Check out when the phrase in the music changes and how the rest of the crowd gets into the groove. Really fun night at our last blues dance with a fantasmical band as always led by Patrick Tevlin.

Some more clips (but this time on vimeo):

• http://vimeo.com/22774873
• http://vimeo.com/22773750
• http://vimeo.com/22772391

Quick video – Toronto latin DJ, DJ Duck and I geek out about how he got into DJ’ing, what he is known for, and what he spins. :)

Interested in geeking out about one of my favorite topics? Give me a shout!

At TUX (the best small but big lindy hop event in Toronto, amiright), there were two competitions – a newcomer jack and jill and an open jack and jill. I was honored to be asked to judge the open jack and jill though I have a sneaking suspicion that I was only asked to keep me from drunkenly smashing into other dancers during the competition (the first step is admittance). One of the judging criteria for both competitions was “spirit” or the essence of lindy hop. The question of the day during my bus ride home – given all things are equal from a competitor skill level point of view, how does one even judge “spirit”?

Is it like this?

But obviously not everyone is going to be as awesome as the Harlem Hotshots…

Kevin and Alcina teach the drop-in class for the blues dance.

So I’m sitting here at Starbucks underneath the Yonge & Bloor Studio after Toronto’s monthly blues dance last night. I’m replying to emails and Facebook messages about classes and future dances with a giant stupid grin on my face. Why you might ask? Well we just had a fantastic dance last night that was well attended by a fair amount of aspiring blues dancers and new dancers (as opposed to 100% new dancers) and I think I can say that Toronto’s blues dance scene is here to stay. Huzzah \o/.

Time to quit!

Joking… maybe.

Honestly though, it might have played out differently if we had tried to continue to push through the idea that we should try to appeal the blues dance to everybody and specifically the swing dance scene. I’m pretty convinced that this would have single handedly killed the blues dance scene before it even had the chance to take off the ground. The fact is these days, the majority of the dancers going to the dance and taking dance classes are from other dance scenes or complete beginners. Obviously, in an ideal world the dancers from swing would come to blues because, well, they already are fantastic leads and follows. However, instead of us waiting around for blues to be accepted by our friends in the swing scene, we’ll build a great scene that will be waiting for them if and then they decide to come (with open arms).

After conducting an informal survey around our dance scene, it seems to me that our awesome DJs in Toronto are not actually being paid to provide music for “for-profit” events (the only exception is the Toronto Swing Dance Society). That’s crazy.

As a dance DJ myself, I have probably poured more time and money into this passion than I will ever make back actually dj’ing so I know how much any type of remuneration helps us continue truckin’ on. Then I thought about the DJs that I actually invite out to play for our Yonge & Bloor Blues dance and realized that we don’t actually pay them either. This will change starting July 2nd for our next blues dance. While we do not make a boat-load of profit from the actual dance itself, it’s only fair to pay DJs for their time and expertise.

My friend Kevin Sue keeps saying that the best ideas are the ones that pass the common-sense test. I truly believe that this is one of them. For things to change in the scene that I am a part of, I have to actually start doing it myself first. This will keep me grounded and honest. Hopefully it will also keep me motivated to push for ideas that I believe in and at the end of the day, also keep me excited about dancing. :-)

So let’s get on and start paying our hard working DJs. Everybody wins when the music for dancing gets better.

Heard at Toronto’s Saturday night lindy hop dance at the Dovercourt House. Yeahhhhhhh.