Houston Swing Dance Society

Just who was Frankie Manning? Whether you're a longtime swing dancer or new to the dance floor, we hope you will enjoy and be inspired by this introduction to one of America's greatest dancers.

Mark your calendars for Houston's Harvest Moon Ball a celebration to honor the spirit of dedicated dancers in Houston! This year's Harvest Moon Ball will be held September 25th, 2010. Houston's Harvest Moon Ball is a collaboration of two dance groups HSDS and the Rice Social Dance Society. It's a night to wear your sharpest clothing and dance the night away with great live music, performances, just-for-fun dance competitions and more! 

We're excited to announce that Austin's favorite jazz band, Giant City Sextet will be playing for us all night at HMB!! Tickets are $15.50 pre-sale and $20 at the door. Click to purchase your tickets. Beginner lesson will be provided at 7pm and the dance will be at 8pm-midnight.

Click to Purchase Tickets

This past weekend in Alexandria, VA, the International Lindy Hop Championships treated everyone to the true spirit of Lindy Hop! With over 14 competition levels and representations from Sweden, France, Canada, UK and US the dancing was beyond incredible and the soul of the dance palpable! Houston represented by competing in many of the most popular events: Advanced and Open Jack and Jills, Strictly and Cabaret with several of them advancing on to the finals! The hit of the Saturday evening was the Cabaret division with 16 entries! But HSDS's own Jerry Foote swept the competition as The Hip Hop Specialist and took home FIRST place!!! Congratulations to Jerry and all of our Houston dancers for giving it all you got at ILHC this weekend!

 Also of note during the weekend was a unique Showcase performance form Andrew Thigpen and Karen Turman of the Evolution of Lindy Hop.  With this and their wonderful spirit, they took home a new honor, The Heart and Soul of ILHC. This routine is one of a kind and chronicles the progression of the entire history of Lindy Hop fin three minutes from the Breakaway to the Gap Ad and our modern classics, like Minnie's Moochers, Silver Shadows and more! For a break down of Andrew and Karen's inspiration, I highly recommend catching up on these clips. 

The videos are coming in like gangbusters and you should check out some of the jaw-dropping dancing that happened last weekend at Camp Hollywood. Make sure to check out Nick Williams and Laura Keat in the second round of the Pro Strictly Lindy at 7:42! Ah-maze-ing!!