Like Spaids, except not as exciting…
Tonight: DJ Allen Kerr
Weather report
We'll be keeping an eye on the weather, but as for now, will probably be open. Check our website around 7 ish or later to see if we'll be closed.
Tonight and Next Week: How to Make Jam!
Your Jam Cellar instructors will go boot camp style and show you how to jam, dance in front of your friends, reach unheard of levels of confidence, and then drill, drill, drill it by having lots of jams in class. Students in this class will then be prepared to put the Jam back in Jam Cellar.
Clean-up Volunteers needed!
For just fifteen minutes of moderate cardiovascular labor at the end of Jam Cellar, you can receive free admission as well as the love and affection of the Jam Cellar Organization staff, the admiration of all your peers, and an increased prowess among the opposite/same sex. If interested in helping out tonight, contact us.
The Complete BIG APPLE Crash Class! Sunday, Dec. 13–ALL THE DETAILS!
Bobby White has a passion for the Big Apple and classic solo jazz. On a special class happening Sunday afternoon 2-4 p.m. on Dec. 13, He'll teach a two hour crash course on Frankie Manning's incredible solo dance choreography, the Big Apple, first seen in the film Keep Punchin'. He'll get started and go through the whole thing, planning on being done around the two hour mark. He'll even go through many special variations of the classic jazz steps for the more advanced students. This routine is a great jazz and choreography vocabulary builder. This class will be action packed, and we recommend comfortable shoes. Sunday, Dec 13, 2-4ish p.m. at DC Dance Collective (4908 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016–right down the street from Chevy Chase Ballroom). Price is $20 per student. If you plan on attending, email him (robertwhiteiii AT gmail DOT com, you will have to reformat for your email) or sign up at the Jam Cellar.
Inter/Adv Lindy Hop Boot Camp! Sunday, Dec. 19–ALL THE DETAILS!
This is a special 2-hour intense experience that intermediate and advanced Lindy Hoppers have never had before. Run by fancy world traveling swing dance instructors Bobby and Kate, we'll play rhythm games, we'll show you how to critique your own dancing, and talk about the heart of great dancing, things that are rarely done in classes. We'll do drills of all sorts; speed drills, creative drills, aerial drills. We'll show you how to be a better solo dancer, and how to work in a team. We'll show you how to practice on your own, and with a partner. Our goal is to basically make you improve so much during a two-hour group practice session, that you won't be able to wipe the smile from your next partner's face. Saturday, Dec 19, 2-4 p.m. at the DC Dance Collective (4908 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016–right down the street from Chevy Chase Ballroom) . Price is $20 per student. If the students can comfortably hang at the inter/adv Jam Cellar classes, they will be perfect for this class. We will NOT be covering swing-out technique, except where it applies to other areas of our discussion. If you plan on attending, email him (robertwhiteiii AT gmail DOT com, you will have to reformat for your email) or sign up at the Jam Cellar.
Tuesday, Dec. 22 – Holiday Party with Jerry Almonte!
One of your favorite DJs and Dance historians is throwing a party at the Jam Cellar! He'll be playing some of his favorite swing clips and talking about them. He then will play some of his favorite Golden Girls moments, and talk about them. You are welcome to bring snacks and drinks (even adult beverages; but drink responsibly). This will be followed by…
Boilermaker Holiday Dance! Tuesday, Dec. 22
When making your holiday plans this year, you might want to stick around till Wednesday morning because the Boilermaker Jazz Band will be playing a special holiday show in our very own Jam Cellar. Jerry's Xmas Swing Video Presentation will preceed the dance at 8:30. $10 Admission.
Random Facts about The Victorian Era
Okay, so, if you have read this letter for more than a few weeks then you probably know by now that I have a love for 19th Century Literature, and am quick to make a consumption joke. But it's particularly bad these days because I'm working on the third draft of a novel, and my lead character is from the Victorian era. So, I've been buried in research, and since I'm not currently in my usual mindset for a Jam Cellar email, I thought I'd just give you a peak at my Victorian obsession by giving you a bunch of random facts I've dug up in my research. It has nothing to do with swing dancing. But that does remind me of something that does involve swing dancing. It's something I said this last weekend while teaching a workshop at Penn State University.
While in class, we were teaching the leaders how to lead a move called swivels in Balboa. In the move, the leader moves the followers body quickly so that her hips whip back and forth. To lead it, it's easier if the leader moves his hips himself. To explain this, the following came out of my mouth. "So Leaders, for this to work best, we really have to put our hips into it. And believe me, I know that dorky guys like myself aren't used to putting our hips into anything."
I meant it innocently, but then someone lost it and Kate, my partner, suddenly covered her mouth and busted out laughing. It was at this point I realized what I had said. So, anyway, onto:
Random Facts about the Victorian Era
1 "Going to university" meant either going to Cambridge or Oxford. There, one did not attend classes; they simply had a tutor come a few hours a week, and attended a few lectures. One was not even necessarily expected to graduate with a degree; it was mainly a place where the wealthy youth could go and meet other wealthy youth to get connections for when they were older.
2 One regular crime committed in the era was the abduction of children for their clothes. Well-dressed youth would be captured, stripped, and left running home in their underwear. This was one of the reasons chaperones were often employed.
3 If a single man called another single woman by her first name, it implied engagement. If you have seen the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensability, there is a part where befuddled Hugh Grant befuddledly calls Ms. Dashwood "Elanor," and says he'd like to ask her a question. By calling her her first name, Elanor knows exactly what the question will be-alas, he doesn't get to finish. If you haven't seen Emma Thompson's version of Sense and Sensibility, buy it now on amazon.com.
4 Shark Week could just as easily be called "Seal Death Week." I only mention this because I just got interrupted writing the email because my room mate, who just got an enormous TV and a blue ray player, put on Planet Earth, the incredible nature documentary that took ten years to make and shows you, among four thousand other things that make you go "woah," a slow-motion shot of a great white jumping out of the water eating a seal, so clear you can see the individual drops of blood shoot out of the whole affair, and it made me think they could probably get away with making a Shark Week special that start off with "Tonight, fifty seal deaths by great white sharks, on SHARK WEEK."
Sorry, back to
Random Facts about The Victorian Era
5 Whist is like Spaids, except not as exciting.
6 The fashionableness of the "delicate" lady probably lead to the Victorian woman's high death rate. As a healthy appetite, labor, exercise, and spending a lot of time outdoors was considered manly, women didn't eat a lot, hardly ever got good exercise, and spent a lot of time indoors, where the air was stagnant and germs ran amuck. The working men got the best food and meat, and the women in the family looked after the sick, who coughed in their faces all day. Many of the middle and upper class women suffered from "Green Sickness", which describes the skin of an anemic person. This was due to the lack of iron in people's foods.
7 Tuberculosis (the Chronic pulmonary type was called "consumption") was the main killer of the 19th century. It accounted for half of the deaths of women from age 15 to 35; more than the dangers of childbirth.
8Until the 1890s, when microscopes proved diseases existed, most learned people believed that bad odors caused sickness.
9 Rugby was invented because the prep schools (like the one called Rugby) had added their own rules to the game of football (soccer), such as picking up the ball and punching each other. The next time that stereotypical Southern good-old-boy football fans talk about the British being dandies, remind them that the British version of football has less penalties and their only padding is sweaters.
10 I myself have only played touch football, and that only poorly. What's strange, though, is that, in college, my friend's intramural basketball team needed me to come in on a game against the School of Theology's intramural team, who were known for throwing elbows, tripping people, and faking fouls. By which I mean, they were lying, dirty dogs, and your Episcopal priest –the one who's telling you to turn the other cheek and asks you to love your neighbor–could be one of them. Things got rough, there was no way we would win, and consequently I was called in. I got thrown on the ground, the guy somehow made it seem like I had fouled him, and with a mind bent on revenge, I suddenly became a rugby player. If one of their guys got the ball, I more or less threw myself selflessly towards him and did whatever was in my means to get the ball from him, short of kicking him in the cod, which would have moved me to the Australian Football level of athlete. I left that night bruised and battered, knowing the strange glory of having fought for good, and in doing so, having had a future-priest cuss me out. Oops. I forgot. Where were we? Oh, yes:
Random Facts about The Victorian Era
10 For the entire century, London smelled exactly like soot and horse poo. If you have been there recently, this might make you think better of the foul smell that comes to you right before the Tube train. If you stay in London today, though, your boogers will still be black.