History 2004-05

The Swingtime Swing Dance Troupe was founded in 2002 by four Stanford students – Andy Huang, Meg Kale, Maria Reese, and Darick Tong – with the help of former Vintage Dance Ensemble Director, Richard Powers, and Dance Captains, Ryan and Monica Shen Knotts. Their goal was to create a student-based swing dance troupe with an emphasis on precision and artistic flair to continue on the tradition of excellence of Vintage.

Swingtime's 2004-2005 season will be long-remembered as its break-out year, a year of innovation and excitement. It started off with a bang as Swingtime invited old and current members to join it as it appeared at one of its most memorable gigs, the Palo Alto Black & White Ball. A large turnover of members allowed Swingtime to shrink its group size to 10 couples, mix it up, and begin training a new generation of student dancers. The younger dancers brought an unmatched enthusiasm and work ethic and allowed Swingtime to connect with its student audiences in a way its never has before. This year also saw the debut of choreographies by members Meg Kale and Kari Doyle. Kari demonstrated her experience with vintage dancing and costuming in Seafood Mama and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (performed by a small ensemble). With the help of her brother Dave, Meg created two of Swingtime's most memorable pieces ever: crowd-favorite Hey Ya!, featuring urban costumes and challenging jazz steps, and Swingtime's most ambitious piece ever, Straight Up, featuring formations and the most high-flying aerials of any Swingtime piece. Swingtime also shook up its Cat's Corner lineup, featuring two single-sex couples (one men, one women) and one couple dancing role-reversal. Swingtime also formed strong relationships with other dance groups, appearing in the 2005 Stanford Dance Marathon, Cardinal Ballet's campus-reknowned Urban Nights Dance Fusion show, and Los Salseros de Stanford's Spring Salsa Picante show. Swingtime's Spring show, Saturday Night Live '05, featured the amazing a capella musical stylings of the Stanford Harmonics and was Swingtime's highest attended Spring show ever, leaving not even standing room.

Swingtime has established itself as one of the premier swing dance troupes in the Bay Area with its precise, high-energy style of dance yet remains dedicated to its original charter of providing students with amazing opportunities to learn high-quality swing, stuning jazz moves, and awe-inspiring aerials and put it all together to exciting music, great costumes, and cheering crowds, both on and off campus.