We are excited for Dayton Swing Smackdown, coming up this weekend! If you’ve never attended, you really should. It is a fantastic event, a great place that encourages and inspires all levels of dancers, and is a competition that celebrates the huge effort it takes to work on a Lindy Hop team. It’s a wonderful event for the Midwest region, showcasing what our many, varied swing scenes have to offer while allowing all levels to have a voice in the team competition.
Josh Forbes and all the organizers, past and present have worked hard to create an event that is supportive, enjoyable, and encouraging, while still being a competition. The team competition is always lively, entertaining and bursting with creativity. It is great to watch dancers that are just discovering Lindy Hop to perform on teams along with seasoned dancers. It is such a scene-building and spirit-boosting event. We are always excited and amazed to see where Lindy Hop has taken our fellow competitors. Come out and dance with us this weekend, or just come for the show.
This year is especially meaningful to us as we will be passing the torch and plan to no longer be captains of Team SwingColumbus once the season is over. It’s been a great 9 years. 9 years of choosing music, flailing aerials, crooked lines, picking costumes, changing partners, soldier boy dances, gangbusters, extra follows, blowing bubblegum, crafting Rube Goldberg machines, and holding that swingout line – how quickly the time has gone! We will still plan to be a part of Dayton Swing Smackdown, as we doubledown on our dancing, teaching, and competing together. Cheers!
Here are a handful of routines that have inspired us over the years:
2011- UD Swing Club
2012- Miami Swing Syndicate
2012- OSU Jitterbucks
2013- Rhythm Cats
2015- CTA Blue Line
And certainly we could not forget, the year we were not able to bring the trophy home:
2010- Hoosier Hot Shots
Dayton Swing Smackdown and the team competitors have always motivated, challenged, and inspired us. They have constantly kept us on our toes, causing us to keep pushing our team goals and creativity. Thank you!!
A huge Thank you to all our team members, past and present:
- Mandy Agler
- Cristina Amurao
- Erwin Amurao
- Christina Austin
- Kat Barnes
- Danny Beyrer
- Binaebi Calkins
- Gail Clendenin
- Lee Conley
- Robert Cooper
- Becky Daskalova
- Aleks Daskalov
- Erik Hernandez
- Jonathan Howard
- Daniel Hoy
- Hew Keller
- Rachel Keller
- Viktor Lillard
- Cal Lin
- Ali Lodico
- Caitlin Martin
- David Martin
- Angela Jayne Michell
- Crystal Nakatsu
- Desiree Roffers
- Josh Sarkar
- Brandon Schott
- Stanley Steers
- Anna Young
- Theresa Wong
The Lindyroos: Mark & Shannon swing dance 
Swing Columbus’s consistent excellence in Team Competitions has been so meaningful. You’ve kept the competitions alive, set the bar for anyone who aspired to win, and performed year after year with so many different dancers.
I’m honored to have been in the routines that inspired you. Competing against Swing Columbus always stokes my competitive spirit. There will be big shoes to fill in Columbus!
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This made me tear up a bit. You and Mark have done so much for the scene, and me personally. Thank you so much for all the time, effort, and encouragement you have put into the team year after year. I hope we can carry the torch even half as gracefully as you have!
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