Living in Tallahassee is great! There are lots of dance opportunities available, including Lindy Hop and Swing Dancing with the Florida State University Swing Dance Club. One thing, however, is that the opportunity to dance Lindy with the university crowd disappears during summer break. From the middle of May until the end of August, there is little lindy hopping happening in Tallahassee. Even at the Tuesday night dances where the Tallahassee Swing Band performs, if you don’t bring a partner, you will probably not find any Lindy. At one of those dances, one woman, clearly not a fan, sniffed and said something about “that lindy hop stuff.” I said, “I LOVE that lindy hop stuff!” Her eyes grew wide and she asked, “Do you DO it?” I replied, “Every chance I get!”
But when school is out, I don’t get many chances. If I want to Lindy during the summer, I have to travel to do it. Since traveling to dance is my favorite hobby, that is not a big problem. This year July 3 – 6, I took myself on a road trip to do some dancing.
I had originally planned to dance at the regular Sunday night dance at the Torpedo Room in Tampa. That was cancelled, however, because of a once-a-year event to be held in St. Petersburg the following evening, July 3. The event, Big Bang Boogie, was held at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. The venue was appropriate, though the room for dancing was a little too small for this well attended dance. Many ladies, including me, wore red since ladies wearing red (to celebrate the fourth of July) got a $1 discount off their entrance fee. The atmosphere was lively, the people friendly. The band, Blues Walk, was excellent!
I stayed at a hotel for 3 nights and, on Wednesday, July 5, went to the regular dance at the Gulfport Casino in St. Petersburg. I was very curious about the venue since I had heard that it was in a beautiful location, was a historic spot, and I had read that the regular Wednesday night swing dance attracts hundreds of dancers every week. It turns out that while the building is in a lovely spot on the water and is historic, it never actually functioned as a casino. The hundreds of people, I was told, show up when the snowbirds are down for the winter.
The building itself was not that impressive, but the dance floor was large and great for dancing! The people were very friendly – I saw some of the same people I had seen at the BBB on Monday night. Sam Mahfoud gave an excellent lesson and DJ’d the evening. There was terrific dancing!
I had a great time at both events! Worth the trip!
See you on the dance floor!
How about you? Have you traveled anywhere recently to dance? Please leave a comment!
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