alain’s dance blog

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.

During the Century Masters event in Seattle this summer, a group of Lindy Hoppers paid tribute to the Harlem Congaroos by recreating two 1940s clips in front of many jazz dance greats. The dancers are Mike Faltesek and Casey Schneider, Stefan Durham and Bethany Powell.

You can watch the original Killer Diller clip here.

Camp Jitterbug is a weekend long event in Seattle Washington featuring amazing teachers, workshops and competitions. This year’s DVD trailer just came out.

Last year, I helped some b-girl friends with their latest show, a fusion of break and swing.

I met Jodee Allen, co-owner of the dance company, a few years back when I volunteered for the Inner City Dance Project. We both gave of our time to provide young children with affordable $1 dance classes. Unfortunately, the project fell through. But we have stayed friends ever since. So when they pitched me their idea of creating a fusion of two street dances, I jumped on right away. And the result is amazing.

Why don’t people dance in couples anymore?

They premiered “Take It Back” at Espace Tangente last October, to a string of sold-out crowds. It got rave reviews in all the major newspapers. I was even wrongly credited for composing the musical score in La Presse. Here’s the official blurb about the concept.

TAKE IT BACK
With “Take it Back”, Solid State asks the question, ” Why don’t we dance in couples anymore?” It comes down to the idea that someone must lead and the other must follow. The popularization among urban youth of dancing in mass groups or the soloing format of street forms has created an environment where we dance how we want. Everyone is a leader. Who is willing to follow? So where did the role of the follower go? In an attempt to create a social partner dance for our generation, Solid State has paired the high physicality of B-boying (Breakdance) with the partnering structures of Lindy Hop (Swing) and the gestural abstractions of Contemporary Dance. The result of this fusion is a humourous yet profound look at our societal issues with trust, and the shift in our perception of gender roles.

Check out this article in the Montreal Mirror. Or these reviews in The Dance Current.

Their next performance is this weekend in Toronto, so if you have friends over in Hogtown, spread the word. If you’re in Montreal, you can catch “Take It Back” next month. The dancers are JoDee Allen (b-girl Feisty), Helen Simard (b-girl Cheeco), Raul Guevara (b-boy 4Everfresh), Joe Danny Aurelien (b-boy Dingo), Johnny Bien-Aime (b-boy Skywalker).

• Sept 8-9 2007, Dancemaker’s Center, Toronto, ON
• Oct 16th 2007, Theatre Outremont, Montreal, Q

Watch them dance at the Osheaga music festival last year in Montreal.

For more info, visit Solid State Break Dance.

Yesterday I stopped at one of the many second-hand music shops in Montreal. L’Échange on St-Denis near Des Pins had some pretty good finds. There was a Sidney Bechet 2CD import for $14 with some of my favorite tunes like “Shake it or break it” and “Viper Mad”. There was also an Ella Fitzgerald CD for $7 with the hand-clapping version of “Goody Goody” (25/2/1952).

L’Échange St-Denis, 3694 rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, QC H2X 3L7 Tél.: (514) 849-1913

Here are a few other choice second-hand spots in Montreal to shop around for jazz music.

• Cheap Thrills 2044 Metcalfe, (514) 844-8988
• L’Échange Mont-Royal 713 Mont-Royal E., (514) 523-6389
• Beatnick 3770 St-Denis, (514) 842-0664

I’ll admit that for DJ-ing, you can be pretty picky about the albums you buy, especially when you are on a budget. So if you’re looking for specific CDs, don’t forget online retailers for used CDs - Ebay, Amazon and Gemm. However if you like to explore music by artist, it’s much more fun to dig in and get your hands dirty rummaging through those used record shops.

It’s pretty much a treasure hunt. You’ll get frustrated a lot, but finding the occasional gem will make it all worthwhile!