Harlem finds a home in Hyrum
Two years back, the USU Big Band Swing Club wanted to do something a little different for Black History Month.
The end result is the Harlem Nights Bash.
“Lindy Hop was made popular by African-Americans living in Harlem in the 1920s,” said Benjamin Sundberg, this year’s event coordinator. “We just wanted to honor those people that created the dance that we love.”
Harlem Nights Bash is now in its third year and will kick off at 5 p.m. this Friday with workshops at HPER 215 and will finish up at Elite Hall in Hyrum with the “Hellzapoppin'” dance competition,
Harlem Nights Bash has become an annual event for the Big Band Swing Club and Sundberg says he hopes it will continue to grow.
“We have had a lot of big names in just the two years we have been hosting Harlem Nights. We had Josie Say the first year and Frankie Manning and Josie Say the second year. This year, we are excited to have Manu Smith and Ria DeBaise,” Sundberg said. “We went with Manu and Ria because they are two of the best dancers in the world right now. We have been lucky in the past with getting Frankie Manning and Josie Say and swing dancing has been growing in Utah, which makes it good for us, because the more dancers we have, the easier time it is to get good instructors to come.”
According to the swing club’s Web site, www.usu.edu/swing, Manu Smith has been dancing since 1997, and has become a popular Lindy Hop dancer, teacher, performer, competitor, deejay and emcee during that time. His partner, Ria DeBiase, has been teaching Lindy Hop for six years in the United States, Europe, Australia and Korea.
The workshops with Manu and Ria cost $10. The workshops will start Friday at 5 p.m. in HPER 215 with a new workshop every hour. Following the workshop, there will be a dance at the Elite Hall in Hyrum from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.
The Harlem Nights Bash will continue Saturday with more workshops in the HPER and then dancing at Elite Hall from 5:30 p.m. until midnight. Saturday night will also feature the “Hellzapoppin'” dance competition. Competitors at this year’s dance will have their work cut out for them, Sundberg said, since he expects about 200 people to show up to the dances and workshops with some people traveling from as far away as California to attend.
“We’ll have people from Colorado, Idaho, California and, of course, Utah at Harlem Nights this year,” Sundberg said. “It should be a great time.”
-nealmsnow@cc.usu.edu