Camino Barcelona Blog

¡Hola! 

This week is nearly over and most of you probably already know what you will
be doing on Friday and Saturday, the two hectic days/nights of the end of the week:
Shopping, meeting friends in bars, restaurants, home or night-club, going to the cinema
etc. The possibilities are endless in Barcelona!

But what about Sunday??? Sunday is usually another story. The shops are closed,
there is nobody in the street, your friends only think about sleeping… Not very exciting, is it? That is probably the reason why I used to dislike Sundays myself.

But since I have been living in Barcelona, my Sundays just feel different… No longer
idle, no longer greyish! But why???? Why is Barcelona so different than Paris or
London on Sunday???

“Elementary my dear Watson”, there is SWING in Barcelona on Sunday!

So, if you don’t know what to do this coming Sunday, I have 2 very good alternatives for you:

First of all, from 12h00 to 14h00, there is a Lindy Hoppers gathering in the
Ciudadella Park. You have never heard of Lindy Hoppers? But there are loads, here! A Lindy-hopper is a person that dances Lindy-Hop and Lindy Hop is a dance of the 1920s and early 1930s, member of the swing dance family.

If you are interested in becoming “a Lindy al Parc addicted”, here is more information:

Lindy al Parc: Every first and third Sunday at the bandstand. From October to April it’s from noon to 2pm (it is allowed to arrive with the marks of your pillow!!!), and from May through September from 6 to 8pm. (Because it is far too warm to dance before that time!).

(Note: occasionally the event is moved to just outside the main entrance of the
park, at the end of Passeig Lluís Companys).

And if you are not the kind of person that would wake up before 12h00 on Sunday, I have another option for you:

This Sunday, at 20h00, you have another opportunity to see the Barcelona
Swing Orchestra in action.

The concert takes place at the Apolo room and the entrance costs: 10€ (at the ticket office) and 7€ if you buy the ticket in advance.

Address of the Apolo Room:
C/Nou de la Rambla, 113
Metro: Paral.lel (L2. y L3). Bus: 20, 24, 36, 57, 64, 91, 157, 221
Doors open at 19h00 and the concert starts at 20h00.

If you want more information about this great band, you can check one of my previous
posts.

Last but not least, let me give you a bit of history about Lindy Hop and why it has such a weird name: (Read it, the anecdote is funny!!!):

“The history of swing dates back to the 1920s, where the black community, while
dancing to contemporary Jazz music, discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop.
On March 26, 1926, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors in New York and was an
immediate success. Nightly dancing attracted most of the best dancers in the New York
area.

One evening in 1927, following Lindbergh’s flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast
named “Shorty George” Snowden was watching some of the dancing couples. A
newspaper reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened
that there was a newspaper with an article about Lindbergh’s flight sitting on the bench
next to them. The title of the article read, “Lindy Hops The Atlantic,” and George just
sort of read that and said, “Lindy Hop” and the name stuck.”

Funny, isn’t it?

And finally, let me give you the link to a great video recorded in the 40’s. (Tell me: Who would not like to dance this way?):

 

Have a great week-end!

And don’t forget: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing….”

 

Sandrine

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Actividades, Sandrine, Uncategorized, What to do in Barcelona. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.