Mr. & Mrs. C Part One – Stephen
“Some forms of dance don’t have the kind of adrenaline you get with Swing, even with the subtlety of something like Balboa”
Like any good North East man Stephen (AKA Mr C./Swing Commander) says that he loves his football. His main hobby, however, is dancing. He says he and Tracey have managed to keep it to a minimum and not let it take over their lives… “We’ve kept it down to three, four, five nights a week, a couple of weekends, pretty much every weekend”.
Stephen says he was less than convinced by the idea of dancing to begin with but when Tracey presented him with a dance school that had its own licensed premises he found it hard to resist … “I thought ah well, there’s a bar, how bad can it be. At least I can have a drink”. That was 11 years ago!
Initially trying various dances including Latin, Ballroom and Modern Jive the lure of tasselly dresses proved too much… for Tracey and so they came to Lindy Jazz. Although still dancing Latin, Ballroom and Argentine Tango socially Mr. C has an obvious soft spot for Swing dancing. He says it’s sociable, high energy, has a good “buzz” about it and is a great mood lifter
Stephen’s favourite memory is reaching the final of the ‘Jack & Jill’ competition at DJam 2013, his first ever competition! “Ultimately I didn’t win, but it was just great to be considered good enough to compete with 4 or 5 of what I would consider the best guys dancing in the UK”
To anyone thinking of coming to Lindy Jazz Mr C says you need a few lessons before you start to relax. “If you already knew how to do it you wouldn’t need to come to classes. I’ve seen lots of people come and think they’re not able to learn this but almost everybody who has persevered has learnt it!”
Mr. & Mrs. C Part Two – Tracey
“Lindy Jazz was different. There was a good crowd getting involved from the start, that’s why we stayed and ended up dancing more and more”
Tracey (AKA Mrs. C) loves dancing! A Contracts Engineer for a manufacturing company by day, Tracey seizes every opportunity to immerse herself in dance. When she’s not learning to dance or dancing socially, you’ll find her attending music gigs or at the theatre – she saw Ballroom stars Vincent and Flavia perform live the other week!
Ever since she was young (and saw Dirty Dancing) Tracey had wanted to dance and with the art of gentle persuasion (otherwise known as a bar and the fact Darren Gough won ‘Strictly Come Dancing’!) she convinced Stephen to give it a go. “When we first learnt we went on a cruise and just used to get up and dance and find our own way, we really enjoyed it”
After trying Latin, Ballroom, Salsa and Modern Jive as a result of a 40s weekend in Pickering, they decided to give Swing dancing a go and stumbled upon a Charleston class – cue Lindy Jazz. 5-years later they’re still with us and we couldn’t do without them!
The best memory for Tracey is when she and Stephen were invited to the RAF Summer Ball 2-years ago, where they taught a taster class to the Officers and their wives. Tracey thoroughly enjoyed teaching a mixed ability group and was so enthusiastic about the experience, “you could see elements of the dance we were teaching and people really enjoyed it”
If you’re new to dancing Mrs. C says, “Come and give it a go. Everybody’s friendly! You can have fun and we don’t take it too seriously at all. It’s about getting yourself moving on the dance floor”. Truer words have never been spoken.
Next time you’re at Lindy Jazz grab Mr. or Mrs. C for a dance, I can guarantee you’ll feel relaxed and have tons of fun!