Swing Dynamite Blog
Thoughts and news about swing dancing in Ottawa
Bar and Band Etiquette for Swing Dancers
[ 2 Comments ] Posted by byron on Nov 28, 2011 in Getting Good at Swing Dancing, Live Music
Do you know why most cities don’t have swing dances in bars? Or why it’s uncommon for swing dances to feature live music? To begin with, did you know that in 1999 that many cities, including Ottawa, had a number of bars that featured swing dance nights?
Most of those venues died, and one of the reasons was the behaviour of some swing dancers. Now that we’re getting more bar nights and live music in Ottawa, let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. Together we can help build a culture of etiquette, respect, and also the party attitude that will make more nights of swing dancing possible. You can go further than “not being a problem” and actually join together with other dancers to spread good etiquette and a respect for the musicians and venue.
Remember that musicians are professionals. They rely on the success of the bar to be paid. A few bars don’t even charge a cover for their swing, jazz or blues nights, which means they rely completely on drink sales (and some cases food) in order to pay the musicians. That means two things: one, that buying drinks is what pays for the privilege of dancing in the bar, and two, that realistically speaking it’s the people who sit all night, drinking and listening to the music, who are really paying for the band. As swing dancers we need to treat the people who sit and drink as a very valuable resource, because without them there is no bar night or live music.
Many dancers make the incorrect assumption that merely by showing up and dancing, they’re providing entertainment and therefore value to the bar. It’s simply not true. Have you ever tried to watch two hours of Jack ‘n Jills in a row? Yeah. Some people like watching the dancers, and others just get annoyed at all of the people obstructing their view of the band.
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Django Libre: the essence of Gypsy Swing
[ No Comments ] Posted by Claudia on Aug 17, 2011 in Jazz and Blues Musicians, Live Music, News, Ottawa, Swing, Swing Dancing, Swing Music
Catch Django Libre at the Avant-Garde Bar this Friday, August 19 – 9 to 11 p.m. Django Libre will be joined by Richard Page.
Gypsy Swing – a.k.a. Gypsy Jazz or Jazz Manouche, was developed by Django Reinhardt by mixing Gypsy elements to his jazz improvisations. Django Libre keeps this music alive here in Ottawa with wonderful renditions of the Gypsy Jazz standards.
Avant-Garde Bar
135 1/2 Besserer Street
(613) 321-8908
Usually they have a suggested donation as a cover.
Souper Jazz on the Sparks Street Mall
[ No Comments ] Posted by Claudia on Aug 17, 2011 in General, Jazz and Blues Musicians, Live Music, News, Swing Music
Wednesday, August 17 – 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Souper Jazz – a Swing Dynamite favourite, is a registered charity. They have been playing Jazz in the Ottawa area since 1987. Proceeds from those performances are donated to various local charities, usually to a local soup kitchen: hence the “Soup” in “Souper”.
The band’s influences include Trad Jazz and New Orleans flavoured jazz, and jazz/pop from the era of the 20′s to the 40′s: Louis Armstrong to Hoagy Carmichael, “High Society” to “Pennies from Heaven”.
You may recognize some of the musicians as Cuppasoup – a Souper Jazz subsidiary, just played for the Voice Found Fundraiser at Saturday Night Swing this past Saturday.
Cuppasoup playing for the Voice Found Fundraiser at Saturday Night Swing