6 minute read
JUST DANCE
THE STEVENS SISTERS ARE BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Erin and Tami Stevens are known for reintroducing the lindy hop to swing fans around the world.
Now that the world is reopening, they hope to do it again — this time with swing dancing as a whole. Their Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association will kick off its return with a Saturday night dance on July 3. Entertainment features the Pete Jacobs Wartime Radio Revue with a full swing orchestra. Other dances are set for Saturdays July 17 and July. 31. The school and dance spot officially reopens its doors in August.
“I don’t really know what it will be like,” says Tami, who
• Located on over 25 acres with Breathing Landscaped Gardens with Walking Paths • Spacious Studios, One Bedroom, and Two Bedroom Apartments with Kitchens • Elegant Restaurant-Style Dining • Private Patios or Balconies in Each Unit • Daily Trash Removal and Bed Making • Weekly Housekeeping and Linen Service • Transportation Services 7 Days a Week • Monthly Calendar of Activities • Entertainment and Events • Complimentary Laundry Facilities • Fitness Classes • Pool and Jacuzzi • Library
Erin Stevens, co-owner, and her son, Jimmy Key
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shares a birth date with Erin. “There definitely are people dying to get back and pressuring us that it’s past time.
“Other people are very cautious and feeling like they aren’t ready. I appreciate both. At some point, we have to try to do something there. I want to keep going. It’s been such a wonderful thing over the years.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the association hosted swing dances on Saturday nights with 200-plus attendees enjoying the top bands from around the country. Group classes were offered most nights of the week for all levels of dancers.
“Every Saturday night we were getting these amazing top LA and around the country swing bands,” Tami says. “We’d have about 200 people. I don’t expect to open with that sort of number.
“People are eager to come back. I want to get enough to feel like a good dance. I want to continue to get back to normal. Bands are eager to play, too.”
The association uses the hall at Hill Avenue Grace Lutheran Church, which Tami calls “beautiful.” Folks don’t have to dance when they arrive. They can just sit and watch.
“We have a huge dance floor, and everybody tends to dance,” she says. “You don’t have to, though. There are chairs off to the side where people can sit, watch and listen to the music.”
Classes of all types
The Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association opened in 1983. The Stevens’ father found a building that had a “for rent” sign on it.
“After lunch, the whole family looked at this hall. It had a beautiful stage and floor,” Tami says. “We used it for the first couple of years.
“We had this nice series. On the last day of the series, a woman from the LA Times, Miv Schaaf, sat in the back of the hall. My dad was making lemonade. She wrote an article about this crazy family. We didn’t have a name, other than the Stevens Sisters.” (Their parents are Jim and Monza Stevens, who owned the Balinese Shop.)
The next series attracted more than 100 people.
“We were in shock,” Tami says. “Our mom helped check us in. My dad set up the equipment. We were young. We had to get a larger hall. We moved again to the hall we’re at now.”
Tami says she hopes to resume classes in August. She says people are much more reticent to touch strangers because of the pandemic. She compares the COVID-19 pandemic to the pandemic of 1918.
“The ’20s began again with the crazy dancing,” she says. “We’re hopeful that social dance isn’t going to die. People long to hear the music and want to be with people.”
In 38 years, the association has taught swing dancing of all types, including East Coast or the jitterbug and the Lindy Hop.
“We’re famous for that—the West Coast swing (Lindy Hop),” Tami says. “We also have ballroom classes, salsa and the tango. I’m not sure we’ll return to everything full blast right away.”
In the early 1980s, Erin majored in dance at UC Irvine. Erin is best known for her study of and dance expertise in the Lindy Hop.
She’s credited with bringing the “Father of Lindy Hop,” Frankie Manning, out of dance retirement in the 1980s.
“I saw his picture in Life magazine,” Erin says.
“I went to the Pasadena Public Library and looked up Frankie Manning. This was pre-cellphones and computers. He answered
the phone and I said, ‘Are you Frankie Manning, the swing dancer? He just laughed. He had this contagious laugh.
“He said, ‘No. I’m Frankie Manning the postal worker, but I used to be Frankie Manning the swing dancer.’ He said if we came to New York he would meet with us.
“He agreed to meet us at a dance club. It was this great moment in time. Nobody was Lindy Hopping. It was virtually extinct. He reintroduced us to this style.”
“When swing dance went out, the whole world changed and the Lindy Hop was forgotten about,” Tami adds.
“Everybody was rock dancing. She encouraged him to have him teach her again. She went to New York and studied under him. She started bringing him out to Arizona and elsewhere for dances.”
From 1986 forward, Manning made twice-annual visits to Pasadena where he continued to teach Erin and Tami in private lessons and conducted workshops for their Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association students.
Manning, who died at 95 years old, referred to the Stevens as “his California family.”
As the resurgence of swing dance blossomed in the 1990s, Erin and Tami hosted their annual June event (the Granddaddy of the American Swing Camps).
From 1994 to 2004, “Swing Camp Catalina” brought thousands of swing dancers from around the world together on Catalina Island. In 1999, the women saw the camp’s largest attendance at 1,800 students.
In 2012, they were contracted to author the textbook: “Swing Dancing.” Featured in various films, news articles and television productions, the two sisters were also honored to dance, two separate years, aboard floats in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, Rose Parade on New Year’s morning.
Dancing elsewhere
Tami says students don’t necessarily have to dance at the association’s events. They learn how to dance for their weddings, quinceaneras, cruises or anniversary parties.
“It’s a part of American social life,” Tami says. “I can’t imagine it’s a tradition that we’re going to lose.”
Tami explains swing dancing can also be used for exercise. You don’t even realize you’re working out because we have so much fun,” Tami adds.
“I feel like I can dance literally for hours. The music is moving us. We’re excited about talking to people.
“It seems to be good for the grain, too. We’ve been sitting during the pandemic. I feel like we’ve all aged because we’re not doing the things that keep us young and engaged. This helps the neurons fire when you’re trying to dance with people.”
The sisters are hoping the classes will return to form.
“People really love our concept,” Tami says. “It’s very nonthreatening.”
“We were on a mission to bring back the Lindy Hop. Everyone should know how to Lindy Hop. Nobody knew what it was back then. It’s so cool to look at where we were then and now,” Erin adds.
Photos by Luis Chavez Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association
Hosts dances at 73 N. Hill Avenue, Pasadena For more information, visit pasadenaballroomdance.com
