alain’s dance blog

This weekend, hundreds of dancers will congregate for three days of dancing during Smackdown.

Organized by Aidan Fisher, the Montreal Smackdown has now become an annual event, drawing dancers from the North-East and beyond to celebrate swing dancing in my lovely hometown. Some people come to visit the city, some come for the workshop classes, and some come for the amazing musicians we bring into town for the weekend.

This year, the event is going to be huge. We’ve even added a free Thursday night dance at Cat’s just for the occasion. Echoes of Harlem will include a solo jazz class with Ann Mony, and will be DJ’ed by the two Alain’s from Montreal.

For the Friday dance, Cat’s Corner is moving its Downtown Stomp Uptown. We are bringing in the Cangelosi Cards and Gordon Webster from New York City, huge favorites among Lindy Hoppers. For Saturday night, Aidan is bringing in Barbara Morrison from the West Coast for a special edition of Le Jazz Hot, accompanied by an all-star band of accomplished Montreal musicians. Both Gordon and Barbara played at the Albany Chill this year, and they were great!

The guest teachers this year are Skye Humphries & Frida Segerdahl, along with Max Pitruzzella and Annie Trudeau. I’ve had the chance to learn from each of these teachers in the past and they are worth the trip! Last year I was too tired/sick to attend the master classes, but maybe this year I’ll wake up on time. There’s also a DVD review for sale for those who are going to miss the event.

Espace Dell’Arte
40 Jean-Talon Est, at the corner of St-Laurent
Closest metros are De Castelnau and Jean-Talon on the blue line

Yay to amazing local dance events! I hope to see you all out and dancing.

This weekend, I had supper at the House of Jazz to celebrate my dance partner Mélanie’s birthday. Formerly known as Biddles (for Charlie Biddle, father of the Montreal Jazz Festival), the House of Jazz is a world-renowned hot spot in the heart of Montreal.

“The House of Jazz, formerly Biddle’s, first opened in 1968 but in 1981, became an exclusive jazz house when one-time forestry-engineer-turned-mega-entrepreneur Georges Durst took the reins. Oliver Jones, Oscar Peterson, Liza Minelli, Skip Bey—these are but a few of the legendary vocalists and musicians to have performed at the HoJ, where patrons swear by the Louisiana-style chicken and ribs. The formula has proven so successful, in fact, that Durst along with partner and former Soviet superstar goalie Vladislav Tretiak has new chains lined up for Hong Kong, Moscow and Paris.”

Taken from Play-Montreal.com

The live band Saturday night featured Michelle Sweeney on vocals, Tim Alleyne on drums, Samuel Cournoyer on bass and Steve Corbey on piano and keyboard. They played many crowd favorites, while adding their own flavor to the songs. Here’s part of their setlist, along with the artists/interpreters I associate these songs to: Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knight), Respect (Aretha Franklin), Georgia on my mind (Ray Charles), Home (Bublé), Superstition (Stevie Wonder), At Last (Etta James).

They were awesome! They had rhythm and oomph to their sets, so that even the ballads had energy. And Michelle Sweeney is a born entertainer. Even with a voice that was off that night, she balanced it out with her energetic stage presence, bold wit and character. With her daughter in the audience, Michelle played off the mother/daughter relationship between songs and kept us thoroughly entertained. What a personality!!! Michelle alone is worth the $5 cover charge for live music.

Wanting to hire her for a dance event, I asked if she sang swing songs. Unfortunately, she replied, “I’m more of a Blues /R’nB person.” However, she would be perfect for a motown/soul night à la Swing & Soul! So I ended up buying her CD with her contact info on the cover.

Michelle did refer me to Ranee Lee, a Montreal vocalist known for her scatting skills. I will have to check her out.

Todd Yannacone and Kelly Arsenault winning the Strictly Lindy at the US Open in California this past weekend.

If you’ve ever been to our Friday night dance, you’ve probably seen dancers do a line dance at some point in the evening. This line dance is called the Shim Sham, and Lindy Hoppers dance it the world over.

Originally a tap routine created by Leonard Reed in 1927, the Lindy Hop Shim Sham is danced to any 32 bar tune. At Cat’s, we usually play T’aint What You Do (It’s the way that you do it) by Jimmie Lunceford, or Tuxedo Junction by either Erskine Hawkins or Ken Hips Johnson.

Shim Sham (for Lindy Hoppers)

Shim Sham right
Shim Sham left
Shim Sham right
Shim Sham break “Break time”

Pushes and crossovers x 3
Double crossover

Tacky Annie’s x 3
Break Time

Half Break x 2
Shim Sham break (Break time)
Half Break x 2
Shim Sham Break (Break time)

(Repeat and replace the Shim Sham break with a freeze)

Boogie Back
Boogie Forward
Boogie Back
Boogie Forward

Boogie Back
Shorty George
Boogie Back
Shorty George

See a full transcription of the Lindy and Tap Shim Sham routines.

Videos: the original tap routine by Leonard Reed (near the end of the clip); Frankie Manning leading the Lindy Hop Shim Sham at LindyFest; Mike and Nina doing the Al & Leon Shim Sham.

Other jazz routines: The Big Apple.

You know you’re a dancer when… you walk into a classy shoe store and don’t even bother looking at the design of the shoes, nor the price. You first flip the shoe over and look at the sole.

Here are pictures of different dance shoe soles that you might want to explore, in order of least to most slippery:

1. Sticky rubber soles. Ouch!  Only when I need to match a costume. These will hurt your knees.

2. Flat rubber sole shoes. My favorite for fast dancing. The flatness of the shoe means there is less grip, and so they are more forgiving on the knees than the sticky rubber soles.

3. Fuzzy rubber shoes. A mix of rubber and some fuzzy material. These shoes seem to be a hit among female swing dancers in Montreal. You can find them at discount chain stores like Wal-Mart, Payless Shoes and Zellers.

4. Suede soles (also known as “chromed”). I hope Francys doesn’t mind me taking picture of his shoe. You need to use a wire brush to maintain the suede hair, or else over time, they become as slippery as soft leather soles.

5. Soft leather soles. Less friction than suede, but not as slippery as hard leather.

6. Hard leather soles. The classic dance shoe. They are unfortunately harder and harder to find in Montreal. Most dress shoes today have a rubber heel. What you can do is get a cobbler to replace the rubber heel by a hard leather one.

Which sole do you prefer?