alain’s dance blog

Because more than 50 Montrealers are going to ALHC, we moved our Halloween swing dance to November 2nd.

The Cat’s Corner Halloween theme this year is the Undead. Zombies, vampires, ghosts, mummies (and anything that lives between life and death…perhaps your boring chemistry teacher?) will be welcome in our jazzy cemetary. Bring your imagination, your lust for death and… your dance shoes of course. Be prepared for surprises and a prize for the best costume.

Here are some pictures from last year’s Pirate Halloween swing dance party at Cat’s:

Shona Harris interviewed Fred and me during the Dance Museum show broadcasted every Thursday from 2-3pm at CKUT 90.3 FM, Montreal’s McGill campus community radio. We’ve been on this show before with Katherine Blekinsop, and it’s always a pleasure to talk about the swing dance scene in Montreal.

You can listen to the CKUT interview (26 mins). I apologize to Fred for cutting him off and monopolizing some of the answers. After listening to the interview, I realized I need to improve my interview skills. I need to work on listening, on enunciating and on being less of a control-freak. And maybe brush up on my dance history.
Oh, and if there are inaccuracies in our answers, please let me know. I definitely don’t pretend to know everything.

It was cool doing the interview. Thanks Shona! And tune in to CKUT 90.3 FM, the voice of artists in Montreal.

I had met Dianne Eramo a few times in Lindy Hop events, but only got to know her a few weeks ago at Showdown when she shared a hotel room with us Montrealers. She’s an awesome person and inspiring dancer, and she totally deserved making the final in the Solo blues contest there.

So when she told us she intended to visit Montreal in November, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to inspire Montrealers with her dancing.

So here it is, straight from New York City for the first time, two drop-in classes on Saturday November 3rd with Dianne Eramo. It’s gonna be hot!

Here’s a video of Dianne and Lee Tucker winning the Strictly at Wicked Lindy in Boston 2007.

This fall, there seems to be an explosion of new weekly dance events in Montreal. So no more excuses. There’s plenty of opportunities to dance!

Here’s an update on swing dance nights in Montreal.

1. Tuesday night at Les Bobards, 4328 St-Laurent, corner Marie-Anne. Live band at 10pm. This is organized by Patrick Evans and Swing Connexion. $5 cover. Of the two dances on Tuesday, this one is more appropriate for Lindy Hop. You can read a review on Carl’s blog.
2. Tuesday night at Le Petit Medley, 6206 St-Hubert, corner Bellechasse, near Beaubien metro. $4 cover and mandatory coat check. Organized by Studio88swing. A mix of swing, blues and rock and roll.
3. Wednesday Balboa practice at Studio Metronome, 4557 St-Laurent north of Mont Royal. Organized by Sylvain Tchang, who also teaches Balboa there. I’m not sure if this is regular, so you might want to ask just to make sure.
4. Thursday West Coast swing night at Union Francaise, 429 Viger Est near Champ-de-Mars metro. Run by Studio88swing. Music by Max Pitruzella.
5. Friday Downtown Stomp at Cat’s Corner, 486 St-Catherine West suite 303. $7 cover, crash course at 8:30pm, dancing at 9:30pm. My all-time favorite night of the week.
6. Saturday at Le Jazz Hot. Live band every week. $12 cover. Run by Studio88swing.
7. Sunday Swing’n Groove at La Porte Rouge, 1834 Mont-Royal East, corner Papineau. Music by DJ Daniel “Pocail” Champagne. Free. Starts around 8:30pm. I went to the first one last week, and boy did we party! The music played is not strictly jazz - you’ll be able to break out to a mix of Motown, funk, blues and soul.

So far this fall, my top three dance nights have been on Fridays at Cat’s, then Sunday at La Porte Rouge and to round it up, Tuesday at Les Bobards. But do try out every dance and make up your own opinion.

I’d like to thank everyone involved in making Sept. 4th, 2007 a successful Cat’s Corner Facebook Day already.

Here are some of the creative things that Cat’s Corner fans have come up with:

In the comments section of this page, I’ll be linking to everyone who contributed to CCFD, including their “status update” and their “updated profile picture”.

It’s not too late to take action. Change your status, update your picture, post the Cat’s Corner video - join us in celebrating Cat’s Corner Facebook Day!