printable versionChance to dance: Enthusiasts fly to Stanford for dance weekend
BY CYNTHIA HAVEN
Instructors Ryan and Monica Shen Knotts taught a class featuring moves made famous by Lindy Hop orignator Frankie Manning.
Stanford is an epicenter for the vintage dance movement—but life in the Stanford dance world is not all foxtrots and tangos. The June 26-28 Stanford’s Dance Weekend in Roble Gym offers something for modern dance enthusiasts, too: the hustle, the West Coast swing, 1970s disco hustle, Bollywood and blues fusion.
The event is proving popular: The 200 openings for this weekend’s events disappeared within one short week.
“This is unusually quick—it caught me off guard,” said Richard Powers, the Stanford dance historian and choreographer who coined the term “vintage dance.” Dancers are flying in from Alaska, North Carolina, Colorado, Kentucky and Massachusetts—“basically all over,” he said.
Speaking by cell phone at the airport a few minutes before her flight, Dorothy Vernon of Boulder said she’s coming to California “just because it’s so much fun.” She quickly adds that she will “undoubtedly” see a lot of familiar faces from previous events—“and of course we will meet new friends.”
For some, the event is not only a chance to dance—but also something of a reunion. They migrate from all over the country and the globe in a loose confederation; many are, in particular, fans of Powers’ dance workshops.
Dorothy and her husband (and dance partner) Frank, who organize community dance events in Boulder, Colo., attended Powers’ Vintage Dance Week in Prague last summer.
“I like to go to all of Richard’s workshops—I always learn something,” Frank said. “It’s good to get out of the regular dance circle and see what’s happening all over the country. It gives us new material to teach—and we pick up new music as well. I’m always glad to bring back what we learn here.”
This week’s group will learn the balboa, the Jazz Age foxtrot, today’s French mazurka, and Polka Cha Cha Fusion—the event mixes a sprinkling of vintage with the more modern steps.
“Dancers like something different,” said Powers, noting that they can have a “been there, done that” mentality.
“Even if you come back two years in row, you won’t get the same thing.”
For Frank and Dorothy Vernon, who organize “Mostly Waltz” nights and monthly swing music events in Colorado, this is the second Powers dance event they have attended since last year’s marathon in Prague. Are they hooked on hoofing?
“Oh yeah,” he said. “No question.”