Camp Jitterbug 2010 – Part 2 (The Evening Dances)

Over the years Camp jitterbug has exploded out of the now small dance floor of the Century Ballroom. To the never ending wooden floor of the The Naval Armory on the shores of Lake Union. The giant floor can be intimidating and hard to find a flow at times. But the do a great job of drawing the energy towards the band with the clever use of light and flags! (If you get that last bit there, then you get a free candy from me!) Best parts about the venue is that there is plenty of room to dance and great airflow from being so close to the water. (Though if you are me, then it doesn’t matter, I’ll find a way to hit some one… purely by accident though!)

The Friday night dance, which started right after the Jump Session Show, at the Naval armory featured Bria Skonberg & PNW All Stars. A small band with a big sound! They were the perfect band to start off the night. Played great standards as well as some hot jazz songs. The passion brought forth by the relatively young Skoberg was really felt through her trumpet. They mixed the classic sounds of hot jazz with a mix of modern musician as well which made the sound come sweet, hot and smooth! It made me dance clean and energetic just the way I like it!

Saturday night, the dance moved to the Temple de Hirsch, which was a lot closer this time to Capital Hill. This venue was added to the line up last year and has served the event well. Though even with it’s high ceilings it can still get a bit hot and stinky at times, but it still has a great dance floor. The band on stage that night was Bria Skoberg & Case McGill’s Small Band. They were mostly why the room was so HOT that night! I tell you what Jim, they played hard and we danced harder which in turn made them play harder! This group really fed off of the dancers and killed it with every song the brought up. Even play some classic songs with a bit of a musical twist which kept the dancers excited and full in tune with the music. Even if the floor was crowded at times, you could still get your swing out on!

Sunday night was the last night big night of the weekend, but surely not the end. Again, the dancers flocked back to the Temple de Hirsch for what was going to be an amazing big bash night! The stage was set for one of the best big bands I’ve heard in a while, Glen Crytzer’s Blue Rhythm Band. Crytzer, being a himself a dancer and self described “music snob”, really understands what we as lindy hoppers really want! He put together a great group of musicians from the Seattle area that play with great passion. Which in turn makes us lindy hoppers dance harder and smile greater! It seemed as though more people came out for this night then the last. The more the songs swung the more the strong smell of sweat came from the pours of every lindy hopper in the house that night, ah, smells like victory!

Next post will be about the dance contests during each evening dance, stay tuned!