Society for the Performing Arts presents SW!ING OUT

Society for the Performing Arts (SPA) presents SW!NG OUT, directed by acclaimed choreographer Caleb Teicher, on Saturday, April 9, 2022, 7:30 PM at Jones Hall.

Conceived by Teicher, alongside their brain trust of collaborators Evita Arce, LaTasha Barnes, Nathan Bugh, and Macy Sullivan, SW!NG OUT features exciting Lindy Hop choreography and improvisation, live music by Eyal Vilner Big Band, plus a post-show on-stage dance jam for a limited number of attendees. Tickets start at just $29.

SW!NG OUT presents social Lindy Hop and vernacular dance as a jazz, concert experience. It is a blend of prearrangement and improvisation, where only some of the steps are choreographed; only some of the music is on the page. Performers and spectators are invited to interpret the material in real time, to share in the exhilaration of creation.

Even though Lindy Hop and vernacular jazz have been used in other productions for nostalgia or novelty, there has not been a touring, evening-length program celebrating what these dances have become. By assembling genuine, swing-dance superstars in an improvisatory space, this show offers a unique glimpse into their universe: the modern, Lindy Hop scene.

For the performers, Lindy Hop tackles the issues of society-at-large, but in an arena of exaggerated humanity. Touch, trust, gender, history, intimacy, and partnership get ground together there, in the crucible of jazz, and they are reified as art. Their mission with SW!NG OUT is to search for perspective on these complexities, while embracing the joy of jazz dance and music.

Lindy Hop is the preeminent, swing-jazz, partnered dance. In the late 1920’s, movement elements, including those of The Charleston, The Collegiate, and The Texas Tommy, were swirling together in African-American communities to form a new style, and they coalesced around a musical groove called “swing.” Dance champion George Snowden supplied the name, “Lindy Hop,” in reference to Charles Lindberg — whose recent transatlantic flight was the phenomenon of the moment. The name stuck, and the dance was popularized by early masters at the Savoy Ballroom, in Harlem.

Caleb Teicher is a NYC-based dancer and choreographer specializing in musically driven dance traditions and interdisciplinary collaboration. Teicher began his career as a founding member of Michelle Dorrance’s critically acclaimed tap dance company, Dorrance Dance, while also freelancing in contemporary dance and musical theater.

As a solo performer and collaborator, Teicher is known for choreographic collaborations with diverse musical talents: world-champion beatboxer Chris Celiz, composer/pianist Conrad Tao; the National Symphony Orchestra, and indie rock legends Ben Folds and Regina Spektor.

Caleb is the recipient of a 2019 New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship, two Bessie Awards, a 2019 Harkness Promise Award, the 2020 Gross Family Prize, and a 2019 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant.

To learn more about SW!NG OUT and to purchase tickets click here