For the first time, Viking Swing and Western Americana Music Group are coming together to host a Valentine’s Day event. The Sweet Heart Swing Dance will be held in the Viking Union Multi-Purpose Room on Feb. 12th from 6 to 8 p.m.
“Expect to learn some new dance moves, hear great music, and just have a lot of fun!” Liz Biddington, Western Americana Music Group founder, said.
Western Americana Music Group or W.A.M., formerly known as Roots, was founded by Biddington two years ago. W.A.M. is a folk music jam group that meets every Thursday and offers lessons. The group has performed in folk festivals and concerts all over Bellingham.
“We’d been wanting to collaborate with Swing for a really long time. I reached out to them and said, ‘y’all provide the dancing element and we will bring the music,’” Biddington said.
Viking Swing, Western’s swing dance club, has been active for over a decade. The beginner friendly club has swing dance meetings every Tuesday and they practice country, line and lindy hop dancing styles.
“It’s gonna be our signature swing dance with the added awesomeness of a bluegrass band,” said Zachary Martin, Viking Swing’s communication officer.
Both W.A.M. and Viking Swing are very country-music focused clubs but this is the first time the two are collaborating on hosting an event together.
Sweet Heart Swing Dance is organized by Biddington, Martin and Bechler Ybarrondo, the executive officer of Viking Swing. The music and dancing styles at this event have been carefully curated by the organizers to match the holiday theme.
“We worked together to make a setlist of older sweeter country music to reflect the Valentine’s Day vibe and for them to play that classic bluegrass style,” Martin said. The dance will feature old time folk music as well as some contemporary renditions.
“We’re definitely throwing some love songs in there. We worked with Viking Swing to match our instrumentation to their setlist of songs,” Biddington said.
Professional fiddle player Sami Braman noted the theme of love in folk music.
“A lot of traditional folk music is written about love. Some great classic folk songs are kind of romance stories sung from different points of view,” Braman said. “I think a large part of folk music themes is community and connecting with others on a deeper level.”
The organizers encourage everyone to come to the dance, to bring friends or their "special sweetheart.” Both Viking Swing and W.A.M. are active every week and frequently host their own events and concerts.
“I’m really looking forward to the dance. I’ve been to a few of the Roots (W.A.M.) jam sessions and they are all such talented people. It’ll be fun to try to learn to swing too,” said Venice Stemm, a second-year Western student.
Don’t miss the Sweet Heart Swing Dance in the Viking Union’s Multi-Purpose Room on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m.
Katherine Rogers (she/her) is a reporter on The Front’s campus life beat. This is her first quarter on The Front. She is a second-year visual journalism major. Outside of the newsroom, she does concert photography for local artists. You can reach her at katherinerogers.thefront@gmail.com.
