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DANCE
SWING ON IN!
By Dean Paton, Community Coordinator
I began swing dancing because of an
injury. I had been a lifelong baseball player
and after I broke a bone in my hand, I took
it as a sign that I needed to quit playing
baseball and find a new physical activity
where I wouldn’t have so many collisions
with big, fast-moving jocks. I decided to
take up swing dancing.
Immediately, I fell in love with partner
dancing. While I found competition
ballroom dancing to be a bit pretentious,
and I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being
judged, I was immediately hooked on
social dancing, which is plentiful in the
Seattle area.
By one definition or another, there are
seven or nine kinds of dances that go
with swing music. There’s the original
swing dance — the Lindy Hop — which is
the dance that started it all in Harlem’s
Savoy Ballroom. A collection of African-
American dancers had been developing
this new dance, blending the Charleston
with other jazz steps. The Jitterbug
came along not long after that, in the
early 1930s, and swing dance continued
to evolve to include East Coast Swing,
Western Swing and West Coast Swing, and
the Foxtrot, to name a few.
One of the best and most unusual swing-
dance sets at this year’s Festival will be
on Saturday night from 6–8 p.m., when
Breakers Yard and The Dunghill Rooster
Strutters take the stage in the Fisher
Pavilion. Neither band is a classic swing
band — both blend blues with swing and
Foxtrott-y melodies with an old-timey feel
— and I think the combined effect will be
irresistible.
As the great jazz clarinetist, William O.
Smith, reportedly told his students at the
University of Washington, “Swing is when
everybody gives.” He meant that when a
band plays music selflessly, without one
player trying to be the star, swing is at its
best. This seems like a perfect definition
for not only swing music, but also for the
Northwest Folklife Festival.
For more information about swing dances
at the Northwest Folklife Festival, visit
nwfolklife.org.
Dean Paton is a longtime Community
Coordinator, coordinating the partner dances
at the Northwest Folklife Festival. This is a
condensed version of his article. For the full
text, please visit
nwfolklife.org.THEATER 4
New for this year, we’re thrilled to
introduce a new participatory dance
workshop space. Located on the fourth
floor of the Armory building, this new
venue features a hard dance floor
and plenty of space to get movin’. To
access Theater 4, take the elevator
from the third-floor lobby and you’re
there.
THE OPEN-AIR
DANCE STAGE
IS BACK!
Don’t miss out on the second year
of colorful dance from around the
world. Nestled behind the Fountain
Lawn Stage, the Open-Air Dance
Stage lets you can experience dances
from a variety of cultures and styles
every day of the Festival. Located
at #15 on the map. For a full lineup,
visit pages 12–19.
Swing Dances at the
Northwest Folklife
Festival
Hot High School Swing Dance,
presented by KNKX
Friday from 3–6 p.m.
Armory Court
Swingin’ the Great
American Songbook
Saturday from 1–3 p.m.
Fisher Pavilion
Swingin’ Blues or
Bluesy Swing?
Saturday from 6–8 p.m.
Fisher Pavilion
Western Swing
and Alt Country
Ass-Kicker Wake-Up
Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Fisher Pavilion
West Coast Swing with
Seattle Swing Dance Club
Sunday from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Theater 4
Swing That Thing!
Monday from 3–5 p.m.
Armory Court Stage
Photo credit: Christopher Nelson
Photo credit: Christopher Nelson
Photo credit: Christopher Nelson