alain’s dance blog

From my interview last year with Swing Dancer Magazine. I thought I’d repost it even though it’s also on my “About” page. Who reads the “About” page anyway … actually, probably everyone. But do you scroll all the way down, past my French blurbs? Now that’s the real question. Thank you Christina for the interview opportunity!

From Swing Dancer Magazine

8 Questions with Alain Wong

The Basics
Alain Wong
Dancer / Teacher / DJ / Performer
Montreal, Qc, Canada

1) Which fast food restaurant makes the best fries?

Quebec has a national fast food called “poutine”. Fries with gravy and fromage en grain (curd cheese) on top. And the best one in Montreal is at a 24h poutine joint called La Banquise

2) Being up in the land of Maple Leafs - are you a bilingual instructor? If so, have you ever had to teach a class in both French and English? What’s it like?

Yup, I’m a bilingual instructor.

The official language in the province of Quebec is French, but Montreal has both a strong anglophone and francophone community. Most of our students speak French or both French and English, but we occasionally draw English-only speakers such as foreign students attending one of the two English universities in Montreal, McGill and Concordia University.

Having grown up here, I’m lucky to be fluently bilingual. And as most teachers at the Cat’s Corner dance school, I can seamlessly switch from one to the other without a problem.

We do try to keep the dance vocabulary in English in respect to the African-American roots of the dance, so we’ll use “Swing Out”, “Sugar Push” and “Tuck Turn” in our French sentences. There are also equivalent ways of counting “five six here we go” (cinq six on y va). Finally, since I’m teaching movement and rhythm, I will offset the disruptions in language-switching by using visual cues and by scatting out the rhythms.

When we have visiting instructors for workshops, there will sometimes be a designated translator to help the francophones. In general, Montrealers are good with understanding if not speaking English, so it’s usually not an issue.

3) If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

I’d probably be an apple tree, short and gnarly.

4) What made you decide to learn to swing dance? Better yet, what’s the Where, When, How, and Why of swing dancing for you?

September 2000. I was in my first year at McGill and saw students dancing outside in front of the Arts building. I couldn’t believe that people still partner-danced. At the time, dancing to me was about going to the club and “shaking it”.

It gave me the urge to try it out; plus, one of the girls was really cute! For the record, swing dancing is not an excuse to pick up girls.

It turns out the students had just founded the McGill Swing Kids club, and were recruiting members. I signed up and went to their first swing outing with a friend. My friend dropped out after that one time, but I continued on and took dance classes. As it turns out, I ended up dating the the girl I had initially spotted. And here I am seven years later, not with same person, but still deeply passionate about the music and the dance.

Why am I still passionate? The people are genuinely warm, open, welcoming. The dance is rich in history and culture.

Through swing dancing, I discovered great music and made life-long friends. The Lindy Hop community is my second home.

5) How’s it feel to be an ambassador of swing now that you’re in the GMail/YouTube video and are the screenshot being used for the video?It’s awesome that we were chosen for the Gmail video. I feel lucky and proud to be representing Lindy Hop and swing dancing on the world-wide-web.When the video went public, I was really excited, but didn’t realize the extent of what we had accomplished. As it closes in on the 5-million views, it’s mind-boggling to think that all these people have seen Ann Mony and I swinging out. It’s kinda cool.The day the video appeared on the Gmail homepage, my other dance partner Mélanie Huot-Lavoie received a text message from France - a dancer had spotted us and was letting her know. So not only did the video create exposure for the dance, it also got people talking and helped connect Lindy Hoppers together.As for the impact of the video, Peter Strom said it best when I saw him at Showdown this year, “It must be getting SOME people to start dancing… somewhere out there”. So yeah, I’m proud of that. Swing dancing has brought so much to my life, and I’ve seen the joy that it has brought to others as well, so I’m really glad that swing is getting the exposure it deserves. These days, I totally use it as a tool to convince non-dancers to try swing.And one thing I can’t forget. Fred Ngo, the guy who brought Lindy Hop to Montreal almost ten years ago, was actually the one who suggested that we submit a video for the Gmail contest, so I owe him big time.
Thank you Fred!

6) In addition to the Gmail video, you’ve got a bit of a presence online - tell us about your lindy hop dedicated blog.I started my blog as a source of information for my students. In Montreal, we don’t have a city-specific discussion forum like Yehoodi (New York) or Whiteheat (Seattle) in which dancers can come together and talk swing, so I felt the need to create a space where I could bring up dance topics, help Montrealers learn about the history of the dance, and at the same time reach out to the international community.On my blog, I cover Lindy Hop, jazz music, DJ-ing for dancers, performance, history, technique, even dance shoes.I encourage students to social dance by promoting local dances and events in Montreal. I also give them the resources to learn on their own by referring to forum threads on sites like Yehoodi and SwingDJs so that they can get different points of view. And finally, I promote the dance community at large by announcing news and encouraging readers to attend swing events outside of Montreal.In the dance context, my learning philosophy comes from Ryan “Swifty” Swift, a prominent Lindy Hop DJ in New York City. He taught me to lead people in the right direction, and let them discover on their own. That’s what swing dancing and DJ-ing swing music have been for me, a constant source of excitement and discovery. That’s how I hope to inspire dancers with my blog.

Oh, and there’s also some shameless self-promotion for my dance school, Cat’s Corner, and my handpainted t-shirts for dancers. So far, I’ve painted one of Max Pitruzzella and Sharon Davis, Skye Humphries and Naomi Uyama, Mike Faltesek… I’m currently painting one for Jojo Jackson.

7) Fill in the blanks: Today I am really ___________ because ____________.

Today I am light for the leaves have turned blue.

When hanging around the house, do you wear shoes, go barefoot, wear socks, or wear slippers?

I get chilly, so socks.

Stephanie McKernan is a dancer, organizer and teacher in Vancouver, British Columbia. She’s the driving force behind the second round of Lindy Bout, happening this April 11-13, 2008.

Photo credit: Shawn.M.Lavelle

1. What’s your story? How did you start dancing?

I grew up in Toronto. I love music. I love jazz music. Thanks to huge crushes on Christian Bale and Robert Sean Leonard I saw Swing Kids and saw there was actually a dance that people did to jazz music. Then I learned that one of my friends actually knew how to do it! I learned my first swing outs at the back of Barcode (a now non-existent venue in Toronto) the summer before I moved to Vancouver for University. When I moved to Vancouver, very few people did Lindy hop. I was introduced to East coast swing and Ballroom dancing and dabbled in that for a year. The next year I joined the swing dance club at the University of British Columbia and became its secretary – no more dabbling. Dancing and organizing dance events became and remains a huge part of my life.

2. You’re an organizer and teacher in Vancouver. What are your thoughts about the swing scene in Western Canada?

First, a bit of a disclaimer, I’ve never visited the swing scenes in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I know dancers from across Western Canada but my only real experience with swing scenes is in British Columbia, specifically Vancouver. I’ve visited Victoria a few times; it is a lovely place with an enthusiastic and welcoming scene, but distinct from Vancouver.

In high school I remember learning about Vancouver’s physical and cultural isolation from the rest of Canada. It is ‘trapped’ to the East by the mountains, to the West by water, to the South by a border and to the North by nothing. This applies to the swing scene. We seem to do our own thing without being too influenced by other scenes.

That being said, we do have many dancers (myself included) who travel regularly to Seattle, Herräng and other places where they are inspired and challenged. They bring that excitement and experience home and pass it on to other dancers. So we’re not completely isolated and insular.

We are in the midst of a dancing boom. Our Beginner and Intermediate classes are full, any workshops or special events are very well attended. People are working not only on their Lindy hop, but also their Balboa, Charleston and solo jazz. We also have a growing Blues scene. This makes me really excited-it’s fabulous that people are getting interested and more involved in the various branches of vernacular jazz dancing. It also shows a size and maturity in our scene that we have not had before.

There are two weekly dance nights in suburban Vancouver (Langley and Abbotsford) that have developed their own smaller scenes. There is one large weekly dance in Vancouver. It is called Stomp It Off and it runs every Saturday night. It brings in upwards of seventy people every week and is a good mix of local and suburban dancers. There are disadvantages of only having one big dance a week but there are also benefits in a scene our size. Being the biggest regular weekly dance it brings together all the dancers in the scene: beginners, advanced dancers, people that like Blues, people that like Charleston etc. It has forced the DJs to be good at keeping people with different tastes dancing all night. In turn, it exposes dancers to a wide range of danceable jazz music and it prods them to explore other types of jazz dancing. Another bonus of having one main venue is that it fosters community as you see people from week to week and learn their names and perhaps a bit about them.

In Vancouver we have great relationships with amazing local musicians. When I first started dancing out here it was all djed music, things have changed since then. Two of the main venues in and around Vancouver, Stomp It Off in Vancouver and Fat City Swing in Langley, have live music at least once a month. We also have many dancers who frequent the trad jazz festivals that happen around Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest. These events are a blast. The crowd at trad jazz festivals is made up of mostly senior citizens and a handful of dancers who are the same age as their grandkids. I love it when everyone is dancing to the same band and the Lindy hoppers will be swinging out, going crazy and the old timers will be fox-trotting around the floor never breaking a sweat. Every so often the older crowd will come out to a swing dance venue when we have a band; it’s quite inspiring and sets a great example for us young’uns.

Vancouver has amazing people involved in the Lindy hop community. I’ve been grateful and fortunate to work with most of these people. We have dedicated organizers like Darren Scherck (who runs Stomp It Off) and teachers like Lucy Falkner who help the scene grow and push it to greater dancing heights. There are also many other people who may not take such a visible role, but are always around when you need a hand in running an event or when you want to seriously work on your dancing.

3. How would you compare the Vancouver/Abbotsford scene to the one in Seattle? Since you are so close to one another, would you consider them “sister” scenes?

Again, a bit of a disclaimer, I can’t speak for the Abbotsford scene. Abbotsford has its own thing going on. It’s distinct from Vancouver in many ways.

Seattle’s scene is bigger and older than Vancouver’s Lindy hop scene; as familial relations go, Seattle could be the much older sister to Vancouver. The first generation of Lindy hoppers in Vancouver used to drive down and back every week to take lessons and dance. (The drive is roughly 3 hours one way if the border is good.) So in a way the Vancouver Lindy hop scene was a branch of the Seattle scene. Since then we’ve grown up quite a bit and are now independent but we love them visiting us and we love visiting them.

Seattle’s scene is huge. Most of the differences between Vancouver and Seattle stem from the difference in size. You can go dancing any night of the week in Seattle and see different people at every night. Seattle also has distinct Balboa and Blues scenes that are larger and more established than the scenes in Vancouver.

Because of the size and breath of the Seattle scene we tease them for never coming to visit us in Vancouver. This is quite often true. Vancouver dancers travel to Seattle more often than Seattle dancers travel to Vancouver. We still love them.

4. Tell me about Lindy Bout. What was the original idea, and why did you decide to organize this event? What’s new this year?

Back around when the Canadian Swing Championships used to be the Eastern Canadian Swing Championships there was talk about a Western Canadian Swing Championships. Western Canada was not really interested in such an event. You can check out the conversations on Lindyhopper.ca if you’re interested in the discussion that was online.

Gradually dancers in and around Vancouver started taking dancing more seriously. A bunch of us started a Lindy hop troupe called Hot Koko. The Kokos started working really hard and competing and winning and inspiring other dancers in and around Vancouver. In 2006 Darren Scherck, Kevin Savage and myself sat down to plan a competition weekend that would take some of the dancing fire in Vancouver and Victoria and stoke it. We wanted a weekend in Western Canada for Western Canadian dancers. We came up with Lindy Bout. Later that year, for various reasons Kevin and Darren bowed out of running Lindy Bout and I took full control of the weekend.

The ideas and motivation behind Lindy Bout have not changed. It was important to us to have an event that truly represented where we were at in the West dance-wise, an event that would foster healthy competition, an event that would inspire dancers to keep challenging their dancing and an event that would bring dancers from all over Canada’s West together for a big party. That’s where it came from and where it’s still going.

It was a small event last year, but hugely successful. This year is quite similar to last year with a few changes to reflect how things have progressed out here. I am overjoyed that, as last year, Mark Kihara will be our Master of Ceremonies. He was a big part of making last year incredible and I’m looking forward to having him around this year. Dan Amores, Mandi Gould and Chris Chapman will be joined by Lucy Falkner as our head judges and teachers.

Friday night we’re holding the Battle of the Western DJs. Three DJs chosen from the Prairies, two DJs from Vancouver and one DJ from Victoria will compete for honour and our dancing love.

There are a few new Match divisions (in tune with our boxing theme, all the competitions are called Matches). The Solo Jazz Match will give people an opportunity to bust out some solo Blues, Charleston and other forms of jazz. The Partner Blues competition will give the great Blues dancers in the town an opportunity to show their stuff. We also have a Performance Match to encourage people to put together any sort of choreography and perform.

Lindy Bout is right around my birthday. It is also one of the last big events I will be at before I move to Toronto, so on Sunday we’re going to have a big brunch party. There will be food, perhaps some cake, party hats, great music as well as a vintage clip presentation. Joel Schwarz (aka Professor Smack) is a local dancer who has a huge collection of vintage jazz dance clips. He has also done extensive research on the clips and the history of dance by talking to the folks who were there. I’m not sure what he’ll have in store, but he always puts together a great collection of clips and stories.

Also new this year is the number of people from Alberta already registered!

5. Since you are moving to Toronto in the summer, what’s next for you as a dancer? Have you danced in Toronto before, and if yes, how would you compare the dancing in the two cities?

I have danced in Toronto before. I’d usually be in Toronto during the Christmas season and sometime in the summer either on my way to or from Herräng and I’d try to get out to a dance.

Vancouver venues are dry and are mostly djed. Toronto venues serve alcohol and usually have live music, as such I find them more conducive to chatting. I spend more time hanging out and socializing in Toronto, whereas in Vancouver when I go out I spend more time dancing. I could also spend more time socializing in Toronto because I’m rarely there, so when I go out I take time to catch up with people. Because I’ve been there infrequently I feel like a visitor. It’s funny but dance-wise I feel more at home visiting Seattle than Toronto. I’ve been in Seattle more often and I have some good friends there.

I don’t know what will be next. I will be getting married and looking for full-time work so I’m not sure what type of structure my life will take. I will continue dancing; I’m not sure about the teaching, performing and organizing parts of my dancing life. There are great people and dancers in Toronto that I hope to work with but really, I’ll have to wait and see where I fit in the community and how I can contribute to it.

Thanks Steph! If you liked this, you can also read my interview with Adam Boehmer from Ann Arbor.

In my previous post on the upcoming Québec Swing Rendez-Vous, I mentioned Adam Boehmer whom I really admire, not only for his dancing skills but also for his attitude towards the dance and towards people in the community. He is open, warm and authentic. I got a chance to interview him this past month, and he gave me some interesting insights on his background, his dancing and his inspirations.

1. What’s your story? How did you start dancing?

When I was sixteen, I worked at a theme park called Adventure Landing. I was a laser tag “Explorer” named Mowgli. I know…kind of lame-sounding, but it was a fun first job! My best friend Alison, who also worked there, heard there was swing dancing going on in downtown Jacksonville, at a rockabilly bar called The Moto Lounge. This was 1998, at the height of the swing craze, so we had seen some dancing (mostly crazy aerials) on commercials and music videos. So, we lied to our moms and went. This was very frightening for me, I was a pretty good kid, and the bar was an hour drive, and in a shady part of town. But once that door opened, I knew I was home! There was already a huge scene at the time, and I took to east coast swing pretty easily. My friends and I became obsessed and ended up at that bar 3-4 times a week for the next year until eventually, I was the only one still into it! Now, they all think I’m crazy for spending the last decade dancing…(but I also think they’re a little sad they didn’t keep up with it too!)

2. One reason I love watching you dance is that you exude positive vibes. Where do you get all that crazy energy?

I think rhythm gives you energy. Especially the rhythm in really solid swing. It’s funny how I can almost have more energy at the end of the night if the band has been kicking ass. Or maybe I’m totally dragging and drunk at the end of the night, but then my friend Matt DJ’s an awesome tune and all of a sudden, I can dance through the floor! Becoming a vessel for the music was a big step in my learning process in swing, how to open up and let the music fill you like a sail. Then, the rhythm is doing all the work and you’re just along for the ride! As far as being positive, how can you not smile when you’re dancing? It floors me when I see how serious people get: a furrowed brow, this intensity that says “work” not “play.” Dance is my joy and I can’t not show it!

3. I remember you saying during a class at QSRV in 2006 that you found it easy thinking in Charleston, and that you could come up with tons of sh*t on the fly. What tips would you have for dancers who are just starting to discover the solo stuff?

I feel like everyone accesses dance differently. Some folks like to analyze and pick apart moves and tinker with them, presenting a new “suzy-q” or a fully embellished charleston basic. For those that think that way, I feel the best thing to do is take one jazz step and question the hell out of it. What makes this move an inherent “fall off the log” or whatever. How much can you change the rhythm, timing, the arm movements, the body positioning, and still consider it that same move. This is a really fun exercise I still return to when I need some inspiration. Why does a “shorty george” have to go forward? What else can I do with my upper body that contrasts or compliments my lower body movement? For those who think in a more ethereal way, less in sections and chunks, I suggest just rockin’ it out to music and just keeping rhythm, shaking your ass, and see what happens. My favorite dancers have an attitude, a character, that separates them from other dancers. Look at someone like Ramona. If I had to imitate a move she did, I don’t think I could. Because she has a character, a stage presence that is her joy, not just a bunch of clever moves and variations on a theme. Spending time with a song and just shaking, moving, losing fear of “what move do I do next” will present to you your character, your root movement that is inherently yours.

4. Each year you come up with new ways to express yourself. Where do you draw inspiration for your dance?

Everywhere! A few years ago I got caught up in the term “authentic.” What moves were I doing that were true Lindy Hop? Charleston? It became a mess in my head and really affected my confidence as a dancer. The more reading I did though, esp. the biographies of Norma and Frankie, the more I realized that every dancer from that time had to have influences that weren’t jazz dance. That was a really freeing realization. You are your own dancer, your own editor in your dance, the one who decides what Lindy Hop is to you, etc. I really get a kick out of seeing how far I can push swing dance without losing the spirit of the dance. My last year of dancing was really influenced by a Congolese dance class I took, also cheerleaders from University of Michigan, modern dance, my partner Erin’s “favorites” list on youtube (she loves ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ as well as random footage of people dancing to MIA songs). I’m not interested in being a historical reinactor, I want to be an artist. I try to decide what my limitations are and be honest with myself about how I’m limiting myself subconsciously in my dance. Sometimes going out on the floor and saying “I will not do any move I’ve ever done” is a huge inspiration for me (although I always end up doing a lot of my favorite moves…)

5. What’s next for you as a dancer? what are you working on/ trying to achieve?

This sort of feeds off the last question. I want to be a dancer in a way that is continually fulfilling. This means for now, taking dance classes that challenge me (oh god, tap is hard….) and also integrating swing dance into more socially acceptable places here in the Midwest. It’s still very much something people do in university spaces, gymnasiums, etc. where as I would like it on the stage through performances, in night clubs with actual atmosphere and presence, and at parties in people’s homes. That’s kind of where I’m at right now: yearning to make partner dancing an involved part of people’s lives instead of treating it like a survey course, and finding new ways to express myself as an artist in dance.

Adam Boehmer is one of our guest teachers at the upcoming Cat’s Corner tenth year anniversary celebration on Oct.31 to Nov.2, 2008 in Montreal, Canada. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is hoping to start an MFA in poetry in the spring. Watch him in the Solo Charleston finals at Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2007.