Formerly known as the Intercollegiate Swing Battle, join us as we foster the next generation of swing dancers!
Boulder Swing Dance & CMDance have joined forces for this inspirational event! We invite ALL AGES to gather, learn, have some fun in friendly competition - and most importantly - have a blast social dancing! Competitors and attendees range from dancers that just started to those with years of experience.
We offer dance lessons from world-class instructors, contests, performances, and social dances with live music.
And hey! This event is open to the public! Yes! It is a community event open to all, not just college students, so come show your support and share your love of swing dancing with our next generation.
Follow our new Facebook page!
RSVP to our Facebook event HERE
Online discounted preregistration opens March 1st!
Student passes are for currently enrolled students and will need to show valid ID when checking in or will be upgraded to a public pass.
There is a limited amount of online discounted pre-sale tickets!
Student passes are for currently enrolled students and will need to show valid ID when checking in or will be upgraded to a public pass.
You must have a full weekend or dance pass to compete in any contest.
Full weekend passes:
Student $65 online/$75 door
Public $120 online/$140 door
Dance pass: $30 online/$35 door
Individual Tickets:
Friday Dance Only $12 online/$15 door
Saturday Classes Only $60 online/$70 door
Saturday Dance Only $20 online/$25 door
Saturday All Day/Night $80 online/$90 door
Sunday Classes Only $60 online/$70 door
Contests:
Solo Charleston $15
Collegiate Mix & Match $15
Open Mix & Match $20
Thank you for your continued support. Attendance to our events (besides being a fun time for you!) supports our school programming, student showcase, student teams, volunteers, organizers, and the instructors, performers, and musicians we employ.
Elaine & Stefan
Elaine Buchignani is a full-time Lindy Hop & Jazz Dance instructor, organizer, choreographer, and program director. She is the co-founder of Swing Dance SCT, one of Seattle’s largest Lindy Hop & Jazz Dance schools, and the co-founder and organizer of Stormy Weather Jazz Dance Festival. She is also the founder and choreographer of Evergreen Rhythm performance team, a group focused on exploring the full range of jazz dance styles.
Since the age of three, Elaine has spent her life diving deep into the diverse worlds of Ballet, Modern, Circus, Pilates, and Ballroom, but nothing captures her heart like jazz dance. As an instructor, she’s known for her keen eye for body mechanics and ability to break down complex concepts. As a dancer, she’s known for her versatility, dramatic stylings, creativity within the connection, and full body musicality. She’s won many contests at events over the years, but her heart belongs to performance, social dance, and building community.
Stefan Huynh is a Lindy Hop and Jazz Dance instructor and performer specializing in partner and solo dances of the jazz age. As a co-founder of Swing Dance SCT, one of the largest swing dance schools in Seattle and the U.S., he teaches and designs innovative curriculums for dancers of all levels. Additionally, Stefan serves as a coach for the Evergreen Rhythm performance troupe, nurturing the next generation of Seattle jazz dancers and performers.
Stefan has two decades of partner dance experience and has been swing dancing since 2010. He has been a member of renowned performance groups like The Big Apple Lindy Hoppers, Yeah Man, The Amazebals, and others. His passion has earned him accolades in major contests at festivals such as Camp Jitterbug, Lindyfest, and Inspiration Weekend.
An avid social dancer, Stefan deeply values the art of conversational dancing, prioritizing genuine connections with both the music and his partners above all else. His background includes a master’s degree in psychology from NYU, which informs his innovative teaching methods and fosters a supportive and efficient learning environment in his classes.
Karen & Dabney
Contests!
There will be both Collegiate and Community level Mix & Matches, and an open Solo Charleston battle!
Prelims for the Mix & Matches will be Friday evening. You must have a full weekend or dance pass to enter. Finals for the Mix & Matches will be Saturday night.
Final for the Solo Charleston competition will be battle style on Friday evening. You must have a full weekend or dance pass to enter. *This contest has limited entry of 16 max competitors.
For all contests, you must have a full weekend or dance pass to compete in any contests.
You can either register online in advance or at the event. Each contest has an entry fee.
All contests are judged on timing, teamwork, and technique as well as authenticity and musicality. Placements will be 1st-3rd or winner takes all depending on the contest format. Win prize passes and merch for these awesome events!
Team Competition
All participants/performers within any particular competition team must be made up of registered students from each respective team’s university.
No more than 25% of a team’s choreography can be directly choreographed by an outside source (professional instructor, online performance, local swing club, etc.) However, gaining insight from experienced/professional dancers is allowed in the process of crafting your choreography. For example, bringing in someone to see your choreography and provide a few tips or pointers for stylistic choices, vocals, or particular adjustments for certain performers to “clean up” the choreography.
Air steps, aerials, lifts, and drops ARE allowed in a team performance.
No electro swing music.
Performances cannot be longer than 3.5 minutes.
Must consist of majority lindy hop based stylistic performance (elements of other jazz dance ok, ie. Charleston, shag, balboa, blues, etc)
No more than 12 performers allowed, not including alternates for competition teams.
No member of a competition team can have competed in more than 4 years of collegiate team battles.
Mix and Match
Collegiate Mix & Match participants must be currently enrolled in a university and have less than 4 year's of lindy hop dance experience.
Everyone else must compete in the Open/Community Mix & Match.
Finals will be to live music with a warm up, spotlights, and then all skate.
Solo Charleston
All levels, anyone come show us what you got, battle style. Judges vote at the end of each battle. The winner moves onto the next round, finals = the last two remaining.
Live Music with The Crystal Swing Band!
The Crystal Swing Band will transport you to the heyday of the swing era when couples danced cheek to cheek or cut a rug on ballroom floors all over the country to the popular big bands. Performing the swing music of the 1930s & 1940s big band era, they’ll bring back memories with tunes like In the Mood, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Satin Doll and Tuxedo Junction. Led by drummer Kristin Anderson-Bohan, The Crystal Swing Band consists of the finest professional musicians from the metro area. Pleasing audiences for over 30 years, the band has been featured at hundreds of events including the Boulder Creek Festival, Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Louisville Fourth of July, Denver Jazz Club, Boulder County Fair and the Longmont Jazz Festival, as well as many other public and private events.
DJ Miranda Lank
Friday Night Contests & Social Dance DJ
Miranda’s love for jazz began at a young age listening to records and watching old movie musicals. Her early collection of jazz music helped her meet the need for DJs at her local dance scene in South Carolina, and it quickly fueled a passion for finding songs to inspire dancers to hit the floor. Since then, she has livened up dance venues from the Southeast to New England and now calls Colorado home. She has a knack for finding the feeling of the room and playing to it as if it was tailored for each individual dancer, and she can’t wait to do the same for you.
DJ Alan Davies
Friday Night Social Dancing
Alan has been dancing and DJing at events, nationally and internationally for over 20 years. He found his love for Swing Jazz at the age of 14 and had never looked back!
DJ Leea Kuronen
Saturday Night Contests & Social Dancing
Leea started dancing when she was just 6-years old. She had been begging her parents to enroll her to ballet classes, and finally they gave in. After a few years of ballet training Leea wanted to explore other dance styles, so she picked up hip hop, and later, street dance, show dance (theatrical jazz dance), and later returned to adult ballet. In 2013 Leea signed up for Lindy hop classes and immediately fell in love with the dance form. She soon dived deeper into vernacular jazz and started learning blues, balboa, and solo jazz. Leea has been teaching and DJing since 2015. She's currently teaching as well as choreographing and performing vernacular jazz dances in the Denver metro area.
Weekend Schedule
Friday
Colorado School of Mines
Ben H. Parker Student Center
Ballrooms D and E
1200 16th St. Golden, CO 80401
5:30p-10:00p Social Dance to DJs Miranda & Alan
—Solo Charleston Battle
—Instructor Showcase
—Mix & Match Prelims
Saturday
The Avalon (various ballrooms)
11am-5pm
Schedule coming soon!
SATURDAY NIGHT
The Avalon - Sodal Hall
7:00 Doors Open
Social Dance to the Crystal Swing Band until Midnight
—Team Routines at 7:30pm
—Band begins 8pm
—Mix & Match Finals top of 2nd and 3rd band breaks
Sunday
11-1:00p
LUNCH SOCIAL:
Wild Pastures Burger Co.
2805 Pearl St., Suite 5B Boulder, CO 80301
(self-pay)
————————————————————
The Avalon (various ballrooms)
Classes 1:30-6p
Schedule coming soon!
The Avalon
6185 Arapahoe Rd, Boulder, CO 80303
The School of Mines
Ben H. Parker Student Center
Ballrooms D and E
1200 16th St. Golden, CO 80401
Map below!
The blue star is the student center. Green stars are where people can park after 5 pm on Friday evening (free).
Flying into Denver International Airport
The nearest major airport to Denver is the Denver International Airport (DIA). You can find deals at respective discount airfare sites or directly from your preferred airline. We suggest checking fares often and signing up for low fare alert services. Research shows that the ideal time to buy your airline tickets is generally about 54 days before travel. After 54 days, prices begin to rise and then shoot up 30 days before the flight. Remember to check out package discounts for hotels and car rentals, if you wish. Here are some sites you can use to find deals and set up price alerts:
www.southwest.com – www.farecast.com – www.orbitz.com –www.kayak.com – www.priceline.com – www.hotwire.com –www.travelocity.com
Getting to Boulder from DIA
There are several shuttle options: Boulder Shuttle, Denver Airport Transportation, Super Shuttle, and more! Here is a page by the university with more options: Transportation To And Around Boulder
Getting Around Boulder
Rideshare programs like Uber or Lyft are highly active in the area. We also have Car2GO, a convenient smart-car rental service providing over 400 2-person cars spread throughout Denver; just take it, drive it, and park it, within the designated city area (membership required).
RTD Buses – For public transportation, our RTD buses and light rail system are an effective and inexpensive method of getting around Denver. Check out the RTD website for a helpful Trip Planner and more details on Denver public transit.
Bird Scooters are an efficient/affordable option to get around downtown. App download required.
Lime Scooters are another app based scooter option to get around downtown. App download required.
Work-Trade
Teamwork makes the dream work!
Our helpers are the face of the event! We value our helpers and seriously cannot function without you. Help us make a fun and successful weekend and get to know your organizers and artists a little better. You will be able to sign-up after reading the following!
Important notes related to work-trade:
If you would like to work in exchange for a pass, please do not purchase a pass until given your promo code after being assigned shifts for the weekend.
Workers will be given credits equal to $20 per hour to be used towards purchasing event tickets. (no cash value)
Workers will have the opportunity to select shifts in the first stages of volunteer sign-up, but the schedule will be locked for editing as the event approaches.
Those who do not show up for shifts will not be allowed to work for CMDance events in the future and may be asked to pay for part or all of their attendance.
We will accept your support and helping hands at any time, even when you are not scheduled, of course!
The commitment is a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 12.
Work-trade application: Click here to apply! (Due by 4/12/25)
If you have any questions about volunteering for this event, please e-mail ICSB@cmdance.org.
Scholarships
Applications for scholarships are open! Click here to apply. (Due by 3/31/25)
Scholarships can includes passes and travel stipends and are need and civic based and voted on by a committee of board members and volunteers.
Event Staff
Event Manager
Robinson Merillat began his dancing career in the Colorado School of Mines Ballroom Dance Club and Performed for the Sliderulers throughout His university years. He joined the Mercury Cafe Quicksilvers under Ceth Stifel and performed at many events in Denver Colorado exploring his love for Lindy Hop. He began traveling to events worldwide, teaching the very classes that he started in at Colorado School of Mines, and managing the annual collegiate event, ICSB.
Event Manager
Joanne Chiao
Joanne’s dance journey began in ballet classes at age 3. Since then she has explored various dance forms and styles from ballet, modern, house, and hip hop. She stumbled upon Lindy Hop on a Sunday evening at Denver’s beloved Mercury Café in 2019. Having danced since childhood, Joanne strives to be a lifelong learner and student in all forms of movement, its history, and culture. She considers dance an invaluable asset to life as through it, it keeps you healthy, happy, and lively. She is grateful to be a part of the team for Intercollegiate Swing Weekend and looks forward to dancing with everyone on the social floor.
CU Boulder Team
School of Mines Slide Rulers
TBA