alain’s dance blog

For those wondering where I’ve been this last week, I was busy at my new workplace. Fred and Ben decided to add me to the StandoutJobs team for the next few months. I’m excited and feel that I’ll be learning a lot in the startup environment.

The new toys are not bad either.

I’ve finally settled in, so new dance and jazz music posts will be up in the next day or two. In the meantime, if you know any Ruby Gurus, send them my way.

Also, I will be DJ-ing at the upcoming Québec Swing Rendez-Vous in January. Don’t miss the next deadline, December 15th, to save $30 on the weekend pass.

Mike Faltesek, one of my favorite Lindy Hop dancers, came to visit Montreal this past September, and I decided to paint a t-shirt for him. I combined two elements, the famous picture of him doing a lowdown, and his lovely blue bike. As it turned out, he looks more like a kung fu dude than a Lindy Hopper.

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.

Mélanie Huot-Lavoie and Alain Wong competing in the Lindy Hop performance division at the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2007.

Mélanie hasn’t seen the video yet, but I think we are satisfied with our performance. I was really stressed the morning of, waking up before everyone else in our hotel room and then watching CNN in the lobby because I had nothing else to do to keep me distracted.

We did get some good feedback from dancers, so that was cool. Ben Yau from California commented on the fact that despite our short stature (we were by far the smallest couple performing), we did a good job of dancing big. Yay arms and hands.

Let me know what you think of our performance.

I’m debating between three different texts/types to finish my Showdown t-shirt depicting Phil Onochie and Jojo Jackson in the Freedom (Slow) division last year. Help!