This weekend I’ll head to Denver, Colorado to DJ some sweet Balboa tunes at the Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout! I’ve missed this event for the past two years and it’s so wonderful to be able to go again – looking forward to Denver’s wonderful venues, food, dancing, and general shenanigans with my fellow DJs. 🙂
I am excited to announce that I will be working at this year’s Lindy Focus Dance Camp in three capacities! First, I will be a part of the event’s DJ roster, spinning tunes in the Balboa room, now known as the Avalon Balboa Dance Party. It has been a dream of mine for years to be invited to DJ at Lindy Focus and I am excited to be invited to spin my favorite tunes (i.e. uptempo swing) for the event.
Second, I will be making an appearance as Lindy Shopper on a panel discussion during Lindy Focus’ Field Day – the discussion is titled “Scene Building in the Age of New Media” and I will be accompanied by four other esteemed panelists, including Dance World Takeover‘s Rebecca Brightly, Wandering and Pondering‘s Jerry Almonte, Mobtown Ballroom‘s Michael Seguin, and international dance instructor and swing jazz guitarist Mike Faltesek.
Finally, I’ll be singing a few tunes with the Solomon Douglas Swingtet on December 30!
Did I mention I was excited?! I mean, who isn’t excited about the opportunity to attend Lindy Focus? The cherry on my awesome LF sundae is that my husband, trombonist Lucian Cobb, will be working the event, as well, performing with Ben Polcer, Glenn Crytzer, and Solomon Douglas – huzzah!
In preparation for the upcoming Eastern Balboa Championships, Jason Sager and I will be teaching a pure Balboa class for The Lindy Lab! Classes will run for four Wednesdays, from October 3 through October 24, 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Triangle Dance Studio in the Guest House (the house to the left of the main building on Miami Boulevard). Here’s the info from the Lindy Lab website:
It doesn’t look like we are moving, but I promise our feet are moving really fast!
“One of the often overlooked dances of the swing world, Pure Balboa is the original close-position-only side of Balboa and Bal-Swing. This dance originally developed in crowded dance halls where owners forbid open position dancing in order to pack in more people and make more money. More than just step step, hold, step, there is a lot of room for improvisation in Pure Bal position. And the better your Pure Bal is, the better those times in between bal-swing toss-outs and lollies will feel. Jason Sager and Laura Windley will lead class in a way that builds on principles rather than moves and gives you plenty to play with at the Eastern Balboa Championships competitions in November in Raleigh.”
Pure Balboa isn’t just for comps, it’s so easy and fun to work into your regular dancing and gives you the fundamentals that make Balboa feel so comfortable, even at faster tempos. Bring your heels and/or your leather soles and we’ll work on all that great shuffle-y, tiny footwork. 🙂
Registration is available online at Schedulicity or you can show up at the class to register. See you in October!
The Mint Julep Jazz Band will be celebrating Independence Day at Festival for the Eno! We’ll be performing one set at the River Stage from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. The festival is setting up a dance floor in front of the River Stage and Jason Sager is teaching a beginner swing dance lesson at 1:45 p.m., so bring your dance shoes if you are so inclined. It will be a lovely day of picnicing and hot jazz!
West Point on the Eno City Park
5101 North Roxboro Road
Durham, NC
River Stage, 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
For tickets and information on the festival, directions, and parking, please visit the Festival for the Eno website.
Photo from Mint Julep Jazz Band’s performance at the Carrboro Century Center on St. Patrick’s Day, courtesy of Joel Carlin.
The Mint Julep Jazz Band is excited to return to Carrboro for a show on June 16, 2012 at the Triangle Swing Dance Society swing dance, held at the Carrboro Century Center. Come dance on the finest sprung wood floor in the Triangle! Don’t know how to dance? No problem! There’s a beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m. that is included with the price of admission.
Carrboro Century Center
100 N. Greensboro Street
Carrboro, NC
Beginner east coast swing lesson – 7:00 p.m.
Band plays from 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Admission: Members/students $8.00, general admission $12.00
This weekend is my favorite swing dance event of the year, All Balboa Weekend in Independence, Ohio. I’ll be DJ’ing again this year and look forward to playing entire sets of uptempo classic swing music. Ahhhhh!
I am also looking forward to sharing the DJ booth with the esteemed head DJ Kyle Smith and a team of national and international swing DJs, including Sandrine Gressier (Toulouse, France), Christian Bossert (Zurich, Switzerland), Jo Ann Coker (Seattle, WA), and Kristy Milliken (Durham, NC). This is also the first time I have seen the female DJs outnumber the male DJs at a national swing dance event that is not geared towards followers – go ladies!
I’ll also be reporting on Cleveland’s numerous and fabulous vintage stores, as well as the event vendors , for the Lindy Shopper blog.
We’ll be donning our finest emerald apparel for the Mint Julep Jazz Band show on March 17, 2012 at the Triangle Swing Dance Society swing dance, held at the Carrboro Century Center. Come dance on the finest sprung wood floor in the Triangle! Don’t know how to dance? No problem! There’s a beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m. that is included with the price of admission.
Carrboro Century Center
100 N. Greensboro Street
Carrboro, NC
Beginner east coast swing lesson – 7:00 p.m.
Band plays from 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Admission: Members/students $8.00, general admission $12.00
On March 10, 2012 the Mint Julep Jazz Band is playing the Saturday night dance at the Queen City Lindy Exchange! The Queen City Lindy Exchange is a weekend-long swing dance event held in Charlotte, NC with dances held throughout the weekend, featuring both DJs and live bands. Speaking of DJs, I will also be one of their featured DJs for the weekend. 🙂 QCLX is organized by Eric and Stephanie Simpson of Lovin’ Lindy, who are the dearest people and I’m looking forward to working with them at this event!
For more information on the event and the Saturday night dance, please visit http://www.qclx.org/.
I’m looking forward to (i.e. crazy, insanely excited about) the Mint Julep Jazz Band‘s debut performance on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at Durham’s weekly Lindy Hop and Swing dance night at Hot Club of Durham, with the band hosted by RDU Rent Party! RDU Rent Party is a pay-what-you-can swing dance where all the donations taken at the door go to the band at the end of the night. Everyone is welcome at this event – this is a large venue and there will be plenty of seating at tables for people who are not dancing.
Also making her debut with the Mint Julep Jazz Band is DJ Sarah Ovenall, host of WXDU’s Divaville Lounge, which highlights “great songs and singers from Tin Pan Alley to the swing era,” every Sunday from 2-4 p.m. on 88.7 FM. If you’ve ever heard Sarah’s show, you know that she has an extensive music collection from the jazz age and swing era. She’s up for this new DJ challenge and I’m excited to hear her first set for dancers!
The Trotter Building back then is very similar to how it looks today.
Hot Club of Durham
Trotter Building
410 W. Geer Street
Durham, NC
8:00 p.m. – Beginner lesson
9:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. – The Mint Julep Jazz Band and DJ Sarah Ovenall
RDU Rent Party is pay-what-you-can with a suggested $10 donation
The Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/234356989972442/
For more information, visit
I am excited to be performing at the very first Be My Jazz Baby, a weekend of workshops and dances in Norfolk, Virginia, January 20-22, 2012. Bill Speidel and Victor Celania have put together a fantastic schedule, featuring instructors Michael Gamble, Jaya Dorf, Adam Speen, and Abigail Browning, with Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society of Philadelphia bringing their raucous jazz age tunes to both Friday and Saturday night dances. I’ll be singing a few tunes with Drew and the boys!
Bill and Victor have also made arrangements for a number of vendors to attend Be My Jazz Baby, so Lindy Shopper will be on hand to get the scoop. 😉 Looking forward to Be My Jazz Baby!
Laura Windley 