While visiting the site be sure to click on the large icon on the top middle of the Home page to see all of the different pictures used for the background. Keep up to date with me and all my travels by going to the Events pageand see where I’ll be next. Click on the link provided to find more information about the event I’ll be attending. If you wondered about how I got started dancing, read my About Me page and see how much of a monster I was for my parents! My Blog page is like me in the diverse subjects I cover using all sorts of media. Feel free to leave me a comment on anything you like, or dislike, but hopefully like, in the Blog posts by posting a comment on the site through your own Facebook account. All you have to do is be signed on to Facebook. And finally, my Contact page the best way to get a hold of me; which is email of course!

Throughout out every page you’ll see the same things on the left side, the next 3 events I will be attending, my live Twitter feed, and every which way to get a hold of me through social media. Including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Google+, and Tumblr.

So explore, share, and if you really like anything click that Facebook LIKE button! Thank you to everyone out there for visiting the site and a huge thank you to Kyle Smith for the design and development of this brand new site! Enjoy everybody.

With this blog I thought instead of writing out a description and history of the camp I would just re-write an entry from my own personal journal (yes it was written with ink and on paper) that accounts the adventure that was my travel to get to Herrang.

Well it’s been a long time since my last entry in this trippy trip and a bunch of stuff has happened. So last time we left this caped crusader I was leaving Rome for Florence and making my way to Herrang. I missed my train on my train from Florence to Munich and was stuck in Florence for 12 hours, suck! The one saving grace was that the food in Florence was amazing! Way way better then the food in Rome which was so horrible. Had some the best chicken and pasta cream sauce ever!

Well night time came and so did the train which was a sleeper train now that it’s about 10:00 PM. I was so excited on got on the train right away and found that there was a reason why people didn’t get on the train early, no power no air conditioning. It was freaking hot as all hell in there and I thought it was going to be like this for the rest of the ride. It was going to be one of those “European train rides.” so I found out how to open all of those tricky windows and since I was the only one in my cabin, I graves one of the sheets and began to fan and flail about wildly hoping that I could get some air circulating around there. And see I thought the windows were tinted, they weren’t and everyone out side could enjoy my pain and furry. Many people stopped and watched as the wild American in the train thinks he’s a ghost, is what they said as they laughed and pointed. I saw them they saw me and I thought well damn it, I’m still hot so I’m going to just keep going.

Well the train finely turned on and so did the air. The rest of the ride was smooth and slept the entire way. I woke up when we arrived in Munich and to the giant 5 story mall/train station. I climbed all the way to the top, grabbed some pastries, coke and ran for my next train to Hamburg. It seems like I’ve been running a lot for these here trains lately, but mostly because I don’t want to miss a train again. Oh silly man that I am, because I roll into Hamburg and guess what? Miss another freaking train! And this time I am forced to stay the night in the train station huddled on a bench with all my things tied to me and wrapped some extra clothes on my and got some horrible sleep. So I got on the next train to Copenhagen and guess what… Yup, missed another train! And this was the last leg to Stockholm. Well I found the train and was kicked off because they said I needed some kind of reservation or something fake like that. So I grab my things and head for the tickets window and by the time I get there I miss the last train for Stockholm. I was so pissed that I was so close and yet again missed another train. I was so pissed I decided to treat my self to a night in a hotel to wait for the next train to Stockholm which was in the morning.

I awake and board the train which was a smooth and surprising because in the middle of the ride the train stops and boards a ferry! I was amazed, the train pulled right into the ferry and I got a chance to go out side for a half hour and enjoy the Nordic air. Afterwards the ferry docked and the train continued onto Stockholm which was a short and pleasant ride. Arriving at the station my entire body was ecstatic, after three days of traveling and going non stop from Rome to Stockholm I had finally made it… Or so I thought.

There was still a few more legs of this pilgrimage to go. I had to look for the Tunnelbana, which is there name for the subway, and take the red line to Mörby Cantrum and get off at Tekniska Högskolan.
From there find a bus stop, that I must have passed 5 times before I found out that it was in the middle of the street. Bus #639 to Hallstavick was the second part of this trek through Sweden and the subway and the bus so far took about three hours to finally arrive into Hallstavick. To my surprise guess what had happened again! Yup, missed the #642 bus to Herrang by a mere minute. I got there just in time to see it full of young people with bags no doubt heading to the same destination I was. So I wait about two hours until finally the next bus arrived. Yet again fate deciders to play with me such cruel ways, because the bus ride ended up being about ten minutes! I was so close and I didn’t even know, I should have just walked!

But finally I had made it, after missed trains and buses. Sleeping in stations and struggling with wearing the same stinky clothing for three days straight, I had finally made it to the lindy hop worlds most cherished meeting place since the Savoy Ballroom, Herrang Dance Camp.

The Great Southwest Lindyfest, or just Lindyfest as its known today, is a workshop and social dance weekend created to inspire and help others grow with in their own dancing of the Lindy Hop. Workshop classes run all day with some of the best Lindy Hop and Jazz dance instructors of the past and present. But the event is centered around one person in particular, the ambassador of Lindy Hop, Frankie Manning. Unfortunately we lost our legend and mentor in 2009, but in even though Frankie has passed on, his spirit is very much alive and strong in each an every person that walks out onto the dance floor and calls them selves a Lindy Hopper.

This tradition has played on from the first year of Lindyfest all the way to today with each instructor at this years event honoring Frankie by dedicating a class to the lessons they learned from the legend, mentor, and lover of life, Frankie Manning.

This year Nikki and I were invited to Lindyfest as featured performers during the Friday night and Saturday night shows. The first number was Nikki and I’s newest piece entitled, Georgia Swing Shift. This was one of the best and hardest pieces we have brought up to the people. And this time it was three times more exciting because we were performing in front of the living legends of Jazz dance performers of Chazz Young, Dawn Hampton and Steven Mitchell. With our nerves on fire and hearts pounding out of our chests we show the past generations what have to contribute to the legacy of lindy hop!

The next was a collaborative effort by the members of our swing and jazz dance group, Hot Club Stomp. Since not all the members of the group could make it to Houston we decided to change the routine up a bit and make it fit for 2 couples. And add in one Jo Hoffberg, of the fabulous Killer Dillers, as our special guest. One part smooth Los Angeles style swing inspired by the dancers of the 1930s and 1940s. And another part just all out free for all swing, jazz, lindy hop, or what ever it takes to get it done, dancing. This piece really flies high!

Thank you so much to each and everyone of the dancers that attended this years Houston Lindyfest it was truly a memorable and magical moment for us. And a very special thank you to Larry and Mariah and the rest of the Houston Swing Dance Society peoples for the invitation to perform for everyone at Lindyfest this year! We wont soon forget it and hope to see you again next year in Houston again.

For those of you that attended the workshops, here is the run through for the classes. If you didn’t attend you don’t have to look away but you can watch and maybe learn some new things! Here is the over views of 5 out of the 8 classes of the weekend.

For those of you that noticed the Soul dancing class review, I assure you that there was much more to that class then just a few moves. We run that class like a 2 hour party, its seriously one of the funnest classes we get to teach. I will talk more about that in another post. But in short we found a great way to actually and constructively teach others to dance to Soul music.

And lastly Nikki and I debuted a new demo routine of solo dancing. Using a part of the jazz routine the Trankey Doo, some comedy, add a little pose at the end and you got all of the elements you need for a pretty hot routine. Enjoy!

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They created an entire website based around the images of our photo shoot with the wonderfully talented, Stephanie Albao. Also from the website we created for our Lindy Hop and swing era performance team, Hot Club Stomp.

Check out the Korean workshop site!
And our awesome team website for Hot Club Stomp!

Over the weekend, we taught a total of 10 hours! Classes ranging from basic technique to fast dancing combos. Even a 2 hour class on dancing to soul music!

It was a fantastic experience and hope for many more adventures in Korea! Thank you to all of those involved in bringing Nikki and I to Seoul for a great workshop!

One of the most famous clips in Lindy Hop done at the peak of its popularity and to some of the fastest music around. Hellzapoppin’ was amazing and high flying, but Killer Diller takes it to a whole other level.

So here is the clip from the 1948 movie, “Killer Diller” featuring those sensational, Congaroos!

The first time I saw this dance clip I was about 14 years old and I was absolutely floored! The way these dancers flew across the stage was like watching super heroes use their super powers to save the day! Every time i watch this clip I think, “YES I CAN!”

Then I heard that some of my favorite dancers of today were looking to pay homage to the famous clip by recreating this grad and famous routine at the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown! I was lucky enough to be in attendance to watch Mike Faltesek, Casey Schneider, Stefan Durham and Bethany Powell bring a most excellent piece back to the for front of our Lindy Hop culture…

As I wrote in the last blog entry about my recent contest entries. I have been working towards this weekend for quite sometime. And even though I didn’t end up placing in anything, I was still incredibly proud and filled with joy for what we put out for the world to see. I love my life as a dancer and to be given a chance to dress up and dance in front of others is one of the best feelings ever!

So below is Nikki Marvin and I doing our latest classic Lindy Hop routine entitled “Mr. Rhythm Man”.

Next is the Champions Strictly Lindy Hop finals. The only took eight couples to the finals and five of the couples had alread won a spot to be in the finals by winning other contests through out the year. So during the prelims, it was 10 more couples fighting for three spots in the finals. And to our joy, Nikki and I made it! So here is the finals to the Champions Strictly Lindy Hop contest. (Watch for some awesome modern jumper and more puffy sleeve action!)

I’d like to thank everyone involved in the planning and organization of this years ILHC. All of our hard work shows and is expressed in every dance by every person on that dance floor! See you next year…

The importance of a mental connection between partners is as crucial as technical aspect of connection. To know that your in sync with your partner is something quite amazing, hence the feeling of nirvana. You feel as thought you can do no wrong and so your mind is free to move smoothly from one thought to the next. This I feel is as close to a yin and yan feeling that I can get, the thought that my emotions and the logical side of myself, can combine and move seamlessly into each other. That one is supported by the other, that is a connected partnership to me. Most of the time it I feel as though I search for this feeling on a social dance floor but that is hit and miss. But for this post I had contest dancing in mind, since for the past couple of months its been one contest after another.

First with Camp Hollywood Lindy Hop contest, usually this event and contest, for me, comes with this mental block and I never do the best I know I can do. But this year I had that connection and mental/physical preparation for the event and Nikki and I did the best we could have done. We came prepared and ready with our “A” game and some puffy sleeves…

Then we move into Lindy On The Rocks in Denver, Colorado. Now it may have been that they changed the contest on us last minute, or that we thought the song was going to be faster, or maybe that we were a mile above sea level, I don’t know. But the night of the contest was very disconnected that night.

“Trust me you wouldn’t want to see it…”

Now moving into the greatest competition event of the year, the International Lindy Hop Championships! ILHC is only in its 3rd year but it already has become the greatest place to throw down your dancing since the creation of the ULHS. Nikki and I have perpaired as much as we can and we’ll find out how it goes this weekend!

“Video to come soon…”

The Naval Armory located on the shores of chilly Lake Union, was the site of the first and one of the largest prelims I’ve been a part of, the Open Jack & Jill contest. The Armory ended up being the perfect place for it since the 2 heats that were called to dance lined up from one end of the large square like room to the other. And that was for each heat, good thing there were only 2 heats. But I think everyone in that room was in the damn contest! Glad I was competing and not judging. The Finals were the next night at Temple de Hirsch, 5 couples made it to the finals and yours truly was one of the finalists. I got to dance with the lovely Laura Glasse. The others were partnered up and the band, Bria Skonberg & Casey McGill, began to play and it was a hot number! Surprising but amazing! Kept the room popping and the dancers a swinging!

Sunday night was the final and big night. The last night of dancing for Camp Jitterbug brought us the Strictly Lindy Hop Finals! In order of appearance, the competitors were: Pontus Persson & Frida Borg, Jeremy Otth & Carla Heiney, Andrew Thigpen & Karen Turman, Michael “Dargoff” Darigol & Brittany Johnson, Nick Williams & Laura Keat, Juan Villafane & Sharon Davis, Mike Roberts & Laura Glaess. It was a great contest Pontus and Frida blew everyone ouyt of the water with their take on some great, classic lindy hop moves and tricks. But Nick and Laura hot on there heels with some brand new breath taking moments. In the end cleanliness won over new ideas. The entire contest was an amazing testament to our dance and showed us where we came from and where we can still go…


Thank you to Tonya and everyone that made it out this year to Camp Jitterbug 2010!

See y’all next year!