04/06/2015
A big thank you to my friend to Fudz Qazi who let me use his amazing photographs of the event.
Opening Night
"Welcome to the Melbourne Swing Festival 2015!
Queen's Birthday long weekend, Friday June 5th – Monday June 8th 2015.
It's time again for those 4 days and nights of sheer joy and dancing bliss to take over Melbourne! We'll swing the inner city with sizzling music, white-hot dancing, and killer workshops. And the Melbourne International Jazz Festival will be jamming right along with us."
Swing Patrol Melbourne… and I was there :)!
Actually I was already there on Thursday night, when I accidentally had a great start to the festival.
I happened to have had a bad day at work, everything seemed to go wrong. I also felt a bit down in general and was not in the mood for anything really.
For a change I was home early (after only one hour commuting), when sitting in my room, not very impressed with my own company, I suddenly remembered that I'd been in that sort of mood before back home in England. I also remembered that one of my best dancing friends had the answer: "Go dancing!"
With a smile I recalled how I felt when I'd followed that advice... So I jumped into the shower and in some sort of dancing outfit, dragged myself out in the cold to find my way to Fitzroy for some social dancing. Even when I'd missed the tram waiting on the wrong side of the road (!) and therefore had to wait for 20 more minutes in the freezing cold, I would not give up and after an hour and a bit I entered the St Brigid's Parish Hall.
Wow! Not the usual social dancing!
A band was playing and it turned out to be the warm up party for the festival. As I had no idea I didn't bring enough cash to cover the 15 dollars entrance fee. I kind of explained and the lovely lady at the door decided I'd got there quite late and made it half price for me, which was pretty much exactly what I had in my purse. That moment changed my day for the better and with my first step on the dance floor I left the beginning of it behind me.
After my first dance I got to chat to a guy I'd met in a class and quickly checked what time the trams were running until. I so didn't feel like going home at all and loved it when he said they were running till between midnight and 1am on a Thursday, which shouldn't be a problem at all as the dancing was going to finish at 11pm.
Well, after a great night and even a really cool performance from the 'Echoes Of Harlem' (I finally saw them in action, which I was very excited about after joining their workshop the other week), I stepped out of the door looking up on my phone when the next tram was going. It was 10 to 12am at this point, so not even midnight. My phone brought me back to reality telling me that the next tram was running at 5:59am!!
Aaaaaaah! Back home in Brighton I've done that loads of times. A good night out and I don't care. Somehow I'd get back. Even walking is always an option. However, this little girl in a big city realised in that moment: no way to do that in big Melbourne!
Not long after that ‘enlightenment’ I saw one of the 'Echoes' coming out of the Hall. He was the last one with some friends and there was no other way than quickly forget about feeling hesitant and just do it … I needed to walk up to them to see where they were going in their car.
Why didn't it surprise me that they were super nice and helpful and wouldn't let me call my emergency friend for help but made a detour and dropped me back safely. What a good start to the long dancing weekend to come :)!
Queen's Birthday long weekend, Friday June 5th – Monday June 8th 2015.
It's time again for those 4 days and nights of sheer joy and dancing bliss to take over Melbourne! We'll swing the inner city with sizzling music, white-hot dancing, and killer workshops. And the Melbourne International Jazz Festival will be jamming right along with us."
Swing Patrol Melbourne… and I was there :)!
Actually I was already there on Thursday night, when I accidentally had a great start to the festival.
I happened to have had a bad day at work, everything seemed to go wrong. I also felt a bit down in general and was not in the mood for anything really.
For a change I was home early (after only one hour commuting), when sitting in my room, not very impressed with my own company, I suddenly remembered that I'd been in that sort of mood before back home in England. I also remembered that one of my best dancing friends had the answer: "Go dancing!"
With a smile I recalled how I felt when I'd followed that advice... So I jumped into the shower and in some sort of dancing outfit, dragged myself out in the cold to find my way to Fitzroy for some social dancing. Even when I'd missed the tram waiting on the wrong side of the road (!) and therefore had to wait for 20 more minutes in the freezing cold, I would not give up and after an hour and a bit I entered the St Brigid's Parish Hall.
Wow! Not the usual social dancing!
A band was playing and it turned out to be the warm up party for the festival. As I had no idea I didn't bring enough cash to cover the 15 dollars entrance fee. I kind of explained and the lovely lady at the door decided I'd got there quite late and made it half price for me, which was pretty much exactly what I had in my purse. That moment changed my day for the better and with my first step on the dance floor I left the beginning of it behind me.
Well, after a great night and even a really cool performance from the 'Echoes Of Harlem' (I finally saw them in action, which I was very excited about after joining their workshop the other week), I stepped out of the door looking up on my phone when the next tram was going. It was 10 to 12am at this point, so not even midnight. My phone brought me back to reality telling me that the next tram was running at 5:59am!!
Not long after that ‘enlightenment’ I saw one of the 'Echoes' coming out of the Hall. He was the last one with some friends and there was no other way than quickly forget about feeling hesitant and just do it … I needed to walk up to them to see where they were going in their car.
Why didn't it surprise me that they were super nice and helpful and wouldn't let me call my emergency friend for help but made a detour and dropped me back safely. What a good start to the long dancing weekend to come :)!
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