Swing Time

Damrosh Park at Lincoln Center ready for MNS

Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center is celebrating its 25th season. This iconic dance party attracts all ages and ethnicities as well as neighborhood people with their  dogs enjoying their evening stroll. I went with an out-of- town friend, partly because I love to dance and also to show said friend what a nice group New Yorkers can be. A ten on both counts.

Bags of all kinds are strictly verboten so these get checked. The staff at the checkout area  must pass incredibly tight background investigations as there has never been a complaint. To get onto the dance floor, you need a ticket and your wrist is stamped so you can  move on and off  the floor at will. (Note to the financially prudent: if you’re willing to forgo the lesson, you can hear the music and even dance pretty close to the floor.)

Midsummer Night Swing in progress

The evening always begins with a dance lesson; in our case, the instructor was a perky woman who managed to be upbeat but not upchuck-inducing. She and a male partner garbed in sailoresque clothes, aided by  a large coterie of similarly dressed helpers, took us through their version of the Lindy (not named after Charles Lindberg but that’s another story kiddies.) The lesson groupies are lined up and ivided into “leaders” and “followers.” As there are–of course–more women than men– many leaders (including me) are female but it couldn’t matter less. You change partners often throughout the lesson, meeting delightful people at every step (although the guy in front of me had two left feet, both ending in Rosa Klebb-style shoes

Rosa K, aka Lotte Lenya,  and her famous footwear

with which he did a little damage to my ankles.) My friend reported dancing with New Yorkers who originally hailed from all over the globe and found every one of them a gem.

The band was The Hot Sardines–were I a tad younger, I’d describe them as “awesome.” It’s a cool swing band with a very good vocalist and a member who tap dances. Here’s a taste of the Sardines…(click and follow link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JLhhlQzbRI0

Other evenings are devoted to salsa and other Latin beats, different big bands, the music of ABBA and other genres.

Alcohol is available but my sense is that consumption if pretty limited. We noted one sniffer dog with his handler but a more benign, drug- free atmosphere would be hard to come by. There are some very talented, clearly experienced, dancers to watch and sometimes a “performance.” If all that dancing works up an appetite, Hill Country BBQ sells various foods and there’s a gelato stand. People dance as couples (same or opposite sex) or solo and no one cares about anything but having a great evening bopping around in an unbeatable setting to fabulous music.

All that dancing works up a thirst. Cool off with:

White Sangria (Rachel Ray)
Yield 8 glasses    Difficulty: Takes about five minutes.

3 tablespoons sugar
3 shots Calvados or other apple liquor
1 lime, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
2 ripe peaches, cut into wedges
3 ripe green apples (as in Granny Smith) seeded and cut into wedges
1 bottle dry white wine
1 pint raspberries
Seltzer

Combine sugar, Calvados, lime, lemon, peaches and apples in a large pitcher. Cover with 1 bottle of wine and chill several hours. To serve, spoon fruits into glasses, adding a few fresh raspberries in each glass, pour wine over top of fruit. Top off each glass with a splash of seltzer.

Get out those dancing shoes!