If your dance is making the whole crowd follow the jive, then you’re definitely doing it right.
Stephen and Chanzie took the stage and everyone along with it as they shook their tail feathers to this amazing performance at the Rock That Swing Festival 2019. The audience and fellow dancers stood right behind the dance couple as they waited for the music to start.
When Shirley Ellis’s song “The Nitty Gritty” played, the whole group, led by Stephen and Chanzie, came to life.
Stephen Sayer and Chandrae “Chanzie: Roettig have been dancing together for years now but their individual experiences don’t involve swing and jazz dancing alone.
Chanzie got her start in dancing at Portland, Oregon after an early career in gymnastics. When she got a scholarship to attend The Edge Performing Arts Center in Hollywood, her experience in dance broadened to include jazz, hip hop, modern, contemporary, ballet, and theater dance. This enabled her to work with some of the best choreographers in Los Angeles, California where she used her skills in film, television, music, and stage.
She worked with Stephen Sayer in one motion picture titled “Gangster Squad”.
Meanwhile, Stephen Sayer had earlier exposure to dancing. He started performing in 1998 at the age of 16. Together with Chanzie, they won first place at the National Jitterbug Championships and the US Open Lindy Hop divisions. In 2012, he was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. During that time, he and Chanzie pivoted to teaching and started 3 performance groups.
Knowing how talented these two are, it comes as no surprise that they can invite a whole crowd into the center stage and swing the night away.
The energy from their bouncy performance is as contagious as it is mesmerizing. It could also be attributed to the fact that swing is such a fun style to dance to.
This iconic dance style was introduced by African-American dancers during the 1920s when they started performing to contemporary jazz. It enjoyed tremendous popularity during the prewar years, most notably the late 1930s where the “swing era” began. This era of big bands and upbeat jazz gave rise to various swing dance styles like the Balboa, Lindy Hop, Lindy Charleston, and Collegiate Shag.
The Lindy Hop, also known as the “jitterbug”, was thought to be the original form of swing dance.
It describes the visual movements of the dancers on the floor especially noting their fast and bouncy movements.
Today, these dance styles are enjoyed and immortalized by various dancers from all over the world and share their passion for it through dance clubs and competitions.
As Stephen and Chandra danced along to the music, the crowd also hopped to the beat from one foot to the other.
The video, which was viewed and replayed more than 1.4 million times, also included a second part of the dance but now with an obviously larger crowd.
While seeing the lively, snappy, and in-sync moves look so good on a duo, it’s much more satisfying seeing a whole crowd enjoy the catchy tune and have fun doing what they do best.
Watch this amazingly contagious performance by clicking on the video below.
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