Houston Swing Dance Society

Saute is January 30th (2303 Richmond Avenue)! $5/$3 (student) or free with your dinner receipt!! Join us 10pm—2am for dancing, great music by talented DJs, delicious food, fair trade teas, and distinctive wines

Second Cup Swing hosts their monthly dance at Taft Street Coffee (2115 Taft) Saturday, January 17th at 8:30pm till Midnight. Only $4!

Demitasse Dance every Saturday (except for Taft dance) 9PM @ Té House of Tea (1927 Fairview)  FREE!!!

Jan 31st,2009, The Texas Aggie Swing Cats next monthly dance is Saturday; 8pm - Midnight. See the TASC website details.

Believe it or not, a lot of dancers are influenced by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. While Ella sung w/ one of the greatest Big Bands of her time. Louis was busy touring the world and playing his trumpet to royalties. The idea of Ella and Louis was crazy enough to work. Their first album was such a success that they did two more albums after that. Here's what HSDS' own DJs recommend:

• Join PotatoChips to post and receive periodic email announcements about swing dance events.

   

• Go to Houston Swing Out to join discussions regarding dances, etiquette, overcoming shyness, or getting a group together for movie night. It's all there.
  

Brush up or start fresh on your balboa! This is always a favorite to prepare for balboa classes tought by world class instructors Sylvia Sykes and Nick Williams at Lindyfest this year. Don't miss out at 7:30pm on Sundays

Balboa is a form of swing dance that started as early as 1915 and gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is led with a full body connection. The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, like weight shifts, that most viewers cannot see. As a result, Balboa is considered more of a "dancer's dance" than a "spectator's dance".

Lindyfest registration is officially open for business!!! Check out the website lindyfest.hsds.org to catch up on all the awesome things we've got planned for you this year. Dates for 2009 are March 12-15th, 2009.


Lindyfest is an amazing lindy hop weekend workshop jammed packed with classes for all dance levels, soul sessions with living legends, hot performances and four endless nights of dancing. Lindyfest brings in hundreds of dancers from all across the globe to learn lindy hop from the masters and experience the excitement of Lindy Hop, all here in Houston.

Registration price breaks:
$139 early registration until January 16th, 2009
$149 January 7th-February 6th, 2009
$159 February 7th-March 11th, 2009
$170 at the door March 12th-15th, 2009
$109 International rate / Junior rate-18 and under (ID required)

The first quarter of 2009 proves to be great for any Lindy Hoppers, there are alot of great events in Texas. The first up is Lone Star Championships. We've asked Tena Morales, organizer extraordinaire, to give us the scoop. Hope to see you there!

The second annual Lone Star Championships is set! This year promises to have more exciting competitions and performances, amazing workshops from some of the world's finest dancers and instructors, and of course, ridiculous amounts of social dance time. Come to Austin and party with us!

Lone Star Championships is a social event. There will be over 20 hours of social dancing and all of the competitions are social dance competitions only. We believe that competitions bring us together to push and inspire each other to grow as dancers and as a community, as well as bring us together to support and cheer for each other.

Everyone has a place to compete. Lone Star is committed to creating a space for all levels of Lindy Hoppers to perform and compete against like-leveled dancers - from newcomers that have never competed all the way up to the top competitors in the country. Lone Star is also a workshop weekend! This year's instructors and judges will blow you away! The instructors this year include Nina Gilkenson, Carla Heiney, Mike Faltesek, and Mikey Pedroza!

For more information visit us online at Lone Star Championships

In Texas:

Lone Star Championships
Austin, TX
Janurary 23-25th, 2009

This is Texas's newest event started by our own Tena Morales along with Don and Scott from Dallas and Austin. This event is for everyone whether you are a beginner or advanced, a seasoned competitor or just starting out, or you just want to dance. At $79 this will be a great chance to dance and make friends with people from all over the country and see some great competitions. If you have not competed and are interested this is a great place to get your start.

Lindy In Old San Antonio
San Antonio
Febraury 13 - 15th, 2009

San Antonio is a growing scene and this is their second annual workshop. This one will have Sylvia Sykes, Nick Williams, Bill Borgida, Lenore Saltz, Matt Jones, Laura Malloy teaching the workshops. This is lining up to be a great event and at $65 (before Jan 19th for HSDS members) this is a good deal.

Hollywood Hotshots
Fort Worth
February 21-22nd

A great workshop with Lindy, Charlston, Balboa, and Aerials. If you are in the Hepcats or interested in performing this is for you.

Out of Texas:

Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival!
New York City
May 21st -May 26th, 2009

As you may know, lindy hop legend Frankie Manning will be turning 95 years old next May! To celebrate we are organizing the biggest and most spectacular birthday for him yet!

From May 21st -May 26th, 2009 (Memorial Day Weekend) lindy hoppers, jazz musicians, tap dancers, friends and supporters from all over the world will descend upon New York City for six days of dancing, live music, workshops, discussions, tours, competitions, performances, and much more. This will undoubtedly be the largest and most significant Lindy gathering of our time and an event you will not want to miss!

More details will be announced over the coming weeks and months at Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival but in the meantime, mark your calendars, start spreading the word, and stay tuned!

You can catch the Hepcats at Lone Star Championship, they have been working on a very cool routine. I'm sure they would love your support.

The "B" team is still going strong. If you are an HSDS member, you're welcome to join the B team to learn the Performance team's routine. They meet Tuesday evenings, please see Julie Woods for more info.