Salsa VS. Swing - Chicago goes Palladium

A full night of sultry Swing and Latin music and dancing in the spirit of the Palladium Ballroom

Two live bands! Calle Luna, Siberian Hotheads!
Exclusive Salsa and Lindy Hop taster dance class and performances.

19:00-20.00 Taster dance class in latin and swing
20.00-00.00 Calle Luna and Siberian Hotheads

CALLE LUNA
The Salsaband Calle Luna play 1970’s New York style salsa. A mix of jazz, soul, and son montuno.

SIBERIAN HOTHEADS
Hot jazz drenched in blues and smooth swing with a latin touch - from the coolest depths of Siberia, Stockholm.

MOST WELCOME!

BACKGROUND. In the 1940’s, the musical world of jazz and swing became increasingly influenced by Latin American sounds and rhythms. While latin influence in jazz had previously been confined mostly to exotic novelty numbers, by the mid 1940’s a new afro-cuban sound was developing which combined the harmony and rhythms of both musical traditions. Latin jazz was being born, which changed the world of music and the world of dancing alike, as the new and exciting musical sounds being developed inspired new modes of expression. Swing dancers crowded the dancefloors of places like the Palladium Ballroom in NYC where latin rhythms like the Cha-cha-cha, the Rumba, and the Samba fused with Jazz, Bop, and Swing, igniting a ‘Mambo Craze’ which spread all throughout the US and lasted for more than half a decade.

Sadly, much of the creative ‘Palladium spirit’ of fusing Latin and Jazz as a form of dance has been lost in the modern revival culture of swing dancing. These two dance communities remain more or less strangers to each other, partly kept apart by arbitrary borders of dance genres. What would happen if this changed?
SALSA VS. SWING. In an attempt to resurrect the spirit of the Palladium Ballroom, the aim of this event is to have dancers from the swing and the latin dance communities share the dancefloor together for a night of improvisation and experimentation beyond the usual. Are you ready to make some new friends and try out some new moves? Indeed, with two live bands, dance performances, a unique latin jazz dance taster class, DJ Duke McVouty spinning records, and more, this will certainly be a very special evening. Perhaps, if we’re lucky, it may be the spark which reignites the palladium spirit in the world of swing dancing.
Get inspired by learning more about the birth of Latin Jazz and the Palladium Ballroom: https://youtu.be/GXDiU_r8RjU

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