The 2006 Utah Lindy Exchange has just ended (edit: errr… when I wrote this anyway. It’s now been over two weeks). Wow! What a weekend! My photos of the events.

It started Thursday evening at the University of Utah for the Pre-Exchange dance. That event was not sponsored by the Utah Swing Dance Association (which I am a part of). The UofU had the Lloyd Miller Band (a favorite from ULX ‘05) and a great time was had by all. Good times. There were a lot of out of towners already here on Thursday. A lot came early for the skiing/boarding. Dancing went from 8 - 11 PM.

Friday Afternoon we held a dance at the Salt Lake Coffee Break, music was DJ’d. It was our official although relaxed kick off for the exchange. A good time was had by all. Dancing went from 12 - 4 PM.

Friday Evening we held a dance at the Apollo ballroom in American Fork. The floor there is very very very slick! Almost too slick for my tastes… way too slick for some. Dancing really fast on a floor like that with leather soled shoes can be hazardous to one’s health (and the health of those around you!) Music was provided by the amazing Melissa Pace. A few dancers who happen to play in jazz bands joined Melissa for a few songs here and there. These were Peter Vawter (violin) and Solomon Douglas (piano). They did awesome as well. Peter’s violin solos caused eruptions of applause and shouting. A super amazing time was had by all. Dancing went from 9 PM - 12 AM.

Friday late night we held a dance at an ex frat house in SLC. We believe this was the first time a lindy exchange event has been held in a frat house. It was really crowded, but everyone enjoyed it a lot. There was a lot of hang out space for hanging out and chattin’. The blues room (the room with slow blues music) was in the basement. It was really dark in there. I prefer upbeat faster music so I didn’t dance down there, but I did blind a lot of people temporarily by taking a few pictures. The groans and shouting from people who I’d blinded were worth it. Dancing went from 1 AM - 6 AM I think. I left around 4:30ish I think. Officially, it was supposed to end at 4, but people just didn’t want to leave!

I slept in past noon, just enjoying the sleep. We didn’t have any dancing during the day. Most people went skiing or snow boarding on Utah’s award winning slopes and snow.

Saturday Evening we held the dance at the Utah Fair Park Grand Building. The Grand Building has a large wood floor and lots of space for tables. Music was provided by the New Deal Swing band, who are members of the Utah Symphony. This was the band a few of us performed with at the Utah Symphony’s big band Christmas concert. The band hadn’t ever played for a dance before and didn’t really know what exactly to play (tempos and such), but in my opinion they did AWESOME. I loved every minute of it. Absolutely amazing music. Anyway, we held our second annual “Polygamy Lindy Contest” at the fair park. For those of you who don’t know, the polygamy lindy exchange was started by the ULX committee last year as nothing more than a funny competition. Each “lead” (normally a guy) starts out with two “follows” (not necessarily girls). Dancing with two follows is normally called “double bug,” but this is not your normal double bug competition. After each round couples (errr.. groups) are eliminated and the leads sit out and watch, but the follows stay in the competition and are divided up among the other leads! By the end there were two “couples” left. Two leads, 9 follows each!! 9 follows! Utterly hilarious. The crowd votes by cheering. This year’s winner was the second place winner last year… who happens to be a guy serving in Iraq. He came back to Utah just for the lindy exchange! :) A super great time was had by all. Dancing went from 9 PM - 12 PM. Some videos can be found here.

There was a Saturday late night at the Apollo ballrom and a Sunday afternoon dance at the frat house again. I didn’t go to either of these dances, but I hear that they were quite enjoyable.

And that’s all! We had people come from 22-25 states, Canada, and Australia! There were especially large groups from in and around Denver and from in and around Sacramento. I had a blast. My feet hurt for days afterwards from all the dancing.

Oh, for those of you who don’t know: What is a Lindy Exchange?