West Coast Swing - Destination Ottawa!

Canada’s Capital Embraces
West Coast Swing

Maybe it’s living in the capital city of Canada that makes Ottawa, Ontario’s west coast swing community such a hospitable bunch.

We’re blessed with year-round festivals and tourism, so it’s natural for us to welcome new people into our dynamic community, whether they’re home-grown or visiting from out of town!

Ottawa is also conveniently located between a number of other WCS centres, making it an ideal meeting point and giving its dancers access to many out-of-town workshops, events and dances. We’re 2 hours from Montreal, Quebec; 3 hours from Syracuse, NY; 4 hours from Rochester, NY; and 4.5 hours from the greater Toronto area.

2011 kicked off with incredible momentum in WCS - which has burgeoned here in the past 3 years.

Read on for a taste of what Ottawa has to offer for WCS dancers!

Weekly Westie

For the first time in Ottawa’s history, WCS has a weekly dance. Hosted by Swing Dynamite Dance School, “Weekly Westie” takes place in a dedicated WCS room at Saturday Night Swing dances. As a bonus, dancers can jump between the WCS room and the vintage swing room for one entry fee.

January 8th this year marked the first edition of Weekly Westie, with Byron “Turbo B” Alley (also the studio owner) and Alec “Transmatic” Mills sharing DJ duties and delivering a mix of fast contemporary and chill soul grooves.

Papa Transmatic and his wife, Sari – also a multitalented swing dancer – are wasting no time introducing baby Eliezer to swing dancing, and everyone took turns admiring the city’s newest future swing-dance leader.

The buzz about weekly dances was strong at the first edition of Weekly Westie.   The sentiment heard frequently during the evening was: “It’s GREAT that this is happening every week!” Details about the weekly dances can be found at http://www.saturdaynightswing.com/

Dance Heroes-in-Training

Swing Dynamite also helped to kick off January with a “Zero to Hero WCS” workshop on January 16th. Designed to introduce “newbies” to the dance in an accelerated learning format, the workshop kicked off with an introductory lesson and dance on Saturday night. On Sunday, instructors Byron Alley and Natalia Rueda took participants through WCS basics, style, signature moves and more.

In the words of one workshop participant, William Dods: "The Zero to Hero WCS workshop was a fun way to meet people and to learn a new dance from professionals. It was comfortable and friendly and we got to dance a lot. It definitely got me interested in WCS and I hope to sign up for group classes soon!"

Westie Bombers dance team members, Catherine Jones and J-P Marchand, were on hand all day to assist with the workshops.

“Quite a few participants showed a lot of progress after just one day,” said an impressed J-P.

Info about the next “02H” workshop will be posted here:
http://zero2heroswing.com/





Uptown@DWA

The first "Uptown@DWA" monthly WCS dance was hosted by Canada’s WCS DJ Tag-Team, OldsKOOL & DaCube, on January 22. Also known as André Danis and Donnie Neron, you may have experienced their DJing at Swing Niagara, the Toronto Open Swing Dance Championships, the Canadian Swing Championships or at a dance in Ottawa or Syracuse. Their style incorporates a very danceable mix of blues, soul, contemporary, R&B, Motown and classic.


You can learn about OldsKOOL & DaCube dances on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=43000431172

Dancer Victor Manohar of Ottawa said: “I totally LOVED the tunes OldsKOOL & DaCube played, especially the super-slow trance followed by some old blues - that juxtaposition was awesome!!”

Kai Qu of Toronto, who drove up for the dance, added: “Ottawa has really cool music, cool people and a cool atmosphere.”

Joanna Swanson, who spearheaded a “Toronto Invasion of Ottawa” field trip for the event, said:

“I always love dancing with the Ottawa group when I travel. I admire their dancing and love their vibe. So I decided to meet them on their own turf to see what makes them so fun on the social floor. I had a great time and will be back!”

The “DWA” in the name of the dance stands for “Dance With Alana” – studio owner Alana Hock arranged for an after-party at a nearby pub where more than 30 die-hards trotted after the dance for delicious food at a great discount.






Lynda Lyn of Toronto, who came with her daughter, Jade, and friend, Amanda, added: “I knew that if we came here we’d be welcomed. I love the energy here – you guys are fabulous and I wanted to learn from you.”







The next Double-Down weekends are scheduled for:

• February 19-20 (a long weekend in Ontario)
• March 19-20 (the next “Toronto Invasion” weekend)
• April 16-17

You can find details and travel buddies on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Double-Down-WCS-Weekends-in-Ottawa/120850357977301

Putting the “West” in Westie

Bob Sanders and "LuLuLuv" (Louise) Gour teach west of Ottawa, where Tania’s Dance Studio has recently put the finishing touches on a brand-new location that features 5,000 square feet of dance floor. Bob himself helped put down the new floor, on which he and Louise will again be offering WCS group classes starting this month.

Louise also supplies Ottawa’s WCS dancers with their favourite “Westie sandals” and Cuban heels (among other styles of Very Fine brand dance shoes), and she will be keeping inventory at Tania’s.


Building the Base & Spreading the Love

WCS group classes are now being taught from at least five locations in Ottawa – a milestone for our community and a boon for west coast swing at large, which always needs new dancers to thrive.

Studios now offering the contemporary style of WCS include:

• BobaLou Dance Studio:  http://www.bobaloudance.com/
• Dance With Alana Studios:  http://www.dancewithalana.com/
• Smoothstyle Dance Studio:  http://www.smoothstyle.ca/
• Swing Dynamite:  http://www.swingdynamite.com/
• Tania’s Dance Studio:  http://www.taniasstudio.ca/

Given Ottawa dancers’ penchant for travelling to WCS events around North America, this surely means that more Ottawa-based Westies will be on a dance floor near you!

Please consider visiting Ottawa as a destination for lively WCS dancing and fun activities! It’s easy to learn more about us, our doings and our vibe:

• Join our Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WCS_Ottawa/

• Join our Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=t.1089788332#!/group.php?gid=19859274918




Maria Ford, Ottawa Field Reporter, can be reached at andremaria@smoothstyle.ca
and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/emariaf