Camp Hollywood 2013 – UJC and Weird Faces

Skidoo-wilds, weird aerial faces, Nick Peterson is again wearing eye makeup. It’s another year at the wild and wonderful Camp Hollywood/National Jitterbug Championships. This is place where LA brings its fun madness to bear on all its participants.

There’s something about LA Swing that I really enjoy. Maybe it’s because their scene feels truly unique in our YouTube cookie cutout homogeneous modern age swing world. Maybe it’s because Camp Hollywood is home to routines you wouldn’t see anywhere else.

Or maybe the most logical explanation is that I grew up on California Swing. Sometime during my early swing dancing life, I was attached to a Kansas City ballroom studio that held regular Saturday night East Coast Swing dances. Lindy hoppers were welcome to attend, but this was home to neo-swing, zoot suits, rockabilly types, and people that wanted to have fun. KC’s lindy hoppers were a bit drab in comparison (sorry, guys). My free time was eventually consumed with watching Monsters of Swing videos and idolizing Tip and Holly, Ryan and Jenny, and the Flying Lindy Hoppers. I loved the energy and aerials and still do. It’s one of the reasons I moved to Denver. I saw 23 Skidoo perform at DLX 2004 and wanted on their team.

So, once more I’m throwing mad Ballew air in Nick Peterson’s ode to NJC, the Underground Jitterbug Championship, World Edition. Allow me to explain this sweet picture James Bennett took. Some people didn’t realize what was happening. They could only acknowledge both aerials look pretty similar. This is the Skidoo-Wild, created for 23 Skidoo’s winning 2007 Lafayette routine. Heather and I helped Hyun Jung and Soochan with this aerial while they were in Denver. They were missing a handhold transition to make the finishing backflip easier. They started nailing it and we talked about throwing the same aerial together if we made NJC Open Lindy Finals. Hyun Jung was nervous and I never met them to spot this aerial for the competition. It was never thrown.

We finally met late Sunday night because we knew, if given the opportunity and space, we could throw it during the UJC comp. The competition was awesome to be in. I found it to be more a celebration of international lindy hop rather than USA versus the World. This was most evidenced during the Big Apple that enclosed the California Routine seen here. Eventually, the numbers dwindled, room opened up. We were supposed to go out one at a time, but I ran over to conspire with Hyun Jung and Soochan. Swingout, lindy circle, sk-wild. Nearly simultaneous landing.

Oh, and the plank aerial still lives. It was created for Tise‘s special request last year and re-issued for Moe‘s special request this year.