Unfortunately we have had to cancel tonight’s Speakeasy due to the adverse weather conditions.  Apologies for the short notice.  Please spread the word if you know anyone who was planning to come.  We currently expect that Wednesday’s class will go ahead as normal, but we will post another update if that is likely to change.

We will be holding our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 4th March at 9pm. Instead of the intermediate class we will hold just one mixed-level class at 7:30pm. If you are interested in being on the committee, please see below for details of how to stand. Otherwise, please do come along to the AGM anyway – this is your opportunity to have your say in how CLH is run.

There are 8 committee positions available: President, Treasurer, and 6 general committee positions. Specific roles for general committee members will be decided at the first meeting of the new committee, but the President and Treasurer positions must be voted on individually. If you apply for one of these positions and do not get it, don’t worry – your votes will still count towards a general committee position unless you specify otherwise. For more information about the committee and its roles, see our constitution. Both students and non-students may stand, but you should expect to be in Cambridge until early next year (i.e. not graduating this summer!), and you must be a
current CLH member.

To stand for a position, please email info -AT- cambridgelindy.com by 18th February with the following information.

1. Tell us the committee position you are standing for (President,
   Treasurer, or General Committee Member).
2. You need to be nominated and seconded by a current CLH member;
   please give the names of these members when you apply.
3. Please write few lines about yourself. This will help members to
   decide who to vote for if they do not know you personally. It need
   only be a very short, informal description.

We are pleased to announce that the Lindy Hopathon will take place again next year on 7 February 2009.  This is our big annual charity event in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis trust – a massive 12-hour, non-stop dance marathon!  We raised over £6000 for the CF Trust (a really fantastic cause) at the Hopathon this year, and would really like to beat that target for next year’s event, so please come along and show your support.  There are many different ways to get involved, so you don’t have to dance for the full 12 hours if you don’t want to!  See the Events page for more details or contact Ros for more information: ros @cambridgelindy.com.

Get booking for the Cambridge Lindy Exchange!  We now have less than 20 weekend tickets left!  If you plan to come, this week is also your last chance to order the formal college dinner or a CLX t-shirt – orders for both need to be placed by Friday 3 October.  See the CLX website for more information and details of how to register.

If you can’t come for the whole weekend, we have now announced prices for the Saturday and Sunday dances.  The big Saturday evening dance is at the Centre at St Paul’s from 9.30pm till late and costs £15 non-members / £13 members.  There will be live music from the Harmony in Harlem big band, and the price includes a blues after party in the same venue.  The Sunday afternoon tea dance is at Wolfson College from 4pm – 8pm and costs £12 non-members / £10 members.  There will be live music from the Colin Hazel Trio.  You can buy your tickets for either event on the door.  Unfortunately, we cannot sell individual tickets for the Friday evening dance due to space limitations.  See the CLX venues page for how to get there.

Registration for the Cambridge Lindy Exchange 2008 is now open!! This is going to be the biggest swing dance event of the year in Cambridge, with three nights of social dancing, two live bands, late-night blues party, dancing, punting, bags of cake and loads more. The fun happens on the weekend of October 17 – 19. We aim to keep the exchange small and friendly, so there will be a limited number of tickets available – book now to avoid disappointment! For more information, and to book your place, please visit the CLX website.

The August bank holiday (Monday August 25) is going to be our big CLH summer party.  We will be lindy bombing Jesus Green and then heading off for a pub dinner before dancing the night away at the Speakeasy, where there will be an extended night of social dancing: live band The Rob James Trio will keep us swinging until 10pm, followed by a blues after-party till midnight.  For more details see the events page.  Please note that the Speakeasy lesson WILL START AT THE EARLIER TIME OF 7PM, rather than the usual 7.30pm, on this night.

The The Rob James Trio are another new band to the Speakeasy, and we’re pleased to announce that they will also be playing on August 11 and 18.  This coming Monday (August 11) will be their first night, so do come along and show them your support.  We also have some more exciting bands lined up for September – including, of course, the return of the fabulous Colin Hazel.  Keep an eye on the Speakeasy page for more details.

This Sunday is your final chance to catch some free live swing music on Jesus Green courtesy of Cambridge City Council.  This week it’s the Jazz-Beens Dixieland Jazz Band.  It’s on Sunday 10 August from 3pm – 5pm.  As usual, there will be a big group of us there so do come and find us.  For more information about the event see the council’s website: http://tinyurl.com/pvdmm

We are pleased to announce that jazz trio “Better Than TV” will be playing at our next Speakeasy on Monday 21 July, so grab your dancing shoes for a night of fantastic live music!

There will still be our usual total beginners’ swing dance taster class at 7.30pm – this week, we’re learning the fantastically fun Charleston Stroll, so get your “ooh-ing” and “ah-ing” muscles ready! For more details see the Speakeasy page.

Band starts at 8.30pm
Price: £4 (members) / £5 (non-members)

During July and August we will be teaching jazz routines and taster classes in different styles of swing dance at the Speakeasy. We kicked off last week with a taster class in Balboa. The next two weeks have a 20′s theme, with partnered 20′s charleston on July 14 and the Charleston Stroll on July 21. Lessons are still suitable for absolute beginners.

We will have social dancing from 8.30pm as usual, with DJs keeping us dancing the night away – there WON’T be a live band every week, but there will be the occasional guest band night. Check the Speakeasy page or contact us for details of band nights and for which taster classes we will be teaching. Colin will be back playing for us regularly from September, along with other guest bands. There will be a discount of £1 off the normal entry price on non-band nights, making it £3 Members, £4 Non-members.

If you have any suggestions for what you’d like us to teach at these taster sessions (or in general), please do contact us and let us know. We love to hear your feedback.

The Jive Aces are playing at the next Black Cat Friday Freestyle on 13th June. If you’ve never been to the Black Cat before this is a good opportunity to check out this great monthly freestyle night and see a fabulous live band at the same time. It’s in Great Barford (near Bedford), which is less than an hour’s drive from Cambridge. For full details see the Swingsters website.

We’re very pleased to announce that we will be holding a weekend of blues workshops and social dancing on 10th and 11th May 2008, with fantastic teachers Ursula Ledergerber and Dave Madison. Read more about them and find out the full details on our workshop page.

Update 5th May: the link to the google map for the evening dance venue was wrong. If you’ve already printed it off or written down directions, please have another look!

We are very excited to announce that world-renowned swing dance instructor Andrew Sutton will be teaching at our regular Wednesday class night on April 16. The lessons will be 1.5 hour workshop style classes, rather than our normal 1 hour classes, and will therefore be more expensive than usual – £7/£8 (members/non-members) for one class, or £12/£14 (members/non-members) for both classes. In order to fit both workshops in there will unfortunately be no social dance time. The workshops are Charleston and Rhythm Variations at 7.30pm and Fundamentals in Counterbalance at 9pm. For more information about Andrew, see his website.

The Jive Aces are playing on the Market Square in Cambridge this Sunday 24 February from about 1pm – 3pm. Come along for a chance to see this great band for free, and join us for an impromptu boogie!