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Swing Dancing

I think last night was my sixth time going to Midtown Stomp. This place in Sacramento, called the Eastern Star Ballroom, is a building on the fourth floor of which is an old theater house with a large stage, dance floor, and stadium seating in the back for audiences. The fact that the place was built in an era during which swing dancing was popular makes the experience more authentic, and especially when there are live bands; but even more fun is how many people pack this large dance floor on Fridays. It is full enough that one can feel the floor bouncing as couples dance. The sad news is that Midtown Stomp is moving to a new building in Sacramento in mid January, the Eastern Star Ballroom having been sold.

In any case, the company organizes the evening so that people get to know one another before they are sent out on the dance floor for freestyle dancing. The two lead dancers form everyone in a circle and have the "follows" (the girls) rotate as the lead dancers teach basic swing steps. After some time, the DJ has the crowd form a circle for a birthday dance in which each person whose birthday it is stands in the center and dances with anyone willing to dance; and later still, the crowd gets together for a dance called the Shim Sham, performed by everyone together.

In a strange meeting of worlds, it was mostly here that I learned many of the moves I taught my students one quarter. Around thirty students had signed up for a "Computer Applications" class, a class that was changed to "Swing Dance" when I learned that the computer lab would not be available. You can imagine the reaction students who thought they were taking a completely different course might have to a surprise like this.

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