BY LENA WONG

In print | October 5, 2006

To many Swarthmore students, the concept of going dancing during the weekend conjures up images of sweaty Paces events filled with hips gyrating to the beats of the Pussycat Dolls or Sean Paul. However, armed with cash, dance shoes, and my ID card, I spent this weekend scouring the city for the best places to boogie down to the likes of Frank Sinatra, or perhaps a live salsa band.

My first dance stop in Philadelphia was the Saturday Night Fish Fry, sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania’s UPtown Swing dance organization and held on their campus. Well, okay, my real first stop was google.com. However, after furiously jotting down notes about these places, I encountered a slight problem. While Philly is a place where opportunities to swing, salsa or tango the night away seem to be never-ending, the weekend dance scene caters mostly to the over-21 crowd … and I was definitely not born in 1985.

Anyway, long story short, my dance partner, Kevin, and I showed up at the Fish Fry around 10:45 p.m. and entered a room covered with strings of white Christmas lights and filled with couples swing dancing to classic jazz standards like “It Had to be You” and “Mack the Knife.” Around us, dancers of all skill levels experimented with different moves and styles of swing. Since I love the tunes of jazz composers like Cole Porter and also regularly attended Stanford University social dances before coming to Swarthmore, I felt right at home. Kevin, who had no prior swing dance experience, did not. And while the event offered lessons before opening up the dance floor, we were almost two hours too late. So, I decided to ask if anyone in charge of the event was willing to teach him and, to my surprise, someone obliged.

His instructor’s name was Paul Salter, and he was nothing short of amazing. Within half an hour, Kevin was able to lead me around the dance floor like he had been doing it all his life. Later, we would find out how incredible our free private lesson really was — Salter is a well-known Philadelphia dance instructor who teaches with his partner Jen Scricco every Thursday night at the Le Champignon-Tokio Restaurant, a popular swing hangout frequented by the Swarthmore Swing Club. More information can be found at http://www.tokioswing.com. Fish Frys occur every other Saturday, cost $5 for non-Penn students and usually feature live bands. Go to http://www.uptownswing.com for a calendar of future events.

After resting my poor, tired feet, I headed out again on Sunday afternoon for what I thought would be another day of dancing at the Tango Café, an event hosted by the Swarthmore Tango Club’s instructor, David Walter. However, when I arrived at the Society Hill Dance Academy, where the dance was supposed to be held, I was informed by its owner, Shana Vitoff, that Tango Cafés occur on the fourth Sunday of every month and I was a week late. She did add, though, that the academy holds $10 drop-in lessons on dance styles ranging from salsa to swing to hip-hop on a daily basis during the week. A calendar of these classes can be found at http://www.societyhilldance.com.

Interestingly enough, both Vitoff and Salter noted that there are significantly more young females interested in social dance than young males. Whatever the reason for this is, Vitoff said something that I think is worth repeating: “Guys don’t realize that social dancing is the best place to meet girls — it’s like a girl buffet.” Enough motivation? I hope so.

WHERE TO G0

Saturday Night Fish Fry
UPenn, Houston Hall
3417 Spruce Street

Tango Cafe
Every Fourth Sunday
409 South 2nd Street

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