Swing Dance Classes
~ Savoy Style ~
Every Tuesday in November, 1999 (November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30)
Taught by Lee Altenberg
Beginner Level: 7-8:15pm
Intermediate Level: 8:15-9:30pm
$7 per class, $32 for all five weeks.
Held upstairs in Studio A at the MAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS
---The old National Dollar Store Building---
2027 Main Street, Wailuku*.
Join any time --- No Partner Needed
Bring a towel, water bottle, and your dancing shoes.
DESCRIPTION:
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BEGINNERS LEVEL will teach all the basics of East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop so that you'll be able to go out on the dance floor and do the dance. These basics will allow you to learn any further moves that you want.
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INTERMEDIATE LEVEL is for those who have the Swing dance basics or who can pick up technique quickly. This class will expand your repertoire of moves (to your partner's entertainment), and develop your own dancing style. I will choose between Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing moves to suit the desires of those in the class.
Besides the dance, I will be bringing in to class the whole range of Swing music, from the latest neo-Swing of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Squirrel Nut Zippers to the funky music at the beginning of Jazz like Jimmie Lunceford, to the proto-rocker Louis Jordan, as well as Cajun, Country Western, and Hawaiian Swing.
Savoy style Swing dance is the dance they did in the Gap Khakis commercial. Lindy Hop is the original Swing dance created in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s, and East Coast Swing is its easy-to-learn offspring. Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing have grown in recent years to be a major social activity in most cities around the country, where Swing clubs can be found popping up everywhere.
The only entrance to the Maui Academy of Performing Arts is through the rear of old National Dollar Building. To find it:
- Route #1: Park on Main Street near the old National Dollar Building and walk to the entrance through the 99 S. Market Street parking lot.
- Route #2: Drive from Main St. onto S. Church St., turn left onto Wells St., then turn left onto South Market St. and park in the lot at 99 S. Market St. parking lot. Look for the Maui Academy of Performing Arts sign to the entrance.
Lee Altenberg got started Swing dancing in the thriving scene of Durham, NC, in the early 90s, and has studied Lindy Hop with Frankie Manning, Erin Stevens, and Steven Mitchell. In Nashville he taught Swing dance last year to college and high school students, and has taught classes on Maui at the Maui Dance Council, Hapa's, Maui Community College, and private lessons. He has also studied Modern dance since 1990, African dance since 1996, and played horn in the UC Berkeley jazz big band before discovering the dance floor.
For questions about the class, call Lee at 875-0745 or e-mail him at altenber@hawaii.edu.