When Sharole Lashe Negrete helped start Metro Vancouver’s first-ever swing dancing club 20 years ago, she had no idea how it would all play out.
Negrete and four others – Larry Wolf, Chris Desjardins and J.J. Johnson – were at a barbecue, tossing around the idea to start the club. There was nothing like it around. Each of them would often make the 3.5-hour drive to Seattle to participate in a swing dance club there.
“I just got a bee in my bonnet, and said, ‘Look, I want to do this,’ and we just sort of made it happen,” said Negrete.
The group settled on North West Swing Dance Club for a name, held a first meeting and hammered out a plan. The club was launched as a non-profit and included a board of directors. Using the Seattle Swing Club as their model, participants would pay a fee and be given a one-hour lesson, followed by a dance.
With no social media platforms like Facebook back then, Negrete, Desjardins and the others got the word out by hitting up all the local bars and handing out flyers.
“We’d go out to Maple Ridge and downtown Vancouver, the bars on Granville Street. Basically, that’s what we’d do, and we’d just keep gathering the forces and getting people to come out to the dances,” she said.
About 50 people showed up to the first dance, held at Centennial Lodge in Queen’s Park in New Westminster.
“We just didn’t know what to expect, but the dance community was really receptive of wanting to do this, and they were just happy somebody put it together. And then it just kept on growing from there,” Negrete added.
At first, the club rotated through a handful of local dance instructors to teach the beginner class, but as more and more money was saved, they were able to bring in out-of-town teachers, including Sylvia Sykes and Chuck Brown.
“It worked for us. We all got along,” said Negrete, who moved to California in 2001 and now works as a swing dance judge.
The dance scene changed a lot over the years, she noted. The club was the only place where dancers could get their West Coast swing fix, but eventually, other venues came online, and by 2005, North West Swing Dance Club wasn’t the only player in town.
After operating out of Burnaby’s firefighters’ club, then a few Vancouver halls, the club moved back to Burnaby to Confederation Centre in 2007. Dances were moved from Sunday nights to Saturday nights, and the club’s name changed to B.C. Swing Dance Club. Membership now sits around 150 to 200 people, according to club president Michael Shibasaki, and it’s been increasing.
“There was a pretty rough patch, six to eight years ago, where membership was declining,” he recalled. “The club was actually thinking about folding. At that time, there were a couple of good board members that took over and got the club back on track, and got our revenues back up, and for the last four, five years, it’s been pretty strong.”
Ages range from 20-somethings to some dancers in their 70s.
Besides offering free beginner lessons – taught by Shibasaki and his wife, Amy – the club hosts workshops led by dance professionals from across North America. Members can also participate in the club’s summertime dances (this year, it was held at Trout Lake), as well as the annual barbecue.
Dances are $10 for members, $13 for non-members and $6 for students with ID (a yearly membership starts at $15). Lessons cost $5 for members or $7 for non-members.
The next dance, celebrating the club’s 20th anniversary, will be on Saturday, Nov. 4. The lesson starts at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7:30 p.m.) at Confederation Centre, 4585 Albert St. Dancing is from 9 p.m. to midnight.
See bcswingdance.ca for more information.
