Thank you!

Hello everyone,

Lindy Bout was an incredible weekend of dancing, competitions and cupcakes!

The results are posted on-line on lindyhopper.ca and on facebook. We’ll be updating the Lindy Bout site in the near future, in the meantime join the facebook group for updates on Lindy Bout Round III, April 17-19, 2009 in Vancouver, BC.

Competition footage is posted on youtube and Justin’s incredible photographs are online at justinlee.ca/lindybout

We’ve got an idea about how things went this year and some ideas that will make next year even better but we’d also love to hear from you. Please drop me a line at this address, or talk with me next time you see me if you have any feedback or suggestions. In particular I’d like to know what you thought about the DJ Battle on Friday night, the daytime classes, the amount of social dancing, the schedule and registration for both the weekend and the matches.

I could not put on such an event by myself and I had a ton of help from friends and dancers from across Canada. A special big huge thank you to the following people who helped make this year a great success:

- all the local and visiting dancers from across the world, Seattle, Eugene, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and elsewhere
- Susan, Pawel, Kat, Edina, Devon, Dan, Stephanie, Josh & Tim, the door & make it happen volunteers
- Catie the interior decorator who transformed the Legion into something lovely
- Eric the car volunteer
- Jordan lighting guy extraordinaire
- Dave Hall the super awesome unsuspecting car volunteer
- Stuart Manahan the awesome cupcake acquirer
- Daniel & Professor Smack the video presentation wonders
- Justin Lee the wonderful photographer
- the fabulous music makers that make up Georgia's Hot little Number & the Wetcoast Wallabies
- Afonso, Justin, Dave, Kyle, Alan and Birkley, Western Canadian DJ competitors
- Alan Cheung competition & dancing DJ
- Birkley Wisniewski (aka Smith) the webmaster
- Dave Henderson, sound master
- Dan Amores head judge and great teacher
- Mandi Gould fabulous teacher and judge
- Chris Chapman American fabulous teacher and judge
- Mark Kihara the best emcee ever

An even bigger thank you to Lisa Marks, Hayley Newell, Eileen Jones and Lucy Falkner for taking care of design, matches, volunteers and music (respectively) as well as support, feedback and sanity checks.

Sincerely,
Stephanie McKernan

Only a Week and a Half

Time is flying by. Less than two weeks until my favourite event ever - Lindy Bout!

This is the time when the rest of my life goes on hold. No one answers my e-mails or calls soon enough. I start to lose sleep. My mind is not really able to focus on anything else. My event is inevitable, there is no going back. I can't sit still. I've taken a huge risk and I'm almost close enough to see the results. I love it. I hope you are close to as excited as I am. Luckily I can get out all this bottled up energy in the Solo Charleston class I teach on Thursday nights.

Some things you may not know:
Last year I listened to the Tragically Hip leading up to and during Lindy Bout. I think this was because I was so excited and nervous I had to reconnect with the rockin' out music I'd listen to while preparing for exams. I have not settled on what I'll be listening to this year.

We have more Americans and Albertans than ever before registered. Last year we had Liv from Norway, this year we'll have two Aussies!

People will be wearing very old swing dance event t-shirts on Saturday during the daytime. Don't feel left out, remember to pack yours.

There will be Emerald City Blues Festival passes for the winners of the Blues Match on Sunday night.

I plan to wear at least 7 different pairs of shoes over the three days, two pairs may or may not be suitable to dancing. Help me to find out.

I've decided on my dress for Saturday night- a very important decision.

Vancouver will be choosing our 2 DJs to represent this Saturday at the Legion.

Facebook says 70 people will be at Lindy Bout.

We have trophies this year. (That may be giving away too much.)

see you soon!
Stephanie



Here's a peek at the schedule. Be advised that it may change. A final version will be waiting for you at the door on the 11th.

Friday
20:00: Doors open
20:30: Competitors Meeting
21:00 - 2:00: Welcome to Lindy Bout! Western Canadian DJ Battle, Preliminary Rounds of Everlast Jack & Jill, Title Jack & Jill and Inter-Regional.

Saturday
Classes at EDAM dance (303 East 8th Avenue)
12:15 - 13:15: Rhythm in Vintage Jazz with Mandi
13:30 – 14:30: Lindy hop with Mandi and Chris

At the Legion - Wear your oldest and dearest swing event t-shirt.
15:00 – Doors open at the Legion
15:30 – 17:30 – Welterweight, Flyweight, Featherweight and Solo Jazz preliminary rounds with dancing in between.

20:00 - 2:00: Swanky Saturday Night dance with music from Georgia's Hot Little Number and DJ Larry Low. Match finals for all Jack and Jills, Inter-Regional, Flyweight, Featherweight and Welterweight.

Sunday
At the Legion
11:00 – 12:00 – Solo Blues with Lucy
12:10 – 13:10 – Lindy hop with Dan
13:20 – 14:20 – Swing ‘n Soul with Dan
14:30 – 15:30 – Lindy hop with Lucy and Chris

16:00 – 18:00 - Performance Match, Blinner Party (food and party hats included), Vintage Clip Presentation with Professor Smack, Awards

20:30 - 2:00: Grand finale dance with Wetcoast Wallabies. We’ll get a bit crazy with the Solo Jazz Match and then we'll dim the lights and turn up the heat with the Partner Blues Match.