much of the first year after I started dancing in Belfast, we didn't have regular socials and actually getting to practice was entirely dependent upon you being free on one of those rare nights that an event reared its lovely head, or upon nabbing a partner with whom you could meet up outside of class.

But now, in the year that I celebrate my third swingaversary, we have regular social dancing every week and our scene is in rude health.

I should clarify that I'm not trying to take credit for my scene's growth but merely sharing that I have witnessed its genesis first hand: Lindy hop classes have gone from 6-8 people to 60-80, from one class a week to four, west coast swing numbers have quadrupled, we've seen the creation of our first regular monthly social, the addition of weekly mini-socials after classes, the establishment of a second monthly social, and now we are surging towards the delightful dilemma that soon we may need to find a bigger social venue.

It. Is. Incredible!!

And on top of that, a further measure of our scene's evolution shall be proudly on display at the Birmingham Bounce in March this year when Swing Belfast shall be represented by around THIRTY dancers - and that, once again, makes me swell with pride.

I have been to quite a few events over the past couple of years and as much as I have thoroughly enjoyed myself when flying solo, a lot can be said for travelling in a crew.

Having a few familiar faces by your side as you assess an unfamiliar dancefloor (especially when your confidence matches your ability and neither are high) can be immensely comforting whilst the craic to be had from four close friends sharing a room (when it really only has enough space for two people) is something else.

But I have yet to attend an event beyond Ireland's shores with more than three other Belfast dancers, so the idea of rocking up at the Bounce with about six times that number is hugely exciting for the following reason:

I choose the events I go to, not just because the teachers are good or the host city is interesting, but because I've met amazing people at previous events who left me thinking that I absolutely had to visit their home scene.

So considering how many brilliant Belfast ambassadors we shall have in Birmingham, I am well and truly stoked that others may think the same way and start to wonder when they are going to visit our home scene.

the wall - getting from complete beginner to the next level

Some of the faster learners hit a wall after just a few weeks whilst others must pass through it a bit later but I think just about everyone, at some stage early on in their learning, contemplates screaming SCREW THIS! I'M OUT! while making a dramatic exit.

I'm fairly sure it's not unique to swing dancing but as that is the dance family that I'm a part of I hope this post will help some of the new learners appreciate that they are not alone - especially since the current term at Swing Belfast, where I help teach, is drawing to a close and class numbers are starting to drop.

I can remember my own frustrations starting out and they were magnified all the more because when I was first learning swing I was already somewhat competent at salsa and ceilidh dancing.

In the first few swing classes I could write-off my struggles as being normal. I had never moved my feet/arms/body in such a pattern before in my life so I was quite at peace with the idea of not 'getting it' and I reckoned it would come soon enough.

But around my fifth or sixth week of going to classes when I could see some others, who I assumed had started at the same time as me, were having no difficulty at all, all I could think of was "well... if only they could see me salsa dance they'd know I wasn't completely useless."

Pure and simple, it was pride. It sucked to be rubbish, to be near others who weren't, and to be at the bottom of the ladder again after having climbed much higher up a few others (although, if anyone saw me dance salsa now they'd wonder how I could claim to be anywhere but the bottom rung).

Thinking there were other styles that I wasn't completely useless at, and thinking that every time we rotated partners I had a new follow to disappoint, really tested my desire to persevere but as anyone who has broken through the wall can attest: keep going! It's the biggest dance hurdle you'll face!

In a way, these frustrations are a useful bottleneck as they filter out those with too much overt pride. The sanctimonious types who would likely be absolutely no fun to dance with anyway.

But there are plenty of people learning to dance who are naturally quite shy and reserved and after thinking it hasn't quite clicked for them, they decide to quietly slip away, avoiding what they expect to be certain public humiliation. It is those people that I hope will read this and stick at it.

Everyone has to learn from scratch, everyone has misread/kicked/apologised to a dance partner at some stage, and most importantly, everyone is still learning. For a perfect example, check out the most recent videos of your favourite pro dancers and then search for older videos of the same pros and you'll likely see a big difference. And not only in the way they dressed!

Stepping up from complete beginner to the next level is genuinely the biggest step you will take learning swing dancing. Beyond that point you will simply be adding to the concrete foundation you have built over the past few weeks or months as pretty much every other move you learn will be an embellishment or refinement of a fundamental pattern or rhythm that you already know.

And finally, it's worth emphasising that social dancing is where the learning and the fun really happens! There's no point learning a new skill if you don't actually trot it out but more than that, social dancing is where you will start to truly appreciate the hype about swing dancing! I've written before about the fear some people have for their first social dances (and a few tips for how to ease into the social scene) but going to a social dance well and truly obliterates any of these fears.

The dancing is awesome, the music is awesome but most of all the people are awesome and the sooner you realise that absolutely no one in the room cares who makes a fool of themselves (and the more you get into it you may actively attempt to look ridiculous) you'll wonder why you were so worried in the first place.

This is likely to be the only time I ever endorse Miley Cyrus but she makes a fair point - when you hit that wall, WRECK IT! Just keep your clothes on.

Frankie Manning: the Passion [Parts I & II]

As previously posted, I had been asked by the Frankie Manning Foundation to contribute an article about Frankie. Last month I published just the first half of it but rather than just give you the tail end of an article I decided to share the whole thing at once!

By all accounts, Frankie had a gregarious personality and a genuine knack for teaching but had these not also also been allied to a radiant passion it is likely that lindy hop would not be as popular as it is today and I felt that this was something that deserved to be more celebrated.

I have spent many years in education, first as a student and now working at a university, and along the way I've met academics who have really affected me - mainly for being fantastic but occasionally for being completely awful and the key distinction between those groups was either an abundance or absence of passion for their own field.

The great educators just bubble with excitement for what they do and entice you to feel the same way. Some have more traditional methods whilst others head off on the most amazing technicoloured tangents but no matter what they say, it sticks, and you can only become infected by their zeal.

The not so great ones, however, occasionally challenge your natural instinct to keep breathing and I can remember one particularly prosaic lecture where, in an attempt to entertain myself, I assembled a variety of confectionery items and other things with labels still attached and set about deciphering barcode. The raw excitement of that lecture has somewhat obscured my memory of what it may have been about but I know that by the end of it I could look at the thickness and arrangement of the lines and determine the numbers that should be typed beneath them.

These may seem like slightly random anecdotes but I share them because they are genuinely relevant and not only to the university lecture theatre but to teachers in a wide variety of disciplines and that includes dancing. Truthfully, I have not yet encountered any apathetic lindy hop teachers (who I have found to all have an infectious contentment with their lot) but I have found it to be the case in other styles. It's not that such teachers don't have a passion for dancing but it seems that this passion is not something they want to risk sharing with their students and to borrow a sporting analogy: the best athletes don't always make the best coaches.

Frankie, however, not only seems to have been a fantastic dancer but was also able to translate that into being an excellent proponent of the hobby he loved so dearly.

As a newcomer to the lindy scene, having only started dancing last year, I never had the opportunity to learn from or even meet Frankie, so I can only share second-hand stories. Nonetheless, what really comes through from the people I know who met him, learned from him or danced with him is how utterly happy lindy hop made him and how Frankie had a steadfast desire to share his elixir. And so, with this in mind, I chatted with a few folk I know who took it from his hand and drank deeply.

Potentially, there are plenty of people I could contact who had well known connections with the man himself but I have specifically sought out the ones who have directly influenced me in my brief but blossoming relationship with lindy hop and whose passion to continue Frankie's legacy has been clearly apparent to me.

There's no better place to start than in my own home city of Belfast (which, along with London and Manchester, was one of the venues for Frankie's first visit to the UK as part of a Whitey's Lindy Hoppers tour in 1937) where I have benefited from the effervescent tutelage of Sharon Matchett, Richard Turner, Adib Ma'ani-Hessari, and Bahia Ma'ani at Swing Belfast and it is Bahia who had first-hand experience of Frankie's passion when they shared a dance at a social celebrating his birthday.

I can well imagine Frankie being seriously in demand in any social never mind the one on his birthday and Bahia admitted that this also happened to be fairly early on in her lindy career so the usual fears of inadequacy at first socials were likely further magnified by the status of the person she was dancing with, which is probably why, Bahia confesses, she was too scared to speak to him. But that didn't stop Frankie from beaming at her throughout and putting her at least a little more at ease.

By itself, a single dance may not illustrate much but Bahia remembers being amazed, not only by his obvious joy and the gentleness of his lead, but how Frankie kept getting up and going despite the high energy demands of a night of dancing and even in his old age it was clear that his passion for lindy hop had kept him young and healthy when other octogenarians were developing more sedate proclivities for crosswords, velcro and beige.

Echoing Bahia's sentiments is Paul Neary - the incredibly affable Australian responsible for bringing swing dancing to Galway and, along with the help of his wife, Sarah, hosts two fabulous workshop weekenders, the only Lindy Hop Championships in Ireland and is at the vanguard of swing dancing's expansion across the Emerald Isle. But Paul was also privileged to learn from Frankie directly - firstly at classes in his native Melbourne in the early 2000s and shortly after at the famed Herräng dance camp in Sweden.

clockwise from top left: Bahia Ma'ani and her husband, Adib; Frankie Manning & Norma Miller; Scott Cupit in full flow in Wilton's Music Hall; Paul Neary and his wife, Sarah.

Paul also emphasised that any time Frankie could dance he would dance and that apart from taking a few breaks to allow his body a moment to recover there was nothing that was going to stop Frankie from doing what he loved, but it was in the workshops that Paul was most aware of the effect Frankie's ardour had on others.

At his first workshop with Frankie in Melbourne, Paul recalls that when Frankie walked into the room you just knew who was in charge. Now, I'm just shy of 6ft tall (1.8m for those reading in metric) and, having stood beside him on several occasions I know that Paul is one of the few lindy hoppers I've met with a clear view of the top of my head, but even he remarked that Frankie cut an imposing figure regardless of his advancing years.

However, Paul also remarked that whilst Frankie had a big physical presence (and a booming voice to match) that had the potential to be intimidating, you were instantly drawn to him by his magnetic enthusiasm, subtle humour and warm intonation: "the way he spoke of dancing - it was in such a voice that he always sounded happy when talking about it and you were automatically enamoured with what he was saying."

Paul joked that Frankie had an 'old-fashioned' playfulness when interacting with follows but this vintage way of doing things was also reflected in his style of teaching as he preferred going over the classic moves he had learnt with Whitey's rather than their newer variants - content which, had it been taught by anyone else, may well have bored some, but Frankie's electric enthusiasm ensured everyone remained thoroughly invigorated.

According to Paul, Frankie's commitment to presenting not only the classic moves but also the stories, culture and history behind them was a hallmark of his teaching and, from my own experience at least, this is something that clearly resonated with Scott Cupit, another Australian (what's in the water down there?) and the humble mastermind behind Swing Patrol - a lindy hop collective with a UK base in London but, when combined with its Berlin, Melbourne, Sydneyand Tasmania siblings, probably reach more people on a weekly basis than any other swing crew on Earth.

I first met Scott at the London Swing Festival, a fantastic weekend of workshops, competitions, displays and socials run by Swing Patrol (and coordinated by Scott's wife, Laura), where Scott was teaching alongside the wonderful Trisha Sewell. One of the moves that Scott and Trisha taught us was the 'Mini-dip/Minni-dip' and Scott explained to those who were unaware (myself included) that it was so named, not because it had a larger variant, but because Frankie was in Minneapolis when he was asked what this new move he was teaching was called - prompting Frankie to use his location as inspiration.

I mentioned to Scott that this kind of anecdote utterly fascinated me and he was quick to implore how he felt it was a key part of honouring Frankie's legacy to share background information such as that and to educate aspiring and even experienced lindy hoppers just where exactly the dance they love came from.

Scott regularly stressed just what a privilege it had been to have learnt directly from Frankie and it was clear that he had been infected by Frankie's sheer love for lindy from their first meeting as, after attending his first workshop with Frankie, Scott (then still based in Australia) made the firm resolution that he "didn't care what it cost, we had to bring him to Melbourne!"

And if anyone was in any doubt about just how passionate Frankie was for lindy hop they needed only spend some one-on-one time with him to know that he didn't need to be talking to an entire class of students for that passion to seep out.

One of Scott's duties when Frankie visited Melbourne was to drive him between venues and this provided Scott a rare opportunity, as an audience of one, to hear some of Frankie's many stories from his days in the Savoy and his subsequent travels and Scott easily recalls that Frankie's eyes would just light up when talking about swing dancing and how listening to the swing of the big bands still continued to make him just want to move.

Additional to some more light-hearted advice about the dangers of dating a non-dancer Frankie told Scott how much he wanted to build the reputation of lindy hop so that it could enjoy the same international public recognition that other dances styles benefited from and I think it is safe to say it is well on its way.

There are many who should be celebrated for their contribution to the global lindy hop community, whether as the originators or as those driving its modern expansion, but only Frankie can truly lay claim to both, and as much as lindy hop exists because of Frankie, equally it seems that Frankie existed because of lindy hop and the passion for it that bubbled within him.

This article can also be read on the Frankie Manning Foundation website and I encourage you to check out their site and enjoy the resources they have on the main man!

Frankie Manning: the Passion, Part I

it's hard not to find a photo of Frankie displaying his sheer delight at what he did

 
This is the first half of an article that is featured in its entirety on the Frankie Manning Foundation's website but I shall also be sharing the second half of it here next month!

The Frankie Manning Foundation recently asked me to contribute an guest post about Frankie and being given such a broad remit for such an important figure was a little daunting as there are already plenty of easily accessible resources that detail all of the key events in his life (and, as ever, Wikipedia provides a good place to start). But it occurred to me that something was rarely presented in many of the emotionally-neutral chronological pieces on his life and that was a prominent mention of his pure and unbridled passion for lindy hop.

By all accounts, Frankie had a gregarious personality and a genuine knack for teaching but had these not also also been allied to a radiant passion it is likely that lindy hop would not be as popular as it is today, and I felt that this was something that deserved to be more celebrated.

I have spent many years in education, first as a student and now working at a university, and along the way I've met academics who have really affected me - mainly for being fantastic but occasionally for being completely awful and the key distinction between those groups was either an abundance or absence of passion for their own field.

The great educators just bubble with excitement for what they do and entice you to feel the same way. Some have more traditional methods whilst others head off on the most amazing technicoloured tangents but no matter what they say, it sticks, and you can only become infected by their zeal.

The not so great ones, however, occasionally challenge your natural instinct to keep breathing and I can remember one particularly prosaic lecture where, in an attempt to entertain myself, I assembled a variety of confectionery items and other things with labels still attached and set about deciphering barcode. The raw excitement of that lecture has somewhat obscured my memory of what it may have been about but I know that by the end of it I could look at the thickness and arrangement of the lines and determine the numbers that should be typed beneath them.

These may seem like slightly random anecdotes but I share them because they are genuinely relevant and not only to the university lecture theatre but to teachers in a wide variety of disciplines and that includes dancing. Truthfully, I have not yet encountered any apathetic lindy hop teachers (who I have found to all have an infectious contentment with their lot) but I have found it to be the case in other styles. It's not that such teachers don't have a passion for dancing but it seems that this passion is not something they want to risk sharing with their students, and to borrow a sporting analogy: the best athletes don't always make the best coaches.

Frankie, however, not only seems to have been a fantastic dancer but was also able to translate that into being an excellent proponent of the hobby he loved so dearly.

As a newcomer to the lindy scene, having only started dancing last year, I had never had the opportunity to learn from or even meet Frankie, so I can only share second-hand stories. Nonetheless, what really comes through from the people I know who met him, learned from him or danced with him is how utterly happy lindy hop made him and how Frankie had a steadfast desire to share his elixir. And so, with this in mind, I chatted with a few folk I know who took it from his hand and drank deeply.

Potentially, there are plenty of people I could contact who had well known connections with the man himself but I have specifically sought out the ones who have directly influenced me in my brief but blossoming relationship with lindy hop and whose passion to continue Frankie's legacy has been clearly apparent to me.

Swing Belfast's Bahia Ma'ani (L), and (R) Frankie Manning at the far left of a Whitey's Lindy Hoppers lineup

There's no better place to start than in my own home city of Belfast (which, along with London and Manchester, was one of the venues for Frankie's first visit to the UK as part of a Whitey's Lindy Hoppers tour in 1937) where I have benefited from the effervescent tutelage of Sharon Matchett, Richard Turner, Adib Ma'ani-Hessari, and Bahia Ma'ani at Swing Belfast and it is Bahia who had first-hand experience of Frankie's passion when they shared a dance at a social celebrating his birthday.

I can well imagine Frankie being seriously in demand in any social never mind the one on his birthday and Bahia admitted that this also happened to be fairly early on in her lindy career so the usual fears of inadequacy at first socials were likely further magnified by the status of the person she was dancing with, which is probably why, Bahia confesses, she was too scared to speak to him. But that didn't stop Frankie from beaming at her throughout and putting her at least a little more at ease.

By itself, a single dance may not illustrate much but Bahia remembers being amazed, not only by his obvious joy and the gentleness of his lead, but how Frankie kept getting up and going despite the high energy demands of a night of dancing and even in his old age it was clear that his passion for lindy hop had kept him young and healthy when other octogenarians were developing more sedate proclivities for crosswords, velcro and beige.

[... the rest of this article can be read on the Frankie Manning Foundation website]

so... what are classes like?

lindy hop class at Swing Belfast

This post is obviously more for someone who has never been along to a swing class but in the hope that non-dancers are reading this then questions like this need to be answered!

The first class I went to at Swing Belfast was in 2014 and had about 16 people. The photo attached to this post is from their beginners' class in October 2015 when close to 80 people turned up. EIGHTY! And that was just the beginners/level 1 class without even considering the improvers/level 2 or intermediates/level 3 classes. I was blown away by the surge in interest that swing dancing has had in Belfast over the preceding year and long may it continue! So, to introduce any would-be newcomers, I'll explain what happens!

First of all, it is not imperative that you turn up with a partner, so that was a huge relief to me as I couldn't convince anyone to come with me to class never mind dance with me! It also turned out that I was not alone in this regard and there were a host of other folk arriving solo. So, when the first calls to 'pair up' were made everyone just grabbed the aspiring lead/follow nearest to them and we formed a big circle around the teachers (that's what's happened in the photo above) who explained what to do for each move which we then practised with our partners. Every minute or so we switched partners so that everyone danced with everyone else. I know not all swing groups rotate partners but I am more than glad that that's how I learnt for a number of reasons.

Firstly, this helps average out everyone's ability and increase it - some people are quicker to learn and so they can actually help their other classmates get up to speed.

Secondly, over-familiarity with the dancing style of only one other person may reinforce bad habits that impair your ability to social dance with others (which is really what swing dancing is all about!).

And thirdly, and most importantly, it's through classes and these rotating learning circles that we get to meet all the other awesome people in our scene! Because swing dancing, like most other styles of partner dancing, is generally less fun solo, and although there is a lot of fun to be had dancing with completely new people (in another post I've discussed the 'dance crush') the most fun comes from grabbing a familiar friend and swinging out to a familiar tune as this takes away the performance pressure and lets you just enjoy it!

Seriously, try it!

it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

two of the originators of lindy hop: Willa Mae Ricker and Leon James

It seemed fitting to kick off a blog about swing dancing with the title of a song that helped kick off a whole era but Duke Ellington's 1932 record also pretty much sums it up for me.

I'm not really sure what I expected to get from swing dancing. I had dabbled with a few styles ranging from Scottish ceilidh to break dancing to salsa and I enjoyed each in a different way but when you don't need to count the steps and the music just makes you feel the beat... oh boy, that's the stuff right there!

I started taking East Coast Swing classes with Swing Belfast in January 2013 which shortly blended into Lindy Hop soon after, and then, by August 2013, I was convinced to also give West Coast Swing a go (with Swing Belfast's affiliate West Coast Swing NI) and I've since been absolutely hooked on both.

It has also got to the stage where I feel my friends are getting exhausted hearing about it so I hope that by deciding to put my passionate ramblings into a blog I might give my mates a rest and maybe connect with others who share my passion in the incredible and international swing community that I have become a part of.

In fact, the community that swing provides is just as important as although I came for the music and the dancing I stayed for the people. This starts with the Swing Belfast crowd, who have now become some of my closest friends, but I am also someone who loves travelling and I have been able to use swing dancing as an international language to turn up in different cities - London, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, San Francisco, Budapest - meet a whole host of strangers that quickly become friends, dance and hang out.

I. Love. Swing.