SupermurgaNati!

It's been a few months since my last update. Sorry for the delay.

I'd like to highlight two initiatives that we are attempting to make quarterly in 2024.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Programming

We introduced this with our first DEI Event on Jan 15 this year (MLK Day). Instead of our regular S! Monday classes, that day we held a fundraiser featuring a workshop produced by an organization within the global jazz dance community called Collective Voices For Change. The current plan is to have a DEI Event Quarterly in Jan, April, July, October. They will normally be one of the earlier (first or second) Mondays in each of those months. Our next one is very soon - April 8.

For the DEI Events, we are always looking for many Community Co-Hosts to help produce them by attending, promoting, supporting and/or administering them. If you'd like to be involved, please reach out! All profits from our DEI Events will be donated to relevant non-profit organizations. Right now that includes Collective Voices For Change, The Frankie Manning Foundation, and Black Lindy Hoppers Fund. Please learn about and support these excellent organizations!

For details on both past & upcoming events, visit the S! Mondays DEI Events Page here:
https://www.supermurganati.com/s-mondays-intadv/dei-events

Teacher Development Program

In February and March this year, we held a two week Teacher Training session. Our next one will be one night only and will take place May 6 in place of our normal S! Mondays. The current plan is to hold Teacher Development Programming quarterly - similar to DEI Programming, but in the Months of February, May, August, and November. These events will be designed to stimulate the minds, strengthen the skills, broaden the reach, and raise the awareness of the stewards of our local swing dance community. The events are not fundraisers or non-profit, but - just like our normal S! Mondays, the fees are suggested prices.

For whom are the teacher development programs appropriate? Anyone with an interest! Ideally we will have a broad range of experience and expertise participating. The more people we have, they more profound our work together will be! I am a firm believer that good teachers are always working to be good students and also that one of the best tools for learning is teaching others!

For details on all Teacher Development Programming, visit: https://www.supermurganati.com/s-mondays-intadv/teacher-development

Thanks for reading this far and staying aware of what is happening in our community! I look forward to the next time I see you on the dance floor!

Happy New Year, Swing Dancers!

As we approach 2024, I hope you are feeling energized and excited for the new year and any new beginnings that come with it.

I am definitely looking forward to our swing dance community's many goings on next year. SupermurgaNati! will continue it's Int/Adv Mondays at Hoffner Lodge indefinitely starting on Jan 8 (nothing on Jan 1), On Monday, Feb 19 (President's Day) SwouZy Blues will make another appearance, and in March we will begin the Swing Dance Foundations series on Tuesday nights in collaboration with The Clifton Cultural Arts Center. This series is a set of 6 courses - 2 per month, each 4 classes long - that introduce students to the core genres of dance in our community: Blues (March), Jitterbug (March), Partnered Charleston (April), Lindy Hop (April), Balboa (May), and Vernacular Jazz (May).

The theme for our Monday Nights in January & February is "Immersion Nights." We will have five sessions, each focused on immersion in one particular dance genre. The class design is for students with some experience - either with the night's topic or related dances. We will cover the basic quickly and focus on ingraining the dance well enough that the students - and by extension the community - can sustain dancing in that style for an extended period of time. Here's the dates and topics:

Jan 8 Slow Lindy
Jan 22 Balboa
Jan 29 Blues
Feb 5 Soul
Feb 12 Zydeco

A critical part of all SupermurgaNati! initiatives are the concept of community and stewardship. SupermurgaNati's mission is "To amaze, enable, and empower Cincinnati's Jitterbugs and Lindy Hoppers creatively, technically, and socially by providing opportunities for elite instruction, generous mentoring, exciting collaboration, supportive connections, and amazing dance." 

SupermurgaNati! Mondays have become a cornerstone of this effort. I am thrilled with the culture that has evolved at our Monday nights and also with the broad array of "stewards" who have gotten involved in various roles to develop that culture. From the start, I have intended for Mondays to present a platform for the dancers in our community that want to be more deeply involved and challenged. Central to the culture of our Mondays are the ideas that 1) everyone should have a voice 2) the classes are entertainment themselves 3) collaboration is a powerful tool for expanding our dance opportunities 4) Taking Class together strengthens relationships and enhances our awareness of each other and 5) we are all stewards of our community. I hope you will check out the Monday nights and maybe even become a regular!

This Monday (Oct 30), we start a 5-week session of SupermurgaNati! Mondays that will be densely packed with material and I hope all of our local Swing Dance Fanatics can join us - even if it's only for one of the five nights.

I'm super excited to announce our instructing staff for the five weeks will include Melanie Myers, Rachel Payne, Bryan Sykes and me! We will be guiding you through two classes:

6:30pm Advanced Swing Dance Collaborative, which will have a new topic each week

7:45pm Musicality + The Lindy Chorus, which will teach you the classic Frankie Manning choreography and also the most important musical concepts for dancers: two things every lindy hopper should know.

Full deets including class descriptions can be found at:

https://www.supermurganati.com/home/monday-swing-dance-classes

In Other Exciting News:

Starting in March of next year, SupermurgaNati will be offering beginning level classes in partnership with the Clifton Cultural Arts Center at the brand new building in Clifton on Clifton Ave just North of the Ludlow/Clifton Intersection.

The class series is called:

Swing Dance Foundations
A Series of Courses Highlighting American Swing Era Social Dances

March 5, 12, 19, 26
7-8pm Blues Dance
8:15-9:15pm Jitterbug

April 2, 9, 16, 23
7-8pm Partnered Charleston
8:15-9:15pm Lindy Hop

April 30, May 7, 14, 21
7-8pm Balboa
8:15-9:15pm Vernacular Jazz

These classes will be a great opportunity to integrate with the broader community and bring more people to swing dancing. Eventually, the classes and registration for them will be available on the CCAC website, and I'll post that once it is live. You can also get details about the classes at SupermurgaNati.com at the following link:

https://www.supermurganati.com/home/tuesday-classes-ccac

Next Session of SupermugaNati! Monday Night Classes will begin a program change. We will be adding a DJed practice and social time to the evening and removing one of our three classes (the beginning level class). The regular schedule is below. The evening will be designed to cater to experienced dancers who are interested in learning from and inspiring one another. You can take two classes and dance socially for $15 total, or - if you can only attend the dance time - you can get your swing on for $5 after 9pm.

Our first night with the new format  will be Monday, October 23. For that evening, we are excited to announce that Doug Bae from Pittsburgh will be our guest instructor for both classes.

On Oct 30, we will begin five weeks of collaborative teaching led by a group of instructors, who will also be taking the class alongside the other students. The Advanced class topics will vary each week. For the intermediate class, we will spend five weeks on A) Musicality and B) learning the Lindy Chorus.

Mondays @ Hoffner Lodge

4120 Hamilton Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45223, USA

6:30-7:30pm Advanced Swing Dance Lesson

7:45-8:45pm Intermediate Swing Dance Lesson

8:45-10:30pm DJ Dance and social practice time

Admission: $15 prior to 9pm, $5 after 9pm

Complete Details can be found HERE

This past Monday's event was a lot of fun for me! I hope it was for you as well. As you prepare for the start of a new session of classes on Monday, please take a moment to give us your feedback about SwouZy Blues this past Labor Day (9/4/2023). Here's the link to the survey:

SwouZy Blue Feedback Survey

Buffet of 8 Classes ~ 3+ Hours of Social Dancing ~ 8 Inspiring Instructors

This Coming Monday, Sep 4th (Labor Day) we will be holding our Improved and Expanded 2nd Edition of SwouZy Blues!

Registration is available HERE

We are being very ambitious with this version of SwouZy Blues and I hope everyone is able to join us for either the classes (3-7:30pm) or the dance (8-11:30pm) or BOTH!

Below is more detailed information about SwouZy Blues, but first, prior to  that event, here is my planned activity for this week:

Mon, Aug 28 - SupermurgaNati Monday Classes - Week 5 of 5

Tues, Aug 29 - Gem City Swing (Dayton) lessons and dance with Live Band!

Wed, Aug 30 - night off. probably jammin' with my Bro

Thurs, Aug 31 - SwinGallery, including week 5 of Swing Rueda class

Fri, Sat, Sun - Counting down the minutes to SwouZy Blues!

About the Event

SwouZy Blues is a Swing Dance Fusion Social Event intended to diversify and expand the music to which we dance and the dancing styles of the TriState (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky) Regional Swing Dance Community. The event features instructional classes, social dancing and general camaraderie. The name comes from the the four foundational music genres for the event: Swing (Sw), Soul (ou), Zydeco (Zy), and, of course, Blues!

About the Instructors

Rebekah Farrar is a leader and instructor in the Columbus Blues, Fusion, and Swing Dance Communities. She regularly teaches and helps organize Ember Blues & Fusion, which currently holds dance events on the second and fourth Fridays of each month. For SwouZy Blues, Rebekah will be teaching Int/Adv Blues with Bryan Sykes.

Shannon Varner has been teaching Lindy Hop and related dance forms for over two decades. Based in Ohio's Capital City, she is the driving force behind SwingColumbus. Shannon has taught and performed all over the world. If you like being inspired, check out some of her collaborative performances with fellow Swing Dance elites Kerry Kapaku, Tyedric Hill, and Viktor Lillard at The Mild Widmest YouTube Channel. Though she is extremely humble and selfless in her support of swing dancers, I will just say that Shannon has been a GIANT when it comes to supporting, maintaining and innovating Swing Dance. AT SwouZy blues, Shannon will be teaching  Beg/Int Slow Lindy and Madison Time! with Mark Calkins.

Mark Calkins and Shannon Varner make up the power teaching & performing duo, The Lindyroos. Mark's work with Shannon, and on his own, can be credited with expanding the Ohio's Swing Dance Community tremendously of the past 20+ years. Incredibly inclusive and positive, Mark creates an environment for students that stirs an enormous amount of confidence and bravery within them. Mark is also a fantastic DJ. Although he won't be spinning mp3s for us on Labor Day, I hope Cincinnati will be graced with his musical acumen in the not too distant future.  Be sure to ask him when he'll be back in Cincinnati! Mark is teaching Beg/Int Slow Lindy and Madison Time! with Shannon Varner at SwouZy Blues.

Relatively new to Swing Dance, Delaan Sumler brings a creative spark to Cincinnati's dance floors that is both exciting and uninhibited. Delaan is a natural dancer, teacher and supporter of community. She brings a remarkable ability to find the beauty and power in anyone's social dancing. Her reverence for the humanity of her fellow dancers is remarkable, and I am thrilled that I have been honored to dance with and teach with her. I'm also excited that Delaan will be teaching Progressive Blues with Bryan Sykes in our next session of SupermurgaNati Monday Classes. Oh, I almost forgot! Delaan is a professional musician (she plays my favorite instrument, Bass!) and is pursuing a degree in Music Education as well. Delaan will be teaching Zydeco with Joel Domoe at SwouZy Blues.

Rachel Payne, from Cincinnati, is a powerful presence on the dancefloor. A trained competitive dancer since childhood, She is an emerging star in Cincinnati's dance community, especially in the areas of Blues, Fusion and Swing. Rachel will bring us home at the end of the event as the final DJ. Rachel will be teaching Beg/Int Blues with Joel Domoe and Beg/Int Fusion with Bryan Sykes on Labor Day.

Bryan Sykes, has been a leader in Cincinnati and the broader region for many years. A music aficionado, Bryan loves to bring dancers together with musicians and has done just that as the driving force behind Blues Dance Cincinnati. A technically gifted social dancer with an acute awareness of partnering as well as an excellent teacher, Bryan has taught workshops at a broad array of events around the Eastern United States. Bryan will also be teaching for our next session of SupermurgaNati Monday Swing Dance Classes, this time partnering with Delaan Sumler to bring us a 6-week progressive Blues class. Bryan will be teaching Int/Adv Blues with Rebekah Farrar and Beg/Int Fusion with Rachel Payne for SwouZy Blues.

Making the trip down I-71 from Indianapolis, is Sarah Siertle, a joyous and colorful dancer with impressive chops. After emerging from the Cleveland Swing Dance Community and then spending time in Denver, Sarah made her way to Indianapolis, where she is the lead instructor for Indy's premier Swing Dance organization, Naptown Stomp. Well versed in an extremely broad range of Swing Dance idioms and topics, some  of you will remember Sarah from her extremely well received workshops on Balboa and Musicality hosted by Queen City Swing. Sarah will be teaching Int/Adv Slow Lindy with Joel Domoe and Shim Sham (solo) at SwouZy Blues.

Joel Domoe is me! First and foremost I aspire to be a community organizer. in addition to that, I have been a professional swing dance instructor, judge, performer, coach, and promoter since 1997. That's a long time and I know I am revealing myself to be very - er - experienced. However, there is one thing I have been doing longer than the above jobs. I am also a student! I happen to think I am pretty good at it. It's a super fun job, but more fun with others. I hope to have some time learning alongside you. I will be teaching Int/Adv Slow Lindy with Sarah Siertle, Beg/Int Blues with Rachel Payne, and Zydeco with Delaan Sumler at SwouZy Blues.

Mon, 8/21/23

SupermurgaNati Lessons!

Week 4 of 5 in Cincinnati

6:30pm taking Adv Lindy w/ Bryan Sykes & Melanie Myers

7:45pm teaching Int Jitterbug w/ Melanie Myers

9pm teaching Beg Balboa w/ Meghan Stapleton

Full Deets: https://www.supermurganati.com/home/cinci-swing-dance-classes

Tues, 8/22/23

TBD

maybe going to the Marcus King Show at the Brady Center in Cinci

Deets: https://bradymusiccenter.com/concerts/2023/08/marcus-king-and-charley-crockett

Wed, 8/23/23

Undecided

Fun Deets: https://youtu.be/a1-LqqPnkf0

Thurs, 8/24/23

SwinGallery in Cincinnati

7:30pm taking Swing Rueda w/ Jesse Fatheree

8:30pm teaching Intro Lesson w/ Cari Towne Moy

9pm social dancing to DJ Meghan Stapleton

Deets: https://www.facebook.com/SwinGallery

Fri, 8/25/23

Blues & Lindy (Fri Edition) in Cincinnati

7pm taking Blues dance w/ Bryan Sykes

8pm social dancing

Deets: https://www.facebook.com/BluesDanceCincinnati

Sat, 8/26/23

Vu-Do Swing Dance in Dayton

8pm taking Beginner Lesson w/ Gus & Jessica Vu

8:30pm social dancing

Deets: https://vudoswing.com/

Sun, 8/27/23

Swing Dance Mania! in Northern KY

10am taking Swing Dance Basics w/ Annie Monnin

11am taking Intro to Lindy Hop w/ Jesse Fatheree & Abi Schneider

Noon taking Swing Out! w/ Jesse Fatheree & Abi Schneider

1pm taking Lindy Hop Styling w/ Jesse Fatheree & Abi Schneider

2pm taking Classic Lindy Hop Moves w/ Jesse Fatheree & Abi Schneider

3pm taking Universal Moves w/ Jesse Fatheree & Abi Schneider

4-7pm social dancing

Full Deets: https://swingdancemania.com/

Mon, 8/28

Back to SupermurgaNati Lessons!

Week 5 of 5 in Cincinnati

https://www.supermurganati.com/home/cinci-swing-dance-classes

Coming Soon:

- Crashing Gem City Swing! Tues, 8/29

          https://www.gemcityswing.com/

- SwouZy Blues on Labor Day (Mon, Sep 4)!

          https://www.supermurganati.com/home/swouzy-blues

- Next Session of SupermurgaNati Classes starts Mon, Sep 11

          https://www.supermurganati.com/home/cinci-swing-dance-classes

The first session of SupermurgaNati Monday Night Swing Dance classes is officially in the books! Big thanks to all of the students and to our instructors: Melanie Myers, Daniel Verdon, Meghan Stapleton (and me too).

Even though Melanie and I go way back, her expertise and perspective are always eye-opening and inspiring to me. I'm so grateful she can continue teaching next session. She will partner with Bryan Sykes for Advanced Lindy Hop and with me for Intermediate Jitterbug.

Daniel and Meghan's Intermediate Lindy class brought numerous helpful perspectives to light for our students. Their ideas are both beneficial and appreciated. I hope they continue to find success supporting and strengthening our community with their teaching and organizing. If you haven't already, please attend their workshops and help promote them. Also, join their Facebook Group! They make us all better dancers and also bring students and teachers from other communities - with their ideas and energy - to Cincinnati's scene. I'm excited to teach Beginning Balboa with Meghan next session!

CLICK-LIKE-FOLLOW

Here's the link to Meghan and Daniel's Queen City Swing Dance facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/381343887475596

Our next session of classes begins right away (Mon, July 31)!

Details to follow...

Before I get to the details for next session, I'd like to try and describe (a little more) the environment I am hoping to cultivate at SupermurgaNati Monday Night Classes.

Monday Night Classes are just one piece of our community, but they can serve us in many ways. Right now I am hoping they serve our community by providing a diversity of opportunities. This includes but is not limited to the chance to...

learn, teach, lead, follow, inquire, suggest, support, inspire, explore, adjust, train, coach, attempt, fail, succeed, practice, play, and enjoy.

For whom, when, and how have you helped create these opportunities (the verbs in the previous paragraph)? I guarantee you have done so and done so a lot. I just hope you are aware of your answers and take pride in and satisfaction from them.

I invite you to join us at Monday Classes.

Details on our upcoming July 31-Aug 28, 2023 session can be found here:

https://www.supermurganati.com/home/cinci-swing-dance-classes

SupermurgaNati emerges from my desire to reconnect with the swing dance community in my hometown, Cincinnati, as well as the worldwide Lindy Hop community. In 2023, after a several year hiatus due to parenting, my soccer obsession, a focus on political activism, the damnpenic, and grappling with previously undiagnosed depression, I realized that it was critical for me to start dancing again. After several months of getting back to it, I realized how much I loved not just social dancing, but also creating, promoting, teaching, community building, and communing with my fellow dancers.

If you know me, you know I can’t do anything just a little. So as of June 2023, I am launching SupermurgaNati. Off the bat, I will start with two initiatives:

1. Community Swing Dance Classes Monday Nights in Northside

2. Stewards of Swingcinnati (A Collaborative Community Leadership Initiative)

As with any endeavor, I’ll be discussing, assessing, evaluating, and adjusting as things move forward. I’m excited to see where things go and I sincerely hope to see you on the dance floor!