Matt Hatter’s Tea Party
Urbanattic, Capsquare

22 August 2009

By Koh Guat Seng

KL Swing! Throws Wonderland Tea Party          

The Cards !

KL Swing! celebrated the arrival of Lindy Hop champion and teacher Matt Bedell by inviting swing friends to a Matt Hatter’s Tea Party organised by Ming Pang.

The swing community is very close knit and keen to travel for dance. So guests came from San Francisco, Jakarta, Saigon and Singapore to join in the fun. It was a rare chance to widen our horizons by dancing with people outside the scene.

It was a rare chance to widen our horizons by dancing with people outside the scene.

Urbanattic was decked out in balloons and the guests came dressed in their Wonderland best – “Playing cards”, “cats”, “rabbits” and “Alices” mingled before the free taster class with Matt began.

Matt took us through a 6-count or East Coast Swing figure and there was much laughter and chatter as we worked it out and partners were rotated.

Mad Hatter and Cheshire cat.

The laughter continued as we tried on the beautiful headwear brought by hat designer Jacqui Chan. She emerged triumphant from a frenetic week of work with two suitcases of truly Wonder-ful designs. The ensuing hat parade really made the night—we swapped and changed and marvelled at our new looks in Jacqui’s creations!

Meanwhile dancers made their way onto the floor to try out their new moves with music compiled by Lionel Tan. And dance community photographer James Quah took some time away from Dad duties to join class, document the festivities and try on a hat or two.

At about 10pm, music lecturer and local songstress Zalina Lee took to the stage with her band and swung it like she meant it. Finally--live swing music and swing dance in KL! The crowd was delighted with the powerfully-delivered jazz standards, which included many Ella Fitzgerald classics.

It was her swing version of local tune Burung Kakak Tua though, that was really a highlight--a lovely blend of surprise and familiarity all at the same time. The band very sportingly played a birthday song for one of the Singaporeans and finished off the set with Tuxedo Junction; a swing anthem which traditionally accompanies a line dance we do called The Shim Sham. 

Swing dancers see themselves as an instrument in the band, so this first opportunity for us to dance to live music was a great experience. With Urbanattic supporting swing music, hopefully this is only the beginning!

By this time in the proceedings, the only other thing left to do was award the Unwinner of the Costume Uncompetition. The guest of honour had hand-stitched his card shirt and Sing Lim, director of Jitterbugs Singapore, had donned an entire tea party in a dim sum carrier on her head. They were left to judge and the rest of us who thought we had come in theme were left to think again. Diana Leong from Singapore, who was sporting a home-sewn apron, came out Un-victorious and went home with one of Jacqui’s pieces.

Swing is a type of jazz, a dance and also a state of mind. You never know what’s going to happen at KL Swing! parties and this one certainly delivered some really whacky fun.

Matt Bedell has a three-month stint in Kuala Lumpur. He has been holding intermediate classes and supporting the swing socials and is due to return to the US next month.