I'm interrupting the posts about spring break to blog about my evening last night. I went swing dancing at a club here in Cape Town and had a fabulous time.
My friend Andrew asked me a few days ago if I'd be down to go swing dancing this weekend. I said sure, thinking that it would be sort of a low key, more of a class sort of deal. However, from the moment I entered the club in Harrington Court downtown, I knew I was in for something more. The woman taking tickets at the door was done up with a fur stole, tight satin dress, her hair in pinned curls and casually smoking a long cigarette. Andrew and I showed our printed e-tickets, received stamps on our wrists that said "SWING" and were ushered into another world. The club looked like a 1920s speakeasy, glittering chandeliers, plush couches and people dressed to match.
We arrived early, around 8pm for the open class that was held before the night really kicked off. We could hear swing bands doing sound checks in the dance hall down a few rooms down from where we were. Andrew and I learned a few basic swing steps and then were on our own. It got a little difficult as there was not a ton of space, but we did our best. A lot of the people there early were swing instructors/enthusiasts and they were more than happy to help us blunder through. At one point, we just stopped and watched the experts just dance. It was really incredible, they were jumping, spinning, dipping and dancing seamlessly. We had another couple teach us a fantastic sequence where the girl jumps onto the guys bent leg and lands on her calves (she's in a tuck), then the guy throws her off and she lands on the floor, where he swings a leg over her and then pulls her through his legs and up to standing. We're still working on the last part of the move, the simplest looking step is definitely the hardest, but with some practice I'm sure we'll be showing it off at another one of these swing nights.
We stayed for a few more hours, and people slowly started trickling in until there was no longer room to dance. We left before the main hall opened, and decided that next time we'd come for the class and then leave and get dinner in between.
Definitely one of the most unique nights I've had here and just another reason to be in love with Cape Town.
You can check out the fb event for the Swing Night here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124749167626787
They're held about once a month, so hopefully there will be another before I leave!
As always, thanks for reading,
xoxo
Sara
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