All the Cats Join In 2019: Events

Weekend overview

A map of the workshops and evening venues is shown here.

Friday 8 March 2019

Evening: Maxie's Ski Lodge in the Skydeck at The Space
6:30pm	Doors open and pass collection
7:00pm	Balboa Taster Lesson (All levels) with Derek & Trish Carruthers
7:45pm	Shag Taster Lesson (All levels) with Nial Bruce & Annabelle Hale
8:30pm	Social dancing to DJs Tyler and Arnas
12:00am	Close

Saturday 9 March 2019

Daytime workshops at The Space
9:30am	Doors open and pass collection
10:00am- 2:45pm	Balboa and Shag workshops
3:00pm- 4:00pm	Social Competition heats in the Skydeck
Evening: Flower Power in the Skydeck at The Space
8:00pm	Doors open and pass collection
8:00pm	Social dancing to live band Jason and The Swingonauts and DJ Emma; Social Competition Finals
12:00am	Close

Sunday 10 March 2019

Daytime workshops at The Space
9:30am	Doors open and pass collection
10:00am- 4:00pm	Balboa and Shag workshops
Evening: Beach Party in the Skydeck at The Space
8:00pm	Doors open and pass collection
8:00pm	Social dancing to live band Chonk and DJ Julia; Showdown Competition Finals
12:00am	Close

Monday 11 March 2019

Daytime workshops at The Space
9:30am	Doors open and pass collection
10:00am- 12:45pm	Balboa, Shag and special workshops
Afternoon: Autumn Leaves at South Yarra Baptist Church
1:00pm	Doors open for lunch
2:00pm	Dance to DJs Kate and Rob
5:00pm	Close

All the Cats Join In features four exciting social nights in environments that will bring out the best dancing in you. The venues have been hand-picked for their combination of beautiful floors, socialising space and bars, for great times on and off the floor with old and new friends.

Friday

It's time to rise from hibernation since last year's ATCJI, and ski down to Prahran. Come inside to warm up at Club Maxie's, Melbourne's Balboa and Shag social dancing home which is once again hosting our cozy opening social dance. Balboa and Shag taster lessons from 7:00pm will help you to loosen your stiff joints and get the blood flowing. The DJ's will be playing hot jazz to keep you on the floor, and pizza will fuel you throughout the night.

WHEN: 8 March 2019, 6:30pm - 12:00am
WHERE: The Space, 318 Chapel St, Prahran
LESSON: Balboa Taster with Trish & Derek at 7:00pm, Shag Taster with Annabelle & Nial at 7:45pm (All levels)
MUSIC: Top DJs Tyler and Arnas spinning tunes
LODGE CAPTAIN: MC Mel Smith
DRESS: Winter whites
FOOD: Free pizza catering to a variety of dietary requirements
BAR: Full bar available. No BYO please.
COST: $25 including classes. Included with Gold and Social passes.

Saturday

When the conditions are right, everything grows in spring. Come into the greenhouse, where our live band and DJs will keep the dance floor buzzing. Cheer the dancers along to help them blossom in the social competition finals. Get groovy!

WHEN: 9 March 2019, 8:00pm - 12:00am
WHERE: The Space, 318 Chapel St, Prahran
COMP: Finals of the Balboa and Shag Social competitions.
MUSIC: Live band Jason and The Swingonauts supported by DJ Emma
COMMUNE LEADERS: MCs Jeanne-Clare Storace and Sarah Wheaton
DRESS: Floral and flares
BAR: Full bar available. No BYO please.
COST: $40. Included with Gold and Social passes.

Sunday

When the heat of summer rolls in, Australians like nothing better than to go to the beach. Slip on your dance shoes, slop on deodorant, and slap on a sun-smart outfit. Our live band and DJs will be playing the coolest tunes for a hot night's dancing. Prepare to be swept along by waves of excitement in the Showdown competitions, where you'll see fresh and breezy moves.

WHEN: 10 March 2019, 8:00pm - 12:00am
WHERE: The Space, 318 Chapel St, Prahran
COMP: Finals of the Balboa and Shag Showdown competitions.
MUSIC: Live band Chonk supported by DJ Julia
RECREATION LEADERS: MCs Jeanne-Clare Storace and Sarah Wheaton
DRESS: Sun smart!
BAR: Full bar available. No BYO please.
COST: $40. Included with Gold and Social passes.

Monday

Goodbye summer, hello autumn! After a weekend of harvesting dance material, and bottling and preserving fun times with friends, we're nearly ready for the next winter. A final social dance is a great time to give thanks, and dance until we fall into a deep slumber from exhaustion. The 'Fat Cat' food truck will be serving lunch.

WHEN: 11 March 2019, 1:00pm - 5:00pm
WHERE: South Yarra Baptist Church, 12 Surrey Road, South Yarra
MUSIC: DJs Kate and Rob spinning tunes
HOSTS: MCs Julia and John Wharington
DRESS: Autumn colours.
FOOD: Complementary lunch for all, catering to a variety of dietary requirements. The `Fat Cat' food truck will be serving from 1:00pm onwards.
BAR: BYO — with nearby bottle shops. Soft drinks available with gold coin donation.
COST: $25. Included with Gold and Social passes.

Live Music

Jason and The Swingonauts

After playing for ATCJI in 2017, The Swingonauts return with a fantastic lineup for your dancing pleasure. A familiar face and sound to swing scene, Jason Downes will be leading the group and playing clarinet and saxophone whilst joined by one of the leading trumpet players in the world, Mat Jodrell. Mat continues to wow the Australian music scene with trumpet playing literally 'second-to-none'. As Shag and Balboa dancers know, a solid and talented rhythm section is essential, and dancers will not be disappointed. This is arguably one of the most talented and experienced rhythm sections on the planet! Steve Grant is returning to ATCJI on piano and will be joined by Craig Fermanis on Guitar, Danny Fischer on drums and Howard Cairns on Double Bass. Expect fast tempos, high energy and lots of fun with The Swingonauts.

Chonk

Chonk is one of Melbourne‘s hottest swing outfits specialising in the music of Count Basie and the Benny Goodman sextet. They bring an energy and authenticity to their music that excites both the ears and the feet. Combining the talents of some of Melbourne’s most established musicians as well as its rising stars, the band captures the fervour and passion of swing in the 1940‘s along with the creativity and edge of early Bebop. Formed by guitarist Peter Baylor and Clarinettist Brennan Hamilton-Smith in 2017, Chonk has performed regularly around Melbourne featuring line ups of Australia's best jazz musicians. For this special occasion, Chonk will feature Ben Hendry on Drums, Kade Brown on Piano, Howard Cairns on Bass and one of Australia's great instrumentalists, Eamon Mcnelis on trumpet.

Disc Jockeys

Robert Edwards (Brisbane)

Robert is swinging back in from Brisbane once again, bringing his years of DJ experience with him. He has honed his craft in the dance halls of many local, national, and international events. His song choices come from the perspective of being a dancer first and foremost. His passion for the authentic dance music of the Swing era informs his flavour.

Emma Hadfield (Brisbane)

Emma has been enjoying playing swing music to dancers for a number of years and is excited to be trotting out the good stuff at All The Cats for the first time this year! She is an experienced dancer and teacher in Balboa and Lindy Hop, as well as a serious dabbler in Collegiate Shag. Her classic, hard-swinging tastes will cater to all comers, guaranteed.

Tyler Holmes (Melbourne)

Tyler has a love affair with Shag, and is seeing Balboa on the side. His passion for vintage tunes and original recordings have driven him to amass quite the collection of shuffle happy music right out of the 1930's, to the tunes of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Larry Clinton. Tyler has been DJing since as soon as people would let him near the sound system; he is a regular DJ around the Melbourne scene and a staple at SwingMania. Expect to hear a lot of happy, swinging, shufflin' tunes while Tyler is on decks.

Kate Patsky (Melbourne)

A veteran of the social dance floor, KP has over the years dabbled in DJing, along with competing, performing and teaching. Things picked up in 2016 when she started DJing regularly for SBOSS, the much loved Sunday afternoon Balboa social dance, up in Sydney. She has also DJ’d at Sydney Balboa Weekend, The Art of Social Dancing and The Balboa Experiment where she was lucky enough to have Kyle Smith coach her during her set. Kate has a penchant for the clarinet so expect to hear plenty of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw alongside her other old school favourites.

Arnas Razgūnas (Lithuania)

Driven by a love for The Jazz Age (Ages of Jazz) dance and music, as well as the whole culture that surrounds it, Lord Arnas represents exceptional quality Disc Jockey services — Rhythm Lord Brothers — who are committed to ferry their listeners a century back, to a time where a party was no paltry matter and a swinging dancer’s feet were never allowed to stop… ever. Arnas is a regular DJ at some of the biggest dance events in Europe, such as Herrang Dance Camp, The Snowball, and Rock That Swing.

Julia Wharington (Melbourne)

When Julia started dancing swing, she discovered quickly that the DJ had such a huge influence on her enjoyment of the night. This is what drew her to DJing. She loves to see the room pumping, feet flying, hearts racing to the rhythm of the beat, and she’s not shy to throw the occasional speedy challenge at the crowd. Julia has DJed at countless events over the last decade, and has a huge collection of music very much enjoyed by Balboa and Shag dancers alike. She’ll be playing the tunes for the Showdown competitions at All the Cats Join In and is looking forward to providing the inspiration for fantastic dances, while cheering you on from the sidelines.

Competitions

This year, we have two competitions in each of the Balboa and Collegiate Shag categories, Social and Showdown:

Balboa Showdown
Balboa Social
Shag Showdown
Shag Social

Previous competition results are listed here.

Registrations close on Friday, 1 March 2019 at 11:59pm AEDT

General conditions

Eligibility: Each of the events are open — dancers with any level of experience are eligible to enter. Dancers may enter as many events as they like.
Registration: All competitors must register online. Registration and payment for all events is via TryBooking. Note that TryBooking is not an app, and may not work well on smart phones or other devices — top tip is to register on a computer. Please note that the competition registration fees do not provide entry to the Saturday or Sunday night social events. Cost for entry to the social events is additional (Saturday: $40, Sunday: $40, or included with Gold or Social pass).
Close out: Registrations close on Friday, 1 March 2019 at 11:59pm AEDT.

Showdown

Show us what you got in the Showdown events, where the practice and mad skills you and your partner have developed are unleashed before the excited crowd.

Judging

Dancers enter as a couple (one Lead and one Follow) and are judged as a couple. For the first time in 2019, the Showdown judges are awarding winners for demonstrating one of three key elements of an exhibition dance. Couples are eligible to win more than one category! The three categories being judged are:

Technique: Stylish and classic dancing with high quality movement, flawless execution and efficient partnership skills.
Musicality: Rhythmic and playful dancing as a visual instrument of the music, showing dynamic and texturural range.
Performance: Showing off an impressive, innovative dance; with a broad vocabulary of patterns; and engaging the audience.

No heats

Both Showdown events will run as instant finals on Sunday 10 March.

Fee

$30 (plus $0.30 booking fee) per couple per event.

Capacity

Places will be limited to 10 couples in each event, and will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

Venue

The Space during the Sunday night social event.

Finals

Format: all-skate warm-up (unjudged); spotlights and all-skate finale (judged)
Danced to DJ music and live music
Speed range: 210-240 bpm for Balboa, 200-230 bpm for Collegiate Shag.
Duration: 60-90 seconds per spotlight.

Social

Celebrate the joy and skill of lead and follow partner dancing with a Social competition. You enter as an individual and you don't know who your partner will be; it's completely random and great fun!

Judging

Dancers enter as individuals, either as a Lead or a Follow, and are judged and awarded separately.

Heats

Heats and Finals will be held on Saturday 9 March. Heats for Collegiate Shag and Balboa will be held from 3:00pm to 4:00pm. Note: If you are not attending the workshops on Saturday, you can still enter the Social competition — but you need to come to the workshop venue in time to check in and dance in the heats.

Fee

$5 (plus $0.30 booking fee) per competitor per event.

Capacity

Places will be limited to 30 follows and 30 leads for each event. These places will be filled on a first come, first served basis. They'll be sure to go quickly, so sign up early.

Venue

The Space, with heats after the Saturday workshops and finals at the Saturday night social event.

Heats

Format: all-skate
Partners will be determined randomly, by the throw of a dice.
You will dance to three tracks of various tempos with a different partner each time.
All heats are danced to DJ music.
Speed range: 180-230 bpm for Balboa, 170-220 bpm for Collegiate Shag
Finalists will be announced on the ATCJI Facebook event page and at the entry desk on Saturday night

Finals

Format: all-skate with partner changes mid-dance
Danced to live music.
Speed range: 210-240 bpm for Balboa, 200-230 bpm for Collegiate Shag.