The 2010 International Lindy Hop Championship is held was held in Alexandrian, VA this year and the world’s best lindy hoppers attended.

Jam circles are a staple of the lindyhop world. When you get some of the best dancers in the world together, they are spectacular. A song comes on, someone starts clapping and the next thing you know everyone is gathered around a 2 meter wide circle on the floor to watch the action. At lindyfest, with hundreds of dancers on the floor, seeing anything can be impossible unless you happen to be there at the right moment.

The first 2 jam circles that I was present for, one on Friday and the other around midnight on Saturday were a wash for me. I was stuck in the back, barely able to see. I could only take pictures by holding the camera over my head and pressing the button. However, as the band wound up its final set on Saturday evening (well Sunday morning) at 3:00AM, I suspect their encore might spark a jam so I grabbed my camera and began milling about near the stage.

I was right, and I was rewarded with a place on the edge of the circle, lying on the floor next to the stage. That is as good as it gets. Sweat from the flailing dancers was the least of my worries. Getting kicked in the head while looking through the view finder was a real risk. These pictures were taken with my 35mm f/1.8 lens with the aperture wide open using a SB-600.  Even so the amount of light was barely sufficient for portraits, much less fast action with the song surging along at 200+ beats per minute. All I could do is point the camera and try to hit the button at the right split second. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while these photos are not ideal exposures, they are some of my favorite photos to date.

Lindyfest, held annually in Houston, is a large lindy hop event. It draws large crowds from all over the world and includes teachers and performers from the top tiers of the lindy hop world. 2010 was no exception. What is different this year is that I stopped dancing long enough to try to capture a few snap shots.

This post includes images from the visiting professional dancers and instructors, Houston’s own Hepcats and a group of local kids instructed by the Hepcat’s own Jerry Foote (who co-DJed my wedding if anyone is keeping score). Jerry’s kids’ performance was particularly inspiring. A group of 11 to 14 years olds got up and performed 2 routines, one lindy hop and one hip hop in front of 500+ hard core dancers right beside the pro lindy hoppers. They never missed a beat. That is guts!

I took my camera to the B-Team’s Christmas party last Tuesday. These are some shots I got.

I’ve added a new top level gallery for pictures and video of swing dancing. Most of the videos are from HepCats practice.

This weekend is the Dan and Tiffiny workshop hosted by HSDS. Dan and Tiffiny are world class swing dancers that specialize in aerial. There are also a ton of related events making the next few days busy as a dancer.

We all know the type, those people that insist that “can’t” shouldn’t be in your vocabulary, that positive thinking is all that is required to accomplish something. They are particularly common in early education, but are present everywhere. Even in my favorite hobby – cave diving – there are gods of the sport that champion the value of positive thinking.