Austin Swing Syndicate general updates and announcements

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24th Anniversary Dance – Featuring The Golden Hour Heptet

We’re turning 24! That’s right, the Austin Swing Syndicate has been hosting our weekly Thursday dance at the Fed since the summer of 1999. We’re one of the longest running weekly swing dances and over the years we’ve welcomed thousands of amazing dancers to our incredible community.

To celebrate, we’ll have Golden Hour Heptet playing from 9pm – Midnight. An Austin staple, you can listen to some of their amazing music here.

And to give back to our incredible and supportive community, our Anniversary Dance will FREE to Austin Swing Syndicate Members! Non-member admission is our regular $20, so if you haven’t signed up for a membership, now is the time!

Anniversary Dance – July 27th – 9pm – Midnight
FREE for members
$20 general public

Interested in becoming a member?

You can now buy a regular membership online!

Or buy a sustaining membership for extra perks!

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June 23rd Band Reveal: Vintage Ties!

The wait is over – we’re thrilled to announce that Vintage Ties is our mystery band! Led by Misha Zvonkin, a regular at the jazz jams, Vintage Ties will be playing swinging tunes from the 30s and 40s all night long. You can find a link to buy tickets below Come out and dance!

Members: $15

Non-members: $20

We are also pleased to announce that we will be offering two Solo Jazz workshops in place of series classes that night:

Shim Sham | 7:30 to 9:00 pm | Art Gallery w/ Nick Williams
Tranky Doo | 7:30 to 9:00 pm | Georgian Room w/ Kari Kron

Workshop price: $25

 

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Fed Closed – Thursday June 22nd

The Austin Swing Syndicate will NOT be holding their regular Thursday dance on June 22nd. Instead we will be a live band night on June 23rd featuring the live band Vintage Ties. Check out the details on here on our website.

Need something to do that Thursday? We have your covered! Come check out our Bat Social we are having on the Congress Avenue Bridge. Details on Facebook.

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Friday at the Fed – June 23rd!

Mark your calendars for a special event this June 23rd. We will be doing something that’s never been done before… hosting our regular Thursday dance on a Friday!

That’s right, there will be no Thursday dance on June 22nd. Instead we will have our weekly dance on Friday June 23rd.

To celebrate this special occasion we will have a LIVE BAND for you all to dance to. Stay tuned for the big reveal—it may even be someone you know!

In addition we will hold a dance workshop in place of our regular monthly classes. Classes will resume the following week to finish the month long session.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates and the band reveal!

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Live Band – Rent Party – May the Fourth Be With You!

Not so long from now,
In a dance hall not so far away…

Our next live music event at the Fed! Arriving Thursday, May 4th! That’s right, the same day as the unofficial holiday of our favorite Space Combat film.

To take advantage of this alignment of the stars, we are having a one of our favorite local bands play, Rent Party!

And that’s not all. To keep the fun going, we are going to hold a dance competition—the Jedi Mix and Match! This will be a competition open for all levels. Costumes welcome!

$15 Members
$20 Nonmembers

Tickets available online or at the door. (Members can email us at [email protected] to receive the membership promo code.)

 

Marketing Intern Needed!

We’re looking for a Lindy-loving aspiring marketer to create amazing content, build our brand and promote all that the Austin Swing Syndicate has to offer.

This apprenticeship will take place under the direction of Nick Williams, President of The Austin Swing Syndicate and Amanda Eakin, Board Member at-large of The Austin Swing Syndicate. Nick has deep experience in creating video content that captures and engages audiences. Amanda works with startups at her day-job to learn how to sell, market and grow their businesses.

The Austin Swing Syndicate holds one of the longest running and best attended weekly swing dances in the country. Since 1999 our Thursday night dance at the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs (or as we call it, The Fed) consistently draws 200 people each week.

Our goal is to grow this supportive and welcoming environment and share our appreciation for vintage jazz through dance with the community at large.

Here’s what you’ll do and learn in this apprenticeship:

  • Create a long-term strategic marketing plan to help the Austin Swing Syndicate grow and thrive
  • Create and post educational, inspirational and promotional social media content (images, video and written)
  • Assist in business development and fundraising outreach
  • Analyze key social media metrics and conduct marketing experiments
  • Develop and expand community connections

Qualifications

  • Your copywriting skills are second to none
  • Some prior experience in visual content creation
  • Fierce enthusiasm for swing dance

Compensation

To apply: Email [email protected] with your resume and writing and/or visual content samples

2023 Board Election Results!

Meet your new 2023-2025 board members!

  • Nicole Currens
  • Amanda Eakin
  • Lon Nix
  • Nick Williams

There was formal election this year as there were four candidates running unopposed for four open positions. Let’s congratulate our newest board members and thank them for their commitment to the Austin swing dance community!

We’ll post information to our website about each of the new board members and what they are looking forward to accomplishing during their terms.

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Board of Directors Elections

Nominations for the Austin Swing Syndicate Board of Directors elections are now open. Please email [email protected] to declare your candidacy or if you have any questions. If you would like to nominate someone else, please copy the nominated party on your email. They will have to accept the nomination to be included on the ballot. Nominations will close on February 16th.

Important Dates
Jan 27th – Nomination period opens
Feb 16th – Nomination period closes
Feb 21st -Candidate Bios & Photos due
Feb 23rd – Election Town Hall Meeting
March 2nd – Online voting opens
March 9th – In-person voting, polls close at 11 PM
March 10th – Election results (including exact vote counts) sent to members by email

Elections for the four open Board of Directors spots will be held in March. Joining the board is a great way to give back to a community you love, help us decide what our next priorities should be, and get in on the inner workings of the organization.
Not sure what the board does? During the last year, the board worked hard expanding outreach, rolling out new classes, putting on live music events and supporting the local dance community. They help keep you informed by writing our monthly newsletters and posts like this on our website and Facebook. As a bonus, you’ll get to hang with fun people, it looks great on a resume, and you get in free to our dances/events!

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New Classes!

We have two exciting new classes we are going to start offering in January 2023!  People have been clamoring for more advanced classes since we launched our program last year and we are ready to deliver!

Advanced Swing/Taster Class

This class is for anyone who has taken “intro to swing” a few times and is ready to start building on the basics! This class will cover advanced turn patterns, footwork variations, and technique for 6 count swing. This class also functions as a rotating taster class so expect to see other material covered such as solo jazz moves (like those featured in the shim sham), Charleston and more!  This class will be offered every week (except blues weeks, the first Thursday of the month). Cost is $10 per class. Class runs from 8:00 to 9:00 pm.

Advanced Balboa

This is an advanced Balboa class for anyone who is comfortable dancing at a high bpm (190+).  Prerequisite moves should include the Come around, paddles, lollies, out & ins and the toss out.  This class will focus on expanding your current repertoire of moves, learn more variations, continue to work on transitions and flow between moves, and dive deeper into partner communication and musicality.  This class will join our monthly progressive class lineup. Cost is $50 per month. Class runs from 8:00 to 9:00 pm.