| | *Beginning Lindy Hop 6:30-7:30 *Intermediate Lindy Hop 6:30-7:30 Intro to Swing 7:30-8:00 *Students must register by 5/5 to take this class. Classes in June: | | *Beginning Lindy Hop 6:30-7:30 *Balboa 6:30-7:30 Intro to Swing 7:30-8:00 *Students must register by 6/1 to take this class. | ![]() | | Swing Through the Month of May: | | 5/1 - Dance Night at Spangles 5/4 - May the Fourth be With You dance contest, and Dance Card Sunday 5/21 - Dance Night at the Wright Brothers
5/25- Birthday Jam | | Travel Opportunities: | | There are still plenty of events to travel to before the winter slump! Check out: Dallas Lindy Workshop in Dallas, TX, June 30-May 1
KC Stomp in Kansas City, MO, July 11-13 Lindy on the Rocks in Denver, CO, July 30- August 3 Cowtown Jamborama in Omaha, NE, September 11-14 Sundance Swingout in Ft. Worth, TX, October 17-19 | The Funny Section: | Wanna dance? NOPE NOPE NOPE:
 | | | | | | Happy Birthday Frankie Manning Good morning dancers! Tomorrow, May 26th, would have been the 100th birthday of Frankie Manning, one of the most important dancers in the history of Swing. You might have noticed, if you have a lot of Swing dancing friends, that your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds have been BLOWING UP with updates about Frankie 100, an event of epic proportions in NYC where dancers have gathered from the all over the world to celebrate the memory of this Swing icon. There are hundreds of resources on the web where you can read about Frankie's incredible contributions to the community we call home. I'll let you do your own Googling and enjoy the journey. And, as you do (or watch) the Shim Sham tonight, you might remember that you owe it to this person:
 Frankie Manning
| | Sign up for Balboa in June! If you're new to the WSDS, you might not realize just how many types of Swing we like to do. We give lessons in Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing every month. Lindy Hop is our mainstay; it's the all-inclusive, versatile dance that made way for all of the others. And East Coast Swing is the simplest, most accessible form of Swing. It's a good gateway dance. But, every other month, we also do a month-long series class on something different. June's series class will be Balboa.
Balboa is a wonderful Swing dance with a lot of unique characteristics. It combines very close embrace with very fast music. It evolved in clubs that were so crowded, swinging out was out of the question. Dancers had to take up as little space on the floor as possible, but they still wanted to make the most of the up-tempo jazz that so inspired them. Sylvia Sykes described Balboa like this:
Pure Balboa's not a dance for anybody to watch. It's a dance where the partners and the music are the experience. It's secret between you and your partner and the music, and it has nothing to do with somebody sitting in a chair watching you. That about captures it. Not only is Balboa a great way to experience the music and a dance partnership, it also provides a sweet reprieve when the song you're dancing to is just too fast, for too long. Sign up at the front desk tonight to reserve your spot in June's Balboa series. No partner or experience is required.
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| | | | Any time a WSDS member brings a new dancer to Swingin' Sunday for the first time, both people get in for half price! That's a grand total of $5 for two people. You won't find a better deal than that anywhere. We need YOU: | | The WSDS is looking for volunteers to help us manage Sunday nights! If you've been dancing with us for a while, and would like a chance to give something back to the scene, please email us and let us know! We will really appreciate your help. There might even be a hug in it for you. | | More Swing Dancing in Wichita: | If you want to take your swing dancing to the next level, check out the Lindy Bombers! This local dance club has been meeting every Monday evening for years, working on swing dance vocabulary, technique, and musicality. The Lindy Bombers can also put you in touch with the Shiny Stockings and Five Moes Named Guy, Wichita's solo-jazz troupes. And, if you're REALLY motivated, the Lindy Bombers are also your gateway to Hot Rhythm Revival, Wichita's competitive swing dancing team. There are lots of options out there, come check them out! | Video of the Week: | If you haven't seen much Balboa before, you ought to check it out in time to sign up for June's series class! Watch some of today's best Bal dancers compete in this video. You'll see that it is very different from some of the better-known Swing dances. | |
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