As per the request of one of the DanceNet readers, here are copies of the past ramblings of the DanceNet Webmaster.
It's pretty interesting to see some of the Lindy dancers going out for West Coast Swing. Does this say that West Coast Swing is going to come back? I hope so. I think that WCS was getting stagnant for a while because the genre wasn't very welcoming to beginners. I think that the lessons have been learned and many of the venue promoters have figured out that much more effort needs to be put out to attract and *retain* the beginner dancers. I hope this keeps up.
At the same time, I hope some of the hardcore WCS dancers would consider checking out the Lindy side of things. Some dancers do only one of the other at a dance, regardless of the music (perhaps the fault of the dance organizers?). The ones with a foot in each of the environments are the ones who get the most out of a dance: they dance whatever the music tells them to dance.
I hope to see more cross-pollination out there.
Tempo is one of the few venues that offer regular Hustle dancing in the greater Boston area, not to mention one of the few places that even offered Hustle classes.
Gail Rundlett has been running Tempo since way before I started dancing and it's good to see her dance business thrive through the years. She runs the annual Commonwealth Classic ballroom dance competitions in Lowell and focuses her dance activities on being "inclusive". I was impressed with the fact that she opens her studio for classes by teachers from other studios or for dance practice. Tempo is unique in that it is an independent studio that has stayed in the same commercial rental space all these years.