ILHC 2014 - Solo Charleston - Finals - Spotlights

ESDC 2011 - CABARET DIVISION (Max Pitruzella, Juan Villafañe & Dax Hock)

Dozens of dancers from all over the world have taken to the streets of Galway in celebration of an almost century-old dance craze: the Charleston.

'I Charleston’ is a swing dancing phenomenon that has spread around the globe in recent years, from Japan to San Francisco, from Stockholm to Australia. Now the spectacle has come to Ireland with the production of I Charleston Galway!

The 'I Charleston The World' project sees dancers perform traditional jazz steps at famous landmarks of a particular city or country. The performances are recorded and compiled into a mini-film format to be published online through video-sharing websites.

The soundtrack for the I Charleston Galway film is ‘Django’s Tiger’, a manouche jazz composition by Django Reinhardt performed by local band, I Saw Stars. The track is from the band’s debut album entitled ‘Django Abú’.

I Charleston Galway is the latest initiative by Swing Jam, an organisation dedicated to fostering swing-era culture in Galway and around Ireland, working in conjunction with SwingStep (Germany), Holy Lindy Land (Israel), as well as the Galway-based Vaudeville Vamps and the McDonagh-Byrne School of Irish Dancing. In total, over sixty dancers were involved, coming not only from Galway and all over Ireland to take part, but also the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Australia, and Tasmania. Every person gave their time and expertise voluntarily, driven by sheer love for the dance and their desire to share the spirit of the swing dancing community with the wider world.

"Galway gets in on the I Charleston action. I like the effort they put into to not only making it city specific, but also culturally specific to Ireland. Great job. Bonus Pro Tip: It's a great idea to work with local musicians and get them involved in projects like this." Jerry Almonte, Wandering & Pondering.

"I wanted to say thank you again for contributing "I Charleston Galway" to the contest! We had more than 100 people at the screening to watch the films! The audience was very appreciative of the beauty of the city as captured in the film, and there was much amusement at the calling of "Shark!" at the end! I also heard people mention that they liked the music that you used, and that you were able to include the tap/step dancers into the film!" Alex Yan, 2013 Jazz Dance Film Festival.