Hi all. Right now in the US we’re about to go through an especially turbulent time with a LOT of uncertainty.

I am going to ask you all - please engage with your local community now more than ever. We need to see each other and care for each other. This is more than just “dance with newcomers” and “volunteer for events”. We need our emotional connections to keep us grounded. Connect with your fellow humans because you will need it.

This dance community is always striving for safety and inclusion. Let’s make sure that we are building strong bonds and trust with each other. Show up to events and socials not just because you love to dance, but because you love the people in your community. Be mindful. Be supportive.

Take care of yourself and others. We will always have this community.

I’ll see you on the dance floor.

Seattle's Century Ballroom has announced they are closing in 2025, I believe primarily due to rent increases:
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2024/11/time-to-let-that-go-capitol-hills-century-ballroom-will-close-in-2025/

For those not familiar, this is probably one of the most active social dance halls in the US, with dances 7 nights a week, including 3 nights of swing dancing.

Really sad to see this happen. There are other places to swing dance in Seattle, including SCT Swing, Savoy Swing, and Swing It Seattle, but Century is the largest and nicest venue, and helped to build the vibrant dance community over 28 years in a historic and beautiful dance hall.

I'm not sure if it's too late to do anything about this, but wanted to publicize it a bit more widely in case anyone with resources can help preserve a real dance institution. They are open for now, but it sounds like they will close sometime in the spring.

From 12/3-12/31, there is a donor that will match contributions up to $10,000 to fund The Next Generation Project. This is important work to support and here is Denise Minns-Harris explaining why.

The Next Generation Project (NGP) was created to nurture and train young Black American dancers in the art of authentic Lindy Hop and vernacular Jazz. NGP strives to provide opportunities, resources, and mentorship to empower the next generation to carry forward these culturally significant dance forms. Your contribution can make a difference in a young dancer’s life—please donate now to support our mission to foster talent and celebrate Black American art forms."

Hey all, I thought maybe we could use a space to vent about missing dancing. Please do so here!

NOTE: we are all waiting patiently. Nobody wants to go back before it's safe (and if you do, keep your mouth shut). But that doesn't mean we can't whine about it.

Thanks everyone for keeping this subreddit growing!

Word was just sent out to the mailing list for those who want the long version, which I will not be reposting here.

In the meantime, the following video has also been shared: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9ddtCGQLcc

US lindy hoppers, take heed. No lindy hop events until the CDC deems socially gatherings safe again.

From Tony Azar's FB feed:

"Sad news - Prayers for Everyone. More than 60 Dancers with COVID-19. It’s hard to believe that so many Dancers have Covid-19 after going to a Dance Event in September 2020. Our Dance Community needs to be more Patient.If you went to Shaggin' on Main from September 23 - 27, 2020, Please go get tested & Stay safe. SOS was Cancelled. Shag & WCS Dancers came from all over because they couldn't get out of hotel contracts etc...and wanted to party & dance with everyone. As you know contact tracing is essential to break COVID-19 transmission and save lives."

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=4027433610607066&set=a.101401273210339

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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: after a quarter century of serving the lindy hop community, Yehoodi.com is shutting down. We’re proud of everything we’ve accomplished in this time, from our wildly popular online forums, to our many crazy media projects, to live broadcasts of ILHC and Frankie100, to our news and commentary we’ve shared over the years.

We’d like to mark this occasion to celebrate all that we accomplished together as a community. But we need your help! Between now and August, we want to collect as many stories and anecdotes as possible about how Yehoodi has impacted your life.

* Did something on Yehoodi make you laugh?
* Did you learn something because of Yehoodi?
* Were you connected to a community?
* Did you meet a friend (or a life partner)?

We want to know!

To participate: Join our Yehoodi History Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/yehoodi ) or just email your stories to rik@yehoodi.com.

I might be late to the party on this and was looking for more information/material to research on this topic. I was at a workshop this past weekend, and during a class for people wanting to learn how to be better instructors, someone mentioned the term East Coast Swing. Our instructors very highly recommended that we not use that term and remove it from any signage or the org's website, as it has a very problematic history. The gist of it is that it was an adaptation of Lindy Hop, that was danced by mostly white people, and didn't give any credit to it's African American roots. So basically it is a term based in cultural appropriation. While I'm not skeptical that this is the case, this was the first time I had heard of this. I was wondering if there were any scholarly articles discussing the issue? Thanks in advance for any info!

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Edit: Thanks for all the comments everyone. After doing some more research and listening to your feedback, it seems like ECS is at best problematic, but also just misleading. I saw an older post just about the naming conventions, where someone said that they had trouble getting people into 8-count Lindy Hop after they had learned ECS due to "not wanting to learn a new dance." I almost actually face-palmed on reading that.

That's pretty cool.

Anyone else surprised/appalled at the teacher choice for "Plenty Hot"?

I've been hearing about Vaccine Dances: small groups of vaccinated people getting together to dance. (Haven't actually of heard anyone doing it yet though)

It might be a bit exclusive for awhile, but I was wondering what people in this community thought about it.

Sw!ng Out is going to be streaming online in December and January.

For just $15 (still a bargain for us Europeans despite the exchange rate), you can watch the show from the comfort of your own home.

Here's the link https://www.jacobspillow.org/events/online-stream-swng-out/

Here's an in depth look at the show. http://jsalmonteproductions.com/wanderingandpondering/2021/10/26/swing-out-in-context