Austin Swing Syndicate general updates and announcements
We’re thrilled to welcome the Hot Sugar Band for our first live music event of the year!
The band is visiting all the way from France, bringing a full night of swingin’ music on July 7.
Admission for live music nights is $15/members and $20/non-members.
Our Sustaining Members get in free of charge! Thank you for your continued support!
The Austin Swing Syndicate is very excited to announce our new dance lessons will be starting June 9th!
Checkout our monthly classes designed to get you on the floor and dancing, or our progressive lessons designed to build on what you already know.
Classes are offered for Lindy Hop, Collegiate Shag, and Balboa.
Check out more information on our Thursday night lessons here.
Can’t wait to get started? Sign-ups will start this Thursday June 2nd, 2022 so come on down and see what it’s about!
Unsure which class is right for you? Ask the front desk and they will help you out!
The board is pleased to announce the return of its first Town Hall since January 2020! The town hall is scheduled to take place on June 30th in the Art Gallery. Our town halls give us the chance to showcase all the projects we are working on as well as give a financial update and revenue projections. The last few years have been very interesting so as you can imagine, we have a lot to cover! At the end of the town hall community members will have the opportunity to ask the board questions. We hope to see you there!
Excited to be dancing at The Fed? So are we! But we don’t have enough DJs to keep the music going and we need YOU to step up and DJ with us on Thursdays. We have a great mentorship program to train you so don’t think you’ll be left hanging on your own. And we will provide you with a starter pack of music guaranteed to keep dancers on the floor. DJs get paid for each shift. If you like dancing, help us keep the music playing by becoming a new DJ at The Fed! If you’re interested, contact the DJ Coordinator Keli Hawthorne at [email protected].
Nominations for our Board of Directors elections are now open. Please email elections@
Nominations will close on March 1st.
Collegiate Shag Refresher | Dec 2
Collegiate Shag is a type of Swing dance that originated in the 1930s. It was popular with college kids during the Jazz and Swing era! There are many different styles of Shag, but this particular style is danced with a 6-count basic, quick and flashy footwork, and a chugging rhythm. It can be danced in closed position, open position, or side by side.
In this workshop, you will learn the basic rhythms, footwork, connection, and core moves of Collegiate Shag.
Lindy Hop Crash Course| Dec 2
Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the African-American communities in Harlem, New York City, in 1928. It was very popular during the Swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy Hop is taught as an 8-count dance and is characterized by a move called the Swing Out. You may also spot Lindy Hoppers incorporating 6-count Swing, as well as other dances that preceded it, such as Charleston, Jazz, and Tap.
In this workshop, you will learn the basic rhythm, footwork, and Lindy Hop core moves. This workshop is for everyone! No prior experience required!
Balboa Newcomer/Refresher| Dec 9
Balboa is a type of Swing dance that developed in the 1920s and 1930s in Southern California. It is named after the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach where it was popular! Balboa is an 8-count dance characterized by its intricate footwork and rotational movements. It lends itself nicely to fast music, but you can dance it to any tempo, including slow tempos.
In this workshop, you will learn basic rhythms, footwork, connection, and core moves that comprise Pure Balboa (closed connection) and Bal-Swing (open connection). This workshop is for everyone! No prior experience required!
Musical Moves | Dec 9
In this workshop you will learn fun new moves to enhance your 6-count Swing and Lindy Hop! This workshop is for our intermediate and up dancers!
The Shim Sham | Dec 16
Here’s your chance to learn that tap-inspired line dance we all do every Thursday night. We will teach you to Boogie Back and Shorty George like a pro! No prior experience required!
Swingout Clinic | Dec 16
If all you want for Christmas is a better swingout, this is the workshop for you! This popular workshop returns for dancers who are comfortable with the Lindy rhythm and who can execute a basic swingout and maybe even some variations. Lindy Hoppers never stop working on this fundamental move. Consider this class a “do not miss”. Suitable for Intermediate and up!
The Austin Swing Syndicate Board and the ALX Committee have been hard at work discussing many constantly changing variables, and are continuing to meet to address the challenges of holding a dance event with safety in mind. Previously, we had communicated our strategy regarding reopening using the local health authority staging criteria. After speaking directly to an epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and carefully observing other dance scenes and other large events in Austin, we are announcing our Reopening with COVID Precautions.
The Austin Swing Syndicate will reopen on Nov 4th, 2021 with Workshops from 7-9:00 pm and a Practice Dance in the Ballroom from 9-11:00pm. We will offer this again on Nov 11th, 2021. Then we will fully open with the launch of ALX 2021 on Nov 18th.
COVID Precaution Policy
To enter the building, a guest must present proof of full vaccination (full vaccination is 2 weeks after both shots of Pfizer or Moderna, or one shot of J&J)
OR
A negative result on a COVID test, within the past 72 hours.
Masks are required at all times inside the building.
Acceptable COVID tests:
If you are sick, do not attend.
If you have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID19, kindly get a negative test before attending our events.
Free PPE available but please do your part in bringing your own to keep the costs down.
We are working as hard as possible to make our reopening an incredible experience.
Can’t wait to see everyone back on the dance floor!
3/4: The virtual Elections Town Hall will be held tonight at 8pm for members. The five candidates will introduce themselves and members will have a chance to ask questions. If your membership expired in March 2020 or later you will be eligible to vote in this election and should have received the link to the meeting via email. Please email the Elections Committee at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
Candidate biographies can be found here.
2/23: Nominations for the Austin Swing Syndicate Board of Directors are now open! Please email elections@
There are four open spots on the board (three expiring terms and one vacancy). Joining the board is a great way to give back to a community you love and help us decide what our next priorities should be. During the pandemic, the board has been hard at work applying for grants, obtaining a discount on our rent, and filming swing-related content. Joining now would make you an integral part of the return of swing dancing in Austin when deemed safe by Austin Public Health.
Election 2021 Schedule
Feb. 23rd – Nominations open
Feb. 28th – Nominations close
Mar. 4th – Candidate biographies posted (Optional virtual Town Hall TBD)
Mar. 11th – Online voting begins
Mar. 18th – Polls close at Midnight
Mar. 20th – Election results (including exact vote counts) sent to members by email by this date
Serving on the board is a two-year commitment. Officers (President, VP, etc.) are elected internally among directors once elected. The elections are run by the Elections Committee, a neutral group nominated by the current Board.
Anyone who was a member of the Austin Swing Syndicate on its last day of operation, March 12th, 2020, will be considered a member for the purpose of this election and is eligible to run for the board or vote.
– Austin Swing Syndicate Elections Committee 2021
The Austin Swing Syndicate continues to keep a strong watch on when we can safely reopen for dancing and what the transitions of reopening may look like, while matching public health concerns with readiness to return for the majority of our dancers in a financially responsible way.
Thank you everyone (124 of you!) who completed our survey. These results will help Austin Swing Syndicate leadership shape events and classes for our dance community.
The majority of people answering the survey (55%) reported that they attended weekly classes and dances at The Fed. We’re excited to have such strong engagement from our regular community and to still have a good response from dancers who attend less frequently (28% once a month or every 2-3 months) so we could ascertain their willingness to return to dancing too.
Most people (81%) have not been participating in virtual online dance classes. Survey results showed that generally people are not interested in returning to The Fed for in-person solo dance classes but would rather wait until partner dance of some kind resumes.
Dancers are split in roughly equal amounts on each end of the spectrum when it comes to returning to dancing and safety procedures: half our dancers are comfortable dancing with masks and not rotating partners and half of them are not at this time. More years of dance experience and age each correlated to being less comfortable returning to dancing right now.
This survey represents a snapshot from mid-August of our community’s readiness to return to dancing when safe. As we all know, the ability to reopen changes with infection rates, hospitalization rates, holiday impacts, and following public health regulations about capacity with consideration of the unique aspects of partner dancing.
We will be sending out another survey to assess our community’s readiness again in the future and welcome your comments at that time or you can send us a private message.
We continue to look forward to the day when we can safely reopen the doors of The Fed for dancers within public health regulations and when it is financially stable to have enough dancers ready to return to support the reopening.