For those of you interested in my vagabonding experience across America I will be keeping a travelogue on a new blog entitled Vagabond Cafe.
Check it out – let your friends know or just ignore it as you see fit… but really… check it out.
Camp Jitterbug 2008
Camp Jitterbug is one of those events that gets buzz for the next year the minute it finishes. This year was truly no exception.
I had attended Camp Jitterbug back in 2005 when the main dances were still held at the Century Ballroom and the tracks were almost manageable in size. This year had approximately 500 attendees and the classes were overflowing.
The event began with registration at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. They lost my registration somehow, but still managed to have the three numbers for the various competitions that I had registered for so after a bit of waiting in line I had my packet and was queued up with friends outside one of the entrances to the theatre.
For the past couple years I have heard wonderful things about the Jump Session show which is the opening attraction for Camp Jitterbug (enjoy this trailer from last year). It is the only show devoted solely to vernacular jazz dance that I know of in the U.S. It was a full hour and a half production with an Act I and II focusing on jazz dance from charleston, blues and lindy hop to tap and even bop. Download the Jump Session program for a full list of performers here.
The show was M.C.’d by Sean Morris who was dressed sharply in a tuxedo. The opening number was a blues piece performed by members of 23 Skidoo (Teni Lopez-Cardenas, Dan Newsome, Joe Demers and Danielle Hatley) to Wild Man Blues by Sidney Bechet; followed by a charleston piece by Nick Williams and Laura Keat to Charleston by John Barry; and then a lindy hop piece by Max Pitruzella and Annie Trudeau to That Lindy Hop by Duke Ellington. Throughout the remainder of the show there were a couple pieces that truly stood out. Mickey Fortanasce and Kelly Arsenault performed a balboa routine to Wire Brush Stomp by Gene Krupa that had exceptional musicality, shading and quality of movement. Mikey Pedroza and Ramona Staffeld performed a modern jazz piece to Dark Eyes by Earl Hines that was lyrical and built tension very well, it was very nice to see a modern style number in the show.
The Jump Session show was overall quite an enjoyable experience that provides a unique outlet for performance jazz dance that isn’t competition oriented. I would have liked to see the show shortened a bit and some of the numbers cleaned up a bit more but with many of the dancers coming from across the country and putting numbers together in only a short amount of practice it was quite impressive. Additionally, half of all of the proceeds from the Jump Session show is donated to Snohomish County Campfire USA where it is used to fund Jazz Dance programming for youth. (more…)
Central Park (April 18th)
I met up with Jesse and the rest of the band on the poet’s walk in Central Park at noon just off of 68th St. on the east side. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, in the 80s with the sun pouring down; nice and dry with the occasional breeze.
Tin Pan has been playing all week in the park from 12-3pm near the Alice statues off of the boat pond (near 75th) but they moved down to the higher trafficked poet’s walk again today.
Evita Arce and Nathan Bugh arrived about halfway through the second tune, set their stuff down and Evita and I started dancing and a crowd of teenagers immediately gathered to watch. They were probably on a school trip to the MET or something but it was great. A couple of them even got out and danced with us for a few bars. Cameras were out everywhere and it was a fun mid-tempo tune to jam out to. The crowd was so large that Jesse asked them to pull in tighter so that people could still get past. Unfortunately, being mostly kids that crowd didn’t leave much of a tip as they wandered off down the path.
This was my first time out busking with Tin Pan and it was such a great experience. Evita had some advice on how to manage the endurance aspect of dancing for long gigs on the street; sitting out the first chorus, sitting out when someone is singing, etc. It also helped that Nathan was there and we traded off dancing solo, partnered with Evita and taking a song off here and there.
Nathan and I did a really tight solo number together based off of the shim sham where we spotlighted on breaks and varied it up a bit. It was such a good feeling to be out there performing with live music behind us and an interested crowd. Nathan is exceptionally creative and well-rounded in his solo jazz and I can’t wait to work with him more.
This was my first performance-for-money type gig and it definitely got me thinking about how I held myself as a performer (and less about what I was thinking as a dancer). It is different to be in front of a crowd of non-dancers and be performing rather than just social dancing. The way you present and interact with a crowd of people who don’t know you and don’t understand the dance puts a different sort of pressure on you. It forced me to simplify my movement and I constantly reminded myself that my dancing wasn’t just part of a social event (say as it can be at Banjo Jims) but a performance. The audience is just as much a part of the performance as the band and the dancers and can’t be an afterthought.
It was a wonderful gig and definitely a learning experience. I can’t wait to be out busking with Tin Pan again.
Have you busked? What was it like for you? Let me know. Comment.
Lindyfest 2008
I had the pleasure to attend Lindyfest on March 13th to 16th. It had been a last minute decision on my part but I was very glad to have attended an event that I have heard so much about and that was launching the much anticipated Lindy Hoppers Fund.
I arrived Thursday afternoon and enjoyed karaoke, some drinks and time with friends new and old before crashing relatively early (2 or 3 am) to get some rest from a day of travel.
One of the great things about Lindyfest is that there are always too many amazing classes that it makes it difficult to pick which ones you’ll attend.
Friday I started the day sitting in on Andy & Nina’s “Fierce Moves” class which had some great dynamic moves showcased (really one of their specialties). Because it was such a gorgeous day Andy, Nina, Swifty and I decided to lounge under some trees in the grass between the two class venues and ended up missing the second class of the day. It was worth it having come from the drab gray of New York.
The last two classes I attended were Manu & Ria’s masters class where they had us breakdown and use a six-count swing out in some very interesting ways; and Naomi’s instructors class which was, in her words basically, “an experimental class”. Naomi’ class was great as she not only had some great points on instruction and teaching from years of experience but also had us run some exercises in teaching.
