"It don't mean a thing, if you don't get swing" - Duke Ellington
Swing represents that ideal of facing life and drinking it in one gulp. To laugh. To slide and to understand that there is no need to stop in useless qualms. To laugh again. To feel the beat and let go of the choking that sometimes conditions our path. To live the moment with passion. To fly. Let yourself be carried away by improvisation and disconnect with the thumbs of your feet tied to the ground.
In the late 1920s, swing was born in the United States as one of the variants of jazz. A new genre that reached great splendour and served as the perfect excuse for the enjoyment of furtive lovers and those madmen who sought to free themselves from prejudice in that New York in which some of us have dreamed of living at some point and which Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly captured in The Great Gatsby.
A lot has happened since the music hall and, over time, swing has managed - thanks to groups like Caravan Palace or Parov Stelar - to redefine its sound accompanied by electronic beats. A success that has been welcomed by the new generations, who have not hesitated to get back on the dancefloor.
Next Sunday, July 28, as a prelude to the concert that Pink Martini and Sister! will give at Noches del Botánico, the teacher Anabel Núñez invites us to Vintage Dance Party, a swing workshop -suitablefor all audiences- in which the first to come dressed (vintage) for the occasion, will receive a gift from the brands "El Mono con Pajarita" (The Monkey with a Bow Tie), "Pajaritas al Viento", "Pitas, Pitas, Pitas, Pitas", "Pajaritas al VientoPitas, Pitas, Pajaritas", "La Veintinueve", "Luka Moon" and "Bad People. Through the MAD for Swing portal, Anabel Núñez has been promoting Lindy Hop and swing culture in general for years, with performances that help us to discover this diverse and attractive art.
Many are those who are already hooked on this erudition and enjoy its improvisation and dynamism. In addition, dancing outdoors in nature, breathing the strong scent of jasmine that hides the Botanical Garden, will surely make us feel new sensations that we will spread with a smile; the same one with which the great Louis Armstrong made the world fall in love.
Be prepared because, as Jorge Luis Borges pointed out, "suddenly someone will come along who dances with you, even if he doesn't like to dance, and does it with you because it is with you and nothing else" .
Nicolas Fernandez
