Austin Swing Syndicate general updates and announcements
Hey everyone! It’s that time of year again, Elections!
Please note that the Austin Swing Syndicate board would like you to vote for the most qualified candidates, not just your friends. Please think who will best serve the community and help the Austin Swing Syndicate grow and continue to move in the right direction. Please keep those things in mind when voting.
Here are your nominees! Read more
The Austin Swing Syndicate would like to join the international swing dance community in our support for Sarah Sullivan and all survivors of sexual violence in the swing dance scene. We admire Sarah for her bravery in publicly disclosing her story, which was especially difficult considering the influence of the person responsible within the international swing dance community.
As other local swing communities have begun to do, the Austin Swing Syndicate would like to take this opportunity to reflect and initiate an open conversation about sexual violence in our own community. We all deserve to feel comfortable and safe at our community dance events; especially, safe and free to speak out against any form of harassment.
The Syndicate board has created a Code of Conduct to express our dedication to providing a Safe Space for everyone; to condemn all forms of harassment; and, to delineate our expectations for all to behave with decency. We are also forming a Safety committee to ensure that this conversation continues and to pursue initiatives that increase the safety of our community.
We understand the necessity for survivors of violence to be heard and supported in the sharing of their experiences. In this way, we also encourage you to be inspired by Sarah’s courage to speak out about breaches of your consent. If you desire our support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Contact Austin Swing Syndicate’s Safety Staff: safespace@austinswingsyndicate.org; (512) 200-2467
Other resources for help:
Austin’s SafePlace: safeplace.org; 512-267-SAFE(7233)
Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN): rainn.org; 1-800-656-HOPE
National Domestic Violence Hotline: thehotline.org; 1-800-799-7233
Happy New Year’s! Just a reminder that we will be kicking off 2015 with our regular Thursday night dance on January 1st, 2015! That’s right, start off 2015 right with swing dancing at the Fed! We’ll be open our regular hours from 8pm to Midnight and we’ll have both classes going (intro to swing and a side room class). If you’re not sure what to expect, read about our regular Thursday night dance here!
Just a friendly reminder that the Austin Swing Syndicate will be closed on Christmas Day (Thursday, December 25, 2014)! The Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs Headquarters (the Fed) management has asked that we allow their staff to spend time with their families during the holidays. However, we will be open again starting on Thursday, January 1, 2015 (New Year’s Day)! We hope all of our members and fellow dancers have a great holiday, and we’ll see you in the new year! Happy Holidays!
Hey everyone! It’s that time of year again when holidays are happening and schedules start getting a bit weird. So for 2014 (2015), we have a few Thursdays that land on Holidays. Here’s the remaining 2014 Schedule (we are basically open every Thursday except Christmas!): Read more
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! The Austin Swing Syndicate will be open on Thanksgiving (as we have in the previous years)! In keeping with that tradition, the dance will be completely FREE since it will be run by volunteers who have taken time out of their Thanksgiving evening to operate the Thursday dance! Also, special to this year, we’ll have teachers for the beginner lesson starting at 8:15pm! How can you beat a FREE dance and FREE lesson on Thanksgiving? Seems like one of the best pre-Black Friday deals! The schedule for the Thanksgiving dance is:
Please keep in mind, there will be no side room tonight, and Read more
This Thursday’s dance unofficially kicks off Austin Lindy Exchange! There are well over 200 people registered for the event this weekend, so we’ll have a full house! Expect our weekly Thursday dance to be a little more packed than usual, but otherwise we’ll be holding our regular DJ’ed dance, $3 for members and $6 for non-members. If you have friends from out of town attending the Thursday dance, make sure they bring their local swing group membership card to get the affiliate discount ($3)!
The wonderful management of the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs Headquarters, lovingly known to us as “The Fed,” has provided us with a parking garage down the street from our venue. The parking garage is FREE to all our attendees. We provide a nightly code at the front desk that can be entered on the keypad at the exit to the garage. Your ticket will not be needed. The parking garage information is below.
Look for this Entrance to the Garage with the Green/Aqua-colored “P” sign.
The Quarters Parking Garage
2216 Rio Grande St.
Austin, TX 78705
Here’s how the parking will work: Read more
Photo Courtesy of Andrew Fritz
The Austin Swing Syndicate will be teaching a Shim Sham Class for the month of August. The Shim Sham is traditional jazz line dance (no partner necessary, think of it like an old school, 1920’s version of Cupid Shuffle or Teach Me How to Dougie). We do the Shim Sham every Thursday around 10:30pm and this is a great way to learn the steps so you can participate with everyone. The best part, is the class is FREE with admission into the dance.
We have fabulous instructors teaching two week series on the Shim Sham. We’ll have two separate series of classes so if you miss one just wait until the next series starts. Here’s the information: