Join us this Friday (March 7th) at Centro Asturiano for a HUGE Swing Time event, featuring crowd favorites, The BackBreakers!  The band's been working up some exciting new material for us, and they've also added a seventh musician on Piano & Hammond Organ!  We have a fun new dance contest planned (details below) that anyone can enter -- no fancy moves required.  It'll be an incredible evening, and we look forward to seeing you there!  -- Sam & Rachel

The BackBreakers are a hard-swingin', seven-piece, jump-blues outfit that combines an exciting three-"horn" section (sax, trombone, and harmonica), with piano/organ, vocals, and a driving rhythm section.  While most bands play a standard 45-minute set then go on break, The BackBreakers are famous for delivering song after song, nonstop, for up to two straight hours of high-energy music and dancing!  Then after a short break, they come back and do it again!  That's the way the band prefers to play -- to get the crowd going, and to build up the musical excitement in a great crescendo, culminating in the final climactic song of their "BackBreaking" sets.  Need we tell you how the band got its name?

New Dance Contest!  We call this one The Fast Dance Challenge!  No fancy moves are required and you don't have to dance "in the spotlight" (all contestants will dance at the same time).  All you have to do is grab a partner, get onto the dance floor, and keep up with the music.  The music will start fast, and get progressively faster.  Whoever keeps up the best wins!  Prizes (1st-3rd) include Swing Time bowling shirts, event tickets, and other cool stuff!

Wayne Pearson's Swingin' Jazz Band is a combo of the area's finest swing & jazz veterans.  The band is perhaps best known for their 14 years at Ybor City's famous Cafe Creole.  The band swings in the classic style of 1920's-1940's jazz, with their talent for improvisation adding a new feel to each song they play.  Bandleader, Wayne Pearson, has been jazzing it up for over 30 years, starting at the young age of 14 in Philadelphia.  His professional music career has taken him from Philadelphia, to Atlantic City, to Europe, to New Orleans, to Miami, to Tampa Bay.  He's played jazz festivals too numerous to mention, and clubs including the Famous Door in New Orleans.  Wayne Pearson (on Sax & Clarinet), is joined by Joe Bruno on Trumpet, Chuck Schlaich on Piano, Vic Cremasco on Upright Bass, and Eddie Graham on Drums.

Swing Sundays are put on by the Suncoast Swing Gang.  The Zendah Grotto features a large floating-wood dance floor, and you may BYOB or buy soft drinks at the door.  Map or More Info.

So far, over 230 swing dancers have signed up for this ultimate swing vacation, with new registrations coming in every day.  Dancers from most of the U.S. states, plus Sweden, England, Switzerland, Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, and other countries have already signed up!  Consider going on this once-in-a-lifetime vacation.  Because of its unique cast of characters -- a who's who of famous names in the swing & lindy hop world, because it features the world's premier swing band and lindy hop instructors, and because Florida residents save big on travel expenses (after all, you're already here!), this is an opportunity that won't come around again.  Act quickly, because spaces are selling out and prices will go up on any remaining spaces by the middle-to-end of March.  Leader's Special: Get a $75 discount on the workshop package if you sign up by March 31st!

Apr  4 (Fri): Swing Time!  Spring Spectacular at CENTRO ASTURIANO
              featuring The Ten O'Clock Band - FL's leading 18-Piece BIG Band !!
              + Special Guests:  Steven Mitchell & Virginie Jensen !
              + Dance Contest w/ $250+ worth of Prizes!
               Lindy Hop & Free-Style/East-Coast Divisions
               Winners go to FL State Swing Dance Championships!

Apr 4-6 (Fri-Sun): Steven & Virginie Workshop Weekend !
Two of the world's foremost Lindy Hoppers & Swing Dance Instructors come to Tampa Bay!
    April 4th (Fri): Swing Time!  at CENTRO ASTURIANO w/ the Ten O'Clock BIG Band
    April 5th (Fri): Workshops w/ Steven & Virginie + Dance @ Pinellas Park Auditorium
    April 6th (Sun): Workshops w/ Steven & Virginie + Dance @ Zendah Grotto
    Click Here for Details!

Apr 18 (Fri): Swing Time!  at the GULFPORT CASINO
              featuring Katt Hefner & her All-Stars!

Mar 6 (Thu):  Kimberly Kaye's Band:  Dinner & Dancing at Maggiano's Little Italy at WestShore Plaza Mall, 7-10pm, $40, 813-288-9000 (Reservations).

Mar 6-7 (Thu-Fri):  Lavay Smith in Orlando & Gainesville:  More Info.

Mar 8 (Sat):  Charly Raymond Orchestra's Tribute to Harry James & the Andrew Sisters;  Big-Band Ballroom Dance at St Pete Coliseum, $13/adv or $15/door, 8pm-12am.  More Info.

Mar 16 (Sun):  Monsters of Jazz Concert:  w/ Ernie Calhoun, Buster Cooper, John Lamb, Richard Drexler, Dwayne White, and Lyle Warner, at the American Stage Theater in St Pete, 3-5:30pm, $10-$12, 813-839-8936 (Vincent Sims).

Mar 20 (Thu):  Skinny McGee & his Mayhem Makers:  Rockabilly at Skipper's, 8pm, $6.  More Info.

Mar 22 (Sat):  American Victory Ship:  Swing Dance Party w/ Dan McMillion's big band, 7:30-11:30pm, buffet & cocktails, $25-$35, 813-254-4285 (Lucille Murphy).

Mar 22 (Sat):  Valerie & Marty Workshop:  South Florida Balboa & Lindy Hop workshop.  More Info.

Mar 28-30 (Fri-Sun):  FSU's Seminole Stomp:  Tallahassee Swing Dance Weekend w/ workshops, live & DJ'd music, & dancing.  More Info.

Apr 17-20 (Thu-Sun):  Orlando Swing Vacation 2003:  West Coast, Lindy Hop & East Coast Swing + Florida State Swing Dance Championships, workshops (instructors include Rob & Diane Van Haaren), dances, pizza party & more.  More Info.

Lucian & the All Stars: Sundays at the Wine Cellar (Redington Beach) & Tuesdays at the Sand Bar (Tierra Verde).  More Info.

Every Monday:  CitiJazz swings in Orlando:  March Schedule.

Every Thursday:  Swing City Lindy Hop Classes are still on, although the dance is cancelled until further notice.  More Info.

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