The Blue Shoes Swingtet for World Lindy Hop Day
Fri May 26, 19:30 - Fri May 26, 23:00
Truth Coffee Roasting
ABOUT
Join us at Truth Coffee for a night of live swinging jazz with The Blue Shoes Swingtet, to celebrate WORLD LINDY HOP DAY with Cape Town Swing! Doors open at 7:30 pm, and the Blue Shoes start playing at 8 pm!
Tickets:
R150 online, until 22 May
R190 online, until 26 May
R250 at the door
The Lindy Hop is a partnered dance that originated in the African American communities in Harlem in the 1930s, and spread all over the world during the height of the Swing Era. It’s a dynamic, connected, stretchy, super-fun, expressive dance that plays with the swinging big band music of the era. It’s made a big comeback in recent decades thanks to its joyful energy. Frankie Manning, arguably the most famous of Swing Era lindy hoppers, was born on 26 May 1914 – World Lindy Hop Day is celebrated on the same day each year, to commemorate this legendary elder of lindy hop.
Wanna learn to dance? Join Cape Town Swing's class at 6 PM – a brand new Novice progressive course, kicking off for the first time on Friday 26 May. Book here with code WORLDLINDYHOPDAY to get 50% off the class.
ABOUT THE BLUE SHOES:
The Blue Shoes Swingtet is a 5-piece jazz band that was created to cater to the swing dancers of Cape Town. They specialise in popular songs of the Swing Era that dancers know and love. Comprising some of Cape Town's best jazz musicians, this group will surely swing your socks off like no other. Featuring: Lilavan Gangen on drums, Brathew Van Schalkwyk on keys, Penelope Radsma on vocals, Joshua Nemaire on bass.
ABOUT CAPE TOWN SWING:
Established since 2012, Cape Town Swing is a community organisation that exists to nurture a regional appreciation for the music, dance styling, and history of swing jazz. As part of the global swing dance community, they aim to facilitate a passion for swing in South Africa by offering classes, hosting parties and social dances, facilitating and supporting live swinging jazz, organising weekend festivals and camps, inviting international guest instructors, preserving South African swing traditions, and building an inclusive community that extends beyond the city centre.
ABOUT TRUTH COFFEE:
Our venue for the night, Truth Coffee Roasting, is the world-famous steampunk-themed cafe, home to the best coffee in the city.
WHAT IS SWING?
Broadly, swing is a type of jazz music that originated in the 1920s in America. The music gained mainstream popularity in the mid-1930s and until the mid-1940s was the popular music of the time. Band leaders like Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Chick Webb were the superstars of their time. Swing music was (and still is) dance music. It was played for dancers and evolved alongside swing dances, most prominently the lindy hop which developed from the charleston, but also balboa, shag and the late night slow dances. 'Swing' is a term used to encompass all of these dance styles. 'Swing' also describes a certain feeling or groove in both music and dance. A combination of a driving, propulsive feeling that makes you want to tap your foot, and a syncopated, lilting pulse. This has been described by many as a subjective, elusive notion, but is intuitively understood by experienced jazz musicians and dancers. It might be said that a band was “really swinging” or “in the pocket”, when the rhythm section locked in and the combined sound start to groove and makes people want to dance.