Back In The Swing -- A Twisting, Turning Dance Form Is Kicking Up Its Heels Again, Combining Athleticism With Oh-So-Cool Attitude

Zigzagging across the floor of the elegant Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill, John Hoven and Tiffany Buckner flow with ease as they swing.

From the Charleston they melt into The Swoop: She buckles backward as the 6-foot-4 inch Hoven catches her petite frame a moment before she'd hit the ground. Then - in the flash of a skirt - she does a full body flip over his arm.

"I've always loved swing music," said Buckner, 29, who five months ago started taking swing classes at a friend's urging. "My friend dropped out, but I continued. It's addictive."

Down on First Avenue, at the Showbox Music Club, Bryan Sera, 31, has similar sentiments. The software engineer, decked out in black suspenders, pyramid-patterned vintage tie and two-tone shoes, began swing classes a year ago and says, "I'll be doing this until I'm 80."

Sera danced with the girlfriend he met in swing class, Sandra Coan, 27, as they and other mostly twenty- and thirtysomethings grooved to the big-band-era sounds of Seattle's Monty Banks and the High Rollers.

The swing scene in recent months has been getting a huge local and national boost. The appeal, many say, is this: It's social, athletic and exudes a kind of carefree hep. It's nostalgic, yet fresh to a new generation.

"It's an alternative to the alternative music scene," said Rose Braden, 31, who decided to spend her birthday on a recent Friday night at the Century Ballroom with her friends. "Swing is much more

creative, and more romantic."

Clubs, music networks, vintage clothiers, dance studios, Web-site creators and others are all feeding the scene's expansion:

-- In Seattle alone, about a dozen clubs cater to swing enthusiasts. Dance venues and lessons are available nearly every night, attracting everyone from teenagers to baby boomers.

Nationally, an estimated 3 million Americans practice swing dancing, up from about 1 million in the 1970s, according to the North American Swing Clubs Association.

-- Wearing '40s-style clothing to dance is considered, if not de rigueur, certainly fashionable, not only sending new legions to vintage-clothing stores but spurring manufacturers to make new versions of old standards of the era, such as zoot suits (see accompanying story).

-- Commercials featuring swing, from the Gap to Burger King, are both fueling and reflecting the craze.

The jivey partner-dance tradition came out of 1920s jazz; as choppy, syncopated rhythms gave way to the swingier sounds of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, partners were able to connect and move more smoothly. By the 1930s, several kinds of swing were evolving (see accompanying glossary); for example, the faster-paced Lindy Hop style that developed in the South among African Americans followed their migration to Harlem, where whites who went clubbing picked it up, too. Latinos embraced the dance as well, and popularized wearing zoot suits to the dances.

The current revival, however, primarily has attracted Anglos. It began brewing in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco several years ago, and has gradually spread to second-tier cities such as Charlotte, N.C., and Las Vegas, Nev.

Michael Tierney, vice president of music programming at VH1 and a recently departed Seattle radio station program director, says the dance style has captivated Gen-Xers in particular, who see it as "athletic, fun and a great way to meet guys and girls."

"Grunge and gansta rap was the last big youth explosion, but you can't always have ground-breaking music," Tierney said. "This (swing) music matches the climate we're living in, which is a carefree Rat Pack attitude of hanging out."

Its social aspect is a big draw. "You don't just listen to swing music; you have to go out and experience it," notes Aubbie Beal, promotion director at Seattle's KNDD-FM (107.7), an alternative-rock station that sponsors Zoot Suit Sundays at the Showbox.

They and other trend-watchers say they see signs that swing as a social movement will only grow stronger: Swing videos are popular on MTV and VH1, while bands such as Eugene, Ore.-based Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (featured in the seminal 1996 film "Swingers"), Squirrel Nut Zippers and Royal Crown Review are playing the country to packed houses. A rash of new swing CDs will be released this summer.

Meanwhile, the Gap reports that its national TV ad campaign, "Khaki Swing" - featuring giddy young dancers strutting their best swing moves - has drawn an overwhelming response.

Seattle, too, is catching up to the craze.

One of its primary promoters has been Leslie Price, whom some call the "Queen of Swing." She's a DJ who left Los Angeles for Seattle in 1996 and, once here, began building swing by playing the music at underground clubs before branching off to other venues.

"Once the word got out that I was playing that kind of music, I started getting students from the University of Washington come down and Lindy Hop," said Price. "We were onto something."

Two years later, Price still cross-promotes clubs regionally and in Canada, attracting hundreds of people in a single night. The Fenix Underground, for example, averages about 300 people during swing nights.

Local musicians and dancers say the recent demand for their art clearly shows its burgeoning popularity.

Band leader Monty Banks says he and his High Rollers have been performing for three years at everything from weddings to corporate events - but only within the last year has business picked up.

Dance instructor and performer Dave Atkinson, 29, says that in one year, his swing-dance business has grown 200 percent.

When he told his friends three years ago he was going to teach swing, "they thought it was the funniest thing and asked why I wanted to spend time with old folks."

Now Atkinson, who recently performed with the Savoy Swing Club at the Northwest Folklife Festival to a packed Center House audience, says, "I have brought swing dancing to young people who perceived it as an old thing.

"Seattle has a good solid core swing community that's been pushing this for years," Atkinson says. "The Gap commercial also struck a chord. People see it and say, `That's swing dancing? It looks kind of fun.' And it is."

Justino Aguila's phone message number is 206-464-2291. His e-mail address is: jaguila@seattletimes.com -------------------------------

Swing: A form of ballroom dance. It's also considered a more sophisticated version of the jitterbug (a jazz variation of the two-step), fitting eight steps into six beats of music. Benny Goodman popularized the music in the 1930s.

West Coast Swing: Considered more formal and difficult because of its complex steps. Slower and bluesier music than the big-band music of East Coast Swing.

East Coast Swing: Born in Jazz Age Harlem, this form of swing has an upbeat tempo and famous dances like the Lindy Hop (named after aviator Charles Lindbergh). Often considered a more athletic and romantic form of dancing because partners are much more focused on each other's movements. The Charleston developed into the Lindy Hop, which allows partners to break apart and attempt aerials and jumps.

Swing Jam: When swing couples step onto the dance floor and show their best moves. Think Gap commercial.