i can’t speak for the whole country, but in the southeast, we are lucky enough to have a plethora of events to choose from throughout the year. the midwest and northeast seem pretty lucky too, and to be honest, i don’t pay as much attention to the west coast because they are so far away (sorry, guys).
this means, that while we are SO LUCKY, we also sometimes have hard choices to make.
so, this post is gonna cover points on what to consider when deciding whether or not to go to a specific event, which will also help in deciding how to choose between events or how to build an event schedule.
things to consider:
what type of event is it? where you are at in your dancing, and what you value at that moment in time, is going to affect what type of events you should attend.
- exchange: this is a weekend packed full of social dances. no classes, (usually) no contests, no pressure. exchanges are great if your intentions are to have fun, stay relaxed, enjoy live music and djs, practice your art socially, see friends, or cram in some bonding time. they are excellent for dancers of all levels, and will almost always improve your dancing even though you aren’t taking classes, simply because you can dance with so many different levels of dancers form so many different scenes. this event is great for meeting new friends or catching up with old ones. sometimes there are competitions, but usually they are fun-spirited in nature and aren’t a main focus of the event.
eg: ORLX, GVLX, HCBX
- workshop: this is a weekend packed full of classes. there will also be social dancing, and sometimes live bands, but the emphasis here is to learn a whole heckuva lot about the dance in a short period of time. workshops are amazing for learning a lot of technical and conceptual skills, but are a waste of money if you have no intention of taking home and practicing the things you learned. some workshops are aimed at beginners, some at intermediate or advanced dancers, and some are aimed at all levels. ones designed for dancers of multiple levels will usually require track auditions to place you in the proper class level. some workshops have competitions and some don’t - if there are comps, they usually are fun-spirited and not a main focus of the event.
while i want to encourage everyone to do all of the things, i also want y’all to get the best bang for your buck, so realistically, here’s my opinion: if you are a beginner, your best bet is to attend a small regional workshop that’s aimed at teaching fundamentals. Lindy Hop on the Plains is a great example for the southeast. they get top-notch regional instructors that take the students through all of the fundamentals of lindy hop. fundamental workshops are usually more affordable than all level workshops, so they are also a great option for those that don’t have the extra cash required for bigger regional events. i’d recommend this to anyone dancing 1.5 years or less, if you also social dance regularly.
if you are intermediate, start looking at regional workshops aimed at all levels. in the southeast, you can usually still stay under $100 for registration for a full pass. if you place into an intermediate level, get ready for the topics covered to start shifting into moves that build on fundamentals and more conceptual ways to approach your fundamentals. i’d recommend this to anyone dancing 1.5+ years that social dances regularly, but doesn’t take classes regularly.
if you’ve done fundamental and intermediate level workshops and think you’re advanced at this point, lemme be real with you: you probably aren’t. go take more regional workshops until you regularly place in the top level for at least a year.
if you are an advanced dancer, then you know what’s up by now, so i don’t really need to go into detail about this for you, except to say that you’re never too cool or too good to keep learning, so get off your high horse and go sign up for some rad ass shit!
i’ll go into more detail about this in the post about registration costs, but it’s always a totally acceptable option for dancers of any level to buy dance-only passes to weekend workshops if they can’t afford a full pass or if the skills being taught don’t line up with what they are working on at the moment.
eg: Swing Into Spring, School of Hard Knox, The Process
- showdown: this is a weekend packed full of social dances, but usually each dance also includes a competition as a focal point. some dancers may attend specifically with the intention to compete. the social dancing is great for dancers of all levels, but the competition levels vary depending on the event. contest categories can range from completely social to full routines, also dependent on the event. if you are interested in competing in the future, this is a great way to see how the process is done and how the competitors interact with each other, the audience, and the judges. it’s also just hella fun to watch. usually the main dances have live bands, and if competitors are lucky, sometimes they get to compete to live music. expect every dance to have 30-60 minutes dedicated to a competition, and be prepared to cheer your face off.
eg: Southern Swing Challenge, ILHC, AVS
WOW. i didn’t realize there was so much to say about everything. i’ll split each main section into it’s own blog post, and link them below as they get posted:
- event size
- small regional
- large regional
- national
- registration costs
- full pass
- dance pass
- competitions
- volunteering
- other methods
- travel
- distance
- method
- cost
- who else is going
- from your scene
- from that scene
- that you rarely get to see
- ???
