SCOTT CUPIT & FI DAFF FROM MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA TRAVELLED

0 OUR REF LET2057 7 JULY 2013 PATRICIA SCOTT
11 MICHAEL SCOTT HEDRICK DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES TEL
2100 WESCOTT DRIVE FLEMINGTON NJ 08822 PHONE 9087886600 FAX

5 PARTNERSHIP AND HOSPITALITY SCOTT CORMODE LA VERNE HEIGHTS
7 PRESCOTT POLITICS OF DISEASE THE POLITICS OF DISEASE
A JOURNEY INTO CHINESEENGLISH ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSLATION BY SHANNON SCOTT

Report from the 2002 American Lindy Hop Championships – an Australian perspective

Scott Cupit & Fi Daff from Melbourne Australia travelled to the American Lindy Hop Championships in October 2002. As the first Australians to compete at this level, we asked them to document the experience.

This is their story. Written in the hope that it will inspire other Australian dancers. It’s from the heart, and talks of the struggles, fear and joy involved in their journey.

This is another exciting chapter of Australian swing history.

Final Results:

ShowTime Not at the Apollo - 3^rd Place

Open Showcase - 4^th Place

The 2002 American Lindy Hop Championships

An Australian perspective from Scott & Fi

The Decision to go
Our Preparations Downunder
Our Preparations in Washington DC
Arriving at the Championships
ShowTime Not at the Apollo –our first event
First Award Ceremony
Open Showcase - our second event
Second Award Ceremony
Review of the whole competition weekend
Arriving home Downunder
Being connected to the greater swing world
Thankyou

1 The Decision To Go

Although both Australian and American swing dance friends had encouraged us to compete in the American Lindy Hop Championships, it just seemed too expensive. No swing competition was worth the money required, and with such a killer exchange rate, I emailed my family in August advising them that we had decided NOT to do the trip. We were happy with our decision as there were (and still are) so many exciting things happening back in Melbourne.

My family, who live in Virginia USA and London, were disappointed at our decision because we’d not been together for four years. They had seen this trip as a good excuse for a big get together!

But when an email arrived from my father a few days later offering us United Airline frequent flyer points, we had to re-consider. We now had free accommodation with Mum and Dad, cheap airfares, and the chance of a lifetime. We couldn’t say no. My father was able to secure the last two frequent flyer seats available – it was fate. After talking to Jade and Claudia, I was thrilled that they both were so supportive and excited for us.

We were actually going!

2 Our Preparations Downunder

Reading the rules was daunting, but reading through last year’s competitor list was like reading a “Who’s Who” of the swing world. Sarah Farrelly, for some reason, seems to know everyone. She was looking at last year’s winners and informing us that “they taught at Herrang last year” and “he is a Moocher.” It was all very intimidating, but that was exactly why we were going!

The rules of the ALHC state that no couple can enter every event (only a maximum of three/four events), to ensure that no one couple wins all of the USD$20,000 prize money. There are twelve divisions in total. We had to decide which ones to enter.

We chose two events - ShowTime and Open Showcase - knowing that our strongest chance was to dance our two “cabaret” routines from the 2001 Best of the Best comp. However we had to drastically alter both routines to fit the ALHC’s 3 minutes time restriction. That meant we needed to cut out a quarter of each routine! DJ Dan came to the rescue, editing new versions of the tracks with outstanding results as usual. His support and skill in this area has always been amazing, and we can’t thank him enough for all the assistance he has given us.

Our preparation sucked! With massive teaching schedules, Fi’s full-time job, my recruitment demands and so many great things happening at Swing Patrol, we were only managing to get together to practice for a couple of hours a week.

We both just assumed our aerials would be neat and tight as always. We had taught aerials in QLD and NSW this year, and used them a zillion times at corporate events. So we didn’t practice them much. We spent 80% of our time re-mapping the new sections of our routines.

With a week to go, we had completed our amended routines and now just had to drill them!

Our second last practice (in Australia) was late on a Wednesday night after teacher training, which was still our priority (strong teaching is the cornerstone of what Claudia and I have built our wonderful swing family on). We were both really tired, but the thought of training with Helen, Josh, George and Yvonne always enthused us, so we turned up excited and ready! Working with four of the very best aerialists in Australia is a great honour. Even though we still teach Josh and Helen swing dancing ...once those two leave the ground they are no longer our students, we’re theirs!

While we warmed up, Josh asked us to look at their draft routine for the “Best of the Best” competition (since then, they’ve won and are now off to dance camps in Lismore and Herrang, Sweden – well done guys!). It was awesome. We gave them some feedback and then worked on some of our aerials, under the expert eyes of George and Yvonne. These guys are just the best coaches ever - not to mention two of our dearest friends - and it will be a sad day for us when they have to leave Australia to go back to Switzerland. Even though their dance background differs greatly to ours, they have taught us some wonderful technique that we hope to carry over to other swing dancers in future. And although they’re harsh coaches, our sessions with them have never been without lots of laughter and fun – just the way it should be!

This session we worked strictly on the aerials that were in our competition routines. And we were awful. With just a few days to go before we flew out, our timing was all wrong and our flow had left us completely. While we laughed at first and looked at each other wondering which of us was “out”, we soon lost our cheer as repeated attempts just caused further frustration and bruises. We had chosen eight aerials for our two events and half of them were just not working. When aerials don’t work, they can get dangerous, so in utter disappointment we decided to stop for the evening (it was 11pm) and also to cancel our next practice. We both knew we could do these air steps and decided it must just be exhaustion, stress and tiredness that was throwing us off. Maybe even pressure, as with all the support of our Aussie dance friends we suddenly felt as though we had to do well and not disappoint them. We felt like a bit like a litmus test - could Aussies cut it with the best American dancers? We didn’t think so at that moment!

However while our aerials were struggling, our dancing on the ground was great and in the words of Lucy, “we loved every step we took!” This kept our spirits up.

Three days later we had our second last rehearsal. This time with Sarah Farrelly, Anthony Wheaton, David Shackers and Sarah MacMahon, who were all rehearsing for the Best of the Best heats. Our dancing was feeling tighter than ever - a really great feeling. Our connection was so ‘on’ that Fi and I were getting a real buzz from dancing with each other – and every swing dancer will tell you that that buzz is what it’s all about. Not a day goes by when Fi and I don’t cherish being swing dancers and all the enjoyment that goes with it. My life today is so different and rich in many ways (not monetary!) compared to five years ago when I hadn’t danced a step. Fi herself only started swing dancing because of a pamphlet in her mailbox three years ago. Hard to believe now, as I see her as the stronger dancer of the team.

But getting back to our routines… Dave, Anthony and the Sarahs were amazed that we had changed the steps in the slow section. When they politely inferred that they preferred the original version, we started to question it ourselves. Did we really know what we were doing? All we knew at that moment was that we had a slow section that we kept changing AND sloppy aerials. A big part of us was wondering why on earth we had put ourselves under this pressure. During the week I had been forced to say no to a big recruitment assignment with Qantas, and Fi was struggling trying to fill a new position at work, so we had both definitely made sacrifices in undertaking this adventure! Whatever the result of the competition, it wouldn’t bring eternal life, or make us better people, so why were we doing this to ourselves?

We practiced our routines, without the aerials, and they went well. Really well. Our dancing was full of showmanship, fun and energy (well that’s what Sharon said anyway!). We had a quick break, watched our friends dance for a while and commented on how far these guys had come over the last twelve months. I felt very fortunate, being able to watch so many dancers blossom from beginners to super dancers!

We then decided to do our routines – with aerials, full pace, no prisoners. Half way through our “Sing Sing Sing” routine, Fi jumped and tucked for the Charleston flip. Very few dancers do this aerial today and we were surprised when, after performing it in Seattle in May, we received huge applause. We actually found it to be one of the easier aerials and tended to treat it more like a move, to the extent that we performed it at the Melbourne Zoo on concrete. We’d never experienced a problem with it. On this occasion, however, it all went wrong. Somehow Fi’s knee slammed into her face while she was flipping, and for the first time in three years of aerials training - and probably 10,000+ aerials – Fi was hurt and crying. It broke my heart to see such a special person in tears and I gave her a big hug and we decided to go for a walk!

I think our training friends were in shock. First of all it was strange seeing Fi NOT land an aerial – let alone get hurt! Their group hug was much appreciated and they were a fantastic source of strength at the moment we needed it most!

We sat down and after some bad Scott jokes, decided the only thing to do was to go back to basics.

We decided to re-teach ourselves. We did many set ups, talked over individual holds and went for it. Anthony, Dave, Sarah and Sarah all cheered (with relief) when we finally nailed all our aerials. We had given each more bruises, cuts, whacks, scars and scares in the last 2 weeks than the last 2 years.

Our last two rehearsals were performances in front of Sally, Brad and the Glen Iris students, and then for the 8.30pm Swinburne guys after class. We only missed one aerial and danced a little tired but all seemed OK.

With the Winchester’s organising our grand farewell at the airport, we were very grateful to Josh, Helen, Shaz, Shob, Anne, Claudia, and of course Jade for making us feel like celebrities at the airport.

We tried so hard not to get to sweaty before a 17 hour flight, but you know how it is when swing music comes on! We felt great knowing we had over 10 days in Washington DC to do nothing but work on our routines and catch up with my family.

3 Our Preparations in Washington DC

Every afternoon, we would move Mum and Dad’s Buick and use the garage as our dance studio. All the neighbour’s kids would come and watch, and our family would give us ratings. None of them are dancers, but they did advise when we were looking down!

Our dancing was now as good as we could do, and all our aerials were working well. We only rehearsed one way – full pace with aerials.

My sister organised a dress rehearsal in front of the Knollwood pre-school. Sixty kids, teachers and mums came to watch us perform both our routines at 9.15am in the morning. We danced clean but with no energy. We were happy to have the practice though and laughed at the failed attempt to find energy so early in the morning!

After three great days in New York seeing the Lion King dancing at Swing 46 www.swing46.com, paying our respects at Ground Zero, and climbing the Empire State Building, we were ready for our road trip to Connecticut.

4 Arriving at the Championships

We arrived early afternoon, full of adrenalin. We were to compete in the American Championships in just a few hours time!

As we registered, there was Norma Miller, just as I had imagined her (she is Frankie’s famous dance partner). There were a variety of swing celebrities. The first person we chatted to was Jack, the guy who invented the “Jack & Jill” concept, and won one of the early Harvest Moon Festival competitions. We had a great chat to him, and were so excited to see so many of the old-timers in attendance to watch and support the new young dancers.

At 6pm we attended our first “competitors meeting.” This is where they draw your names out to determine who dances in which order. It was a fun, relaxing morning but we were “gagging” when Doug Silton drew our number first! We couldn’t believe it! Just like the 2001 Best of the Best competition in Sydney, our “Great Balls of Fire” routine drew first position. We both laughed it off, but both of us knew that it was the position we had dreaded!

5 ShowTime Not at the Apollo – Our First Event

Most competitors arrive Friday morning, so the large ballroom was a lot smaller than the Friday and Saturday night crowds. I was so grateful for Fi and her composure. I was ridiculously nervous and could not sit still. Hours of work now came down to just three minutes on the floor. As we always did before any competition, we pledged to each other to have fun no matter what. We have always had a pact that if one of us makes a mistake – we share the mistake as a team.

It was a really cool moment as we walked onto the dance floor and the MC announced, “…and from Melbourne Australia….” Over twenty dancers from Seattle were there competing as a troupe in the teams event. In fact, there was great excitement when they won first place, for the first time ever! We had met them all in June when we performed at Camp Jitterbug. They adopted us as their own and cheered us like crazy. We will be forever grateful to the swing dancers of Seattle for their support. It was almost like having our own Swing Patrol team cheering for us.

As soon as the music started, we were totally focused. We nailed it! We knew the routine so well that we were able to have fun as we danced. It was a great three minutes for us and we loved every second of it. It felt great. Our connection was spot on and our lifts were as clean as we could do them. We could not have danced our routine any better than we did, and walked off to a really generous applause. My mum was crying and even my father and brother (who had arrived that evening from London) were impressed! It was such a great feeling to dance as well as you can. Even if we came last we would be happy with ourselves.

They announce results at only two award ceremonies during the competition – one late Friday afternoon, and the other Sunday afternoon. This meant we had to wait over 24 hours. My Dad predicted 3^rd place, we had no idea but we were happy anyway! Just being in any competition where Doug Silton was competing seemed unreal.

6 First Award Ceremony

When they announced “3^rd Place – Scott Cupit and Fi Daff from Melbourne Australia” we could hear the Seattle guys going crazy. Walking up to the stage was a really special moment. More than anything, we loved being Australian. We loved that, as Aussies, we had placed in one of the biggest swing comps on the calendar. When we got up there, Paulette Brockington gave us a plaque each (and a cheque for $USD200) saying “well done guys – see it was worth the trip”. Just being there was worth the effort, but we knew what she meant.

We all sat up late that night. I called Jade and Claudia and enjoyed being with my family. Many dancers came up to us and said they loved our routine. It was a really special moment in our swing lives.

7 Open Showcase - Our Second Event

By Saturday afternoon, the hotel was transformed. The Ballroom was packed and there was a huge video screen outside for those that couldn’t get in. The size of the evening was intimidating and it was a very different feel to the Thursday night.

This was our main event and there were fourteen competitors. We were to dance 11^th. The competitors meeting was packed this time. Tonya, Sean, Kevin and Carla were fabulously caring of us and we sat with these guys as the rules were read out.

We weren’t as nervous in this event, as we were just thrilled to be part of such a great event. Many of our idols competed such as Steve and Rebecca (Boston), Tonya and Sean (Seattle) Angie and Rodda (New York) – and we had even taken a workshop off these New Yorkers during the day.

We were so glad to have 12 family members with us in Connecticut. Fi’s relatives had driven up from New York to join the cheer squad. Add the Seattle crowd to our support team and we didn’t feel that far from home.

The competition started and the crowd were totally fired up. They were really cheering everyone. The standard was amazing and as we watched we were strangely relaxed. We knew our “Sing Sing Sing” routine was a great one, and we had little expectations. We’d promised each other to just get out there and dance our hearts out.

Angie and Rodda missed an aerial that seemed to amaze the crowd, as if that rarely happens to them. I wondered if any of these other competitors were nervous. None of them looked it.

As the 10^th couple finished their routine I could feel the wave of adrenalin hit me. In a few seconds we would be dancing, on our own, in front of 600+ swing dancers. And not just anybody, but dozens of our heroes such as Jason & Vanessa (Houston), Sylvia Sykes, Erik & Sylvia, Chazz Young (Frankie Manning’s son), Eddie & Eva (Rhythm Hot Shots), the Moochers from Ithaca New York, the Washington DC crowd and all the amazing LA dancers. Now I was nervous!

There was a huge cheer as they announced our names (the crowd cheered every dancer as they came on - there is nothing like a swing crowd!) and once again I loved hearing “...from Melbourne Australia”. A big part of our drive, was to play our role in putting Australia on the swing map.

The music started and I blanked. Later Fi said she did too but I think that‘s because I lead the wrong move! We totally made the first two eights up and I had no idea what I was doing. A million terrible thoughts entered my head, all at once. Would we ever find where we were supposed to be in the music? Why had we changed this slow section so many times? Were we about to totally embarrass the country I love so much? I can read the headlines, “Aussies choke at the American Championships!”

Whether it was due to our solid depth of competition experience, good luck or divine intervention, the third “eight” was danced as planned and we finally found our groove.

We were pumped and dancing well. The first aerial was “the monster” and it went well. We came out of it slightly early, meaning we had too much time at the other end but it gave us a great deal of confidence as this was the aerial that had caused us so much grief over the last few weeks. It is a classic aerial from one of the old swing movies and we hadn’t seen it used all weekend.

When dancers have too much adrenalin they sometimes dance ahead of the music. We had seen this happen at performances and competitions but I can’t remember Fi and I doing it. We were about to experience something new! We were so pumped that I could feel we were not on the back of the beat where we love to dance. That meant that, although our lifts seemed to still look ok, we could both feel a “clunk” as our timing was slightly different to each other. When we watched the video later we were really relieved that it looked better than it felt!

As always in the “Sing Sing Sing” routine, the crowd loved the cow bells section (as choreographed so long ago by Jade for Air Patrol) and our final lift, the Tumble, was the best we have ever done it (This was the same lift we had missed at Swinburne on our final night).

We walked off with the Seattle tables jumping up and down, giving us a standing ovation. On the way off we stopped and gave them a special bow of thanks as it really was so great having them cheer so much for us. In return our whole family cheered for the Seattle guys.

Mum was crying again. They were really proud. We had not danced our best (unlike our Thursday night performance) but we were exceptionally relieved to have danced well enough. We were kicking ourselves about a few things that were a bit sloppy, but considering the occasion, the adrenalin and the opportunity to be in such a competition, we were just ecstatic. My father predicted 6^th –9^th but he said it was all so close. There were definitely a few standouts and a couple of weaker entrants but overall it seemed really close. Steve & Rebecca (Boston) had totally pinned their routine and Tonya & Sean were awesome also. Even though we had blanked for the first two eights, we had just done basics so we hadn’t made any glaring errors. We now had to wait 24 hours for the result. What a relief. It was over and now we could social dance with 600 of the best swing dancers I had ever seen. Dance heaven. Three rooms…shag/bal, blues and the main room with Corner Pocket. We danced till after 4am and all the dancers soon forgot about the night’s competition.

8 Second Awards Ceremony

At the award ceremonies they only announce the place getters, and the full results are posted immediately on the wall outside.

The three place-getters in our event were the three we had predicted and they deserved their placing. The award ceremony had many events to get through and by 7pm Sunday we still did not know our result and as we walked to the result wall we were quite happy to just be there and even a 12^th would have made us happy. We had so many new friends by the end of the competition (or at least dancers we loved bumping into) that I lost track of where Fi was.

I couldn’t get near the wall as there were too many people looking at the results. Sean Morris (as in ‘our’ Sean Morris from Seattle) said, “Hey guys, did you see you came 4^th – that’s so awesome dude – way to go”.

I can’t remember what I said, but I then pushed through and saw our names on the list. I stared for about 30 seconds and just couldn’t believe it. To see our names… in 4^th place! It was a really special moment. I turned and saw Fi and I ran over to her. I didn’t yell, I just said with the hugest smile “It says we came fourth”.

Fi did one of her delightful squeals, gave me a huge hug and said, “Are you sure?” I told her to check for herself. I still couldn’t believe it either. While she checked, I ran over to Mum and Dad who had patiently waited all day to drive us back to Washington DC. When I told them the great news, Mum started hugging me and crying. Even my Dad was really emotional, as they knew how hard we had worked. I found a phone and called Jade.

We hugged all the great American and Canadian swing dancers goodbye, hopped into the car and left. While at the venue it seemed like the greatest thing on this earth had happened - we had a 3^rd and a 4^th place at the American Championships! But later in the car, away from it all – I couldn’t help reflecting that even if we had come 1st it was still only dancing and that the real highlight of our adventure was seeing all my precious family.

9 Review of the Whole Competition Weekend

Incredible. First of all the standard was absolutely first class. The respect that all the dancers showed each other was really inspiring and the crowd… well you can’t beat a swing crowd. They cheered every dance with such enthusiasm that it made you proud to be part of such a positive community.

The workshops were fabulous, but the social dancing was the highlight. Hours of amazing social dancing with many of Americas finest dancers. It really was a slice of heaven. We competed for 6 minutes and social danced for many hours – just the balance we liked!

Some interesting points of note:

+ We were amazed at the casual dressing of the competitors

+ With so many great and varying styles of swing dance evident, we were surprised but pleased when a lot of dancers came up to us and made comments like: “We loved how true you were to the dance”. They were referring to our savoy style routine. We laughed at the fact that we’ve taught so much “smooth style” yet to the Americans we were classic savoy. We loved it!

+We often talk about how much the standard of the Australian scene has improved over the last few years. It was evident to me that the Americans had also improved out of sight – especially in their musicality.

+ Was interesting to see how some cities had really forged ahead. For example, Seattle, Houston and Washington DC had great leadership and great dancers. We were so impressed with the Houston dancers who we’d not seen before (except Jason and Vanessa of course!)

10 Arriving Home Downunder

Claudia couldn’t stop laughing at me after our successful Swing Rave at Heat nightclub. I had been the “welcoming” Director at the Rave with the wonderful assistance of two of our teachers, Emily and Sally.

At the door I was overwhelmed by how thrilled and excited everybody was about our results. Dancers were really thrilled that Aussies had placed so well. Claudia said to me “Honey, your result means a lot to people, it has really inspired them. ” When Colleen Clarke (Space student) told me she’d burst into tears when she read the group email with the results, I couldn’t help feel glad that we had taken on the challenge.

Fi and I talked about it all the morning after the Rave, and reflected on how fortunate we had been to have such support. We had really been surprised and we almost felt bad that we had not understood just how much support we had from our Aussie dancers and friends. For two years now, our students and dance peers had cheered for us and supported us in many events and competitions. This was when we first started thinking about not competing in the Hellzapoppin’ competition. We had many friends in the event who had supported us in so many ways – we felt we owed them a night of total support from us. We started to look forward to cheering the Aussie dancers on. Weeks later, when John and Nicole won the Hellzapoppin’ comp, it was like a real life fairytale. We literally wept with joy at their success. It was a great competition with Guy and Ruth from Perth winning the Melbourne hearts and John and Nicole off to New York to represent Australia.

12 Thankyou

Fi and I received over 90 congratulation emmails from all over Australia. We doubted if any other competitors at the American Lindy Hop Championships were better supported. There are so many people that played a role in our great experience and we would particularly like to thank the following people for their amazing support.

Tony and Margaret Cupit (Wash DC) - Our best cheer squad, who didn’t miss a single moment! To Mum who cried every time!
Dwight (London) – for flying from London just to cheer us on.
Natalie and David - driving five hours with my three little nieces to support us.
Jade Sullivan – for her loving guidance and support and giving us choreography advice and feedback. The trip could never have happened without the blessing and support of Jade.
Dan Ischia – for the late nights and his “we can do anything” attitude in cutting our cds.
Kate Simondson – for acting like the “big sis” that Fi needed to make sure she had outfits sorted out!
Claudia Funder – For her continued support and being the best fellow swing Director in the world. Being overseas and still knowing that Swing Patrol was being well led gives me a great sense of peace.
Sharon Callaghan, James Thomson and Jo Collins. Thanks to these three great dancers who gave a lot of time at some of our rehearsals, giving advice in different areas.
George & Yvonne (Switzerland) – Our aerials coaches. For their unbelievable patience and making training so much fun.
Josh, Helen, Sarah F, Anthony, Sarah M and David Shackelfield. – These are the guys we trained with and what a pleasure it always was to work with such a great team.
The Winchesters – No one had more faith in us and their belief was inspiring. Organising the airport dance farewell was a very special gesture. Thankyou.
The SWING PATROL teaching team – a group of people that I love dearly. What a source of support they gave us in every respect. In particular James and Carl who looked after many of my classes in my absence!
The Scat Pack team – In many ways these guys were our inspiration as we watched them week by week. They also have been on a similar adventure as they have learnt to be a troupe this year. Their many encouraging and excited emails were very appreciated. Ian gave me the biggest hug of all upon my return.
The Australian Swing Dance community – We were so proud to be Aussies when we were in the USA and it meant a lot to us when we received so many e-mails from dancers all over Australia. Supportive emails came from as far as Mackay QLD, Perth, Tasmania, and from all over country Victoria. The emails really made us feel like we were representing our country.
Frankie Manning – Back in February 2002, it was Frankie that saw us perform and took Fi and I aside and really urged us to compete in America. This was the first moment that we had ever dared to dream of such an adventure.

Thanks everybody. Stay tuned for a similar report from the Hellzapoppin’ champions.

ADMISSION CRITERIA TO SCOTTISH HIGH AND MEDIUM SECURE UNITS
ADVANCED C++ SYLLABUS INSTRUCTOR DAVID SCOTT – MAILTOPROF2DRAGONYAHOOCOM
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY HEMATOLOGY CURRICULUM SCOTT D

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