Directors Ben and Sheri
The One2Swing Jitterbugs a.k.a. One2Swing’s The California Rolls is a swing dance team committed to spreading the joy of Lindy Hop and swing dancing whenever and wherever they can. Based in Los Angeles, California, and directed by international dance champions and instructors Ben and Sheri Yau, the One2Swing Jitterbugs are all about entertaining, inspiring, and having fun!
COMPETITIONS
1st: Kollaboration 8, Feb 2008 (One2swing Jitterbugs)
1st: National Jitterbug Championships, Jul 2008 (The California Rolls)
2nd: National Jitterbug Championships, Jul 2008 (One2Swing Jitterbugs)
2nd: American Lindy Hop Championships, Oct 2008 (The California Rolls)
2nd: US Open Swing Dance Championships, Nov 2008 (The California Rolls)
1st: North American Open, Dec 2008 (The California Rolls)
2nd: North American Open, Dec 2008 (One2Swing Jitterbugs)
1st: National Jitterbug Championships, Jul 2009 (One2Swing Jitterbugs)
2nd: National Jitterbug Championships, Jul 2009 (The California Rolls)
3rd: International Lindy Hop Championships, Aug 2009 (The California Rolls)
4th: International Lindy Hop Championships, Aug 2009 (One2Swing Jitterbugs)
1st: US OPEN Swing Dance Championships, Nov 2009 (The California Rolls)
TEAM HISTORY
Curious about how we got started? Wondering why most of the team is of Asian heritage? Read on and find out!
Kollaboration 8
The story actually starts back in 2006. This is when Ben saw the famous “David Elsewhere @ Kollaboration” Youtube clip. Curious about this “Kollaboration 2001″ subtitle on the clip, he did some digging and found that Kollaboration was an organization which held events to showcase and empower entertainers of Asian heritage and positively influence Asian communities. What an awesome idea! Digging through their history he also found that Kollaboration had, up to that point, mainly attracted rappers, musicians, and hip hop dancers.
Kollaboration 2008
After checking out what Kollaboration was all about, Ben and Sheri saw a great opportunity to give Lindy Hop exposure to the LA Asian population. Ben and Sheri contacted the Kollaboration organizers, and they became excited at the thought of bringing a new genre of entertainment (social/partner dancing) to the Kollaboration shows. All the schedules finally aligned two years later for Kollaboration 8 set for February 23, 2008. At that point because of some injuries, Ben and Sheri thought it best to “spread the physical activity” and coordinate a team performance instead of a couples performance. So they decided to put together an all Asian dance team for the Kollaboration 8 competition.
Now we just needed a name. As Kollaboration was a competition for the general public consumption, we decided it was best to have a pretty simple name for our team that identified us as swing dancers. We also wanted our brand name “One2Swing” in the team name too. Thus, the “One2Swing Jitterbugs” was born.
Camp Hollywood 2008
Ben and Sheri did not plan to continue the team after Kollaboration. However, the rest of the team had other things in mind (Ben lovingly calls them “the obsessed crazies”) so after much delibration and coin flipping (and mutiny), O2SJ decided to take our Kollaboratoin performance of “Bugle Call Rag” routine to Camp Hollywood/National Jitterbug Championships.
Camp Hollywood 2008: One2Swing Jitterbugs
We also got the silly idea that since we had one routine for the most part “in the can”, we should do a second routine, a routine that would be “less traditional”,”more innovative”, and harder in difficulty. Fewer couples. Slicker formations. The team of obsessed crazies voted “Yes! Let’s do two routines!”
Now we had to think of a second team name. This was a long (and very humorous) exercise. Eventually the team voted on a final name of “The California Rolls”. Wanting to keep our brand name in there, “One2Swing’s The California Rolls” was born.
Sheri’s Leadership and the “Obsessed Crazies”
With Frankie Manning @ ALHC 2008
Many of our team members had never been to other big events outside of Camp Hollywood. Many of our team members, in fact, had not danced much outside of Los Angeles. Sheri, the visionary, knew that getting them to see swing dancing outside of LA/OC would be a great experience so she pushed for the team to perform, travel, and compete. The team followed Sheri’s leadership and we ended up having an unforgettable 2008 “season”. Most importantly, this helped our team members mature in level and experience. And of course like any addiction the obsessed crazies are now looking forward to a great 2009. The story’s most recent update: O2SJ was honored to have been selected to perform at the event of the century: Frankie Manning’s 95th birthday event in New York city.
The Future
As we go forward and grow in our team membership, we are open to dancers of any and all ethnic backgrounds, not just those of Asian heritage. Keep an eye on our site and for flyers for when we have our open auditions. In the meantime, you can always expect the O2SJ members to be committed to our mission: to entertain, inspire, and have fun!
TEAM TRIVIA
- One2Swing Jitterbugs: this is the name we give to routines done to more “traditional” big band music. These O2SJ routines will have a more traditional look and choreography
- One2Swing’s The California Rolls: this is the name we give to routines done to more “alternative” jazz music. These O2SJ (or I suppose O2STCR) routines will tend to have a more innovative, non-traditional look and choreography.
- All members swing dance as a “hobby” (a passionate, time-consuming, and expensive “hobby” that is ). We are otherwise occupied full-time with non-dance related careers and/or academics.
- Our average ages (as of end of 2008): mean=33, median=35, mode=36 (yes some of us are indeed math geeks).
- Team members individually range from 3 months to 13 years of swing dance experience
- Though many of us have known each other as acquaintances and friends for many years, we formed officially as a team in late 2007 with the main purpose of showcasing Lindy Hop/Swing Dancing at Kollaboration 8 on February 23, 2008.
- Team members’ ethnic backgrounds include: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Philipino, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese. As of 2009: Nicaraguan and French!
- Behind Our Name: “Jitterbugging” is not so much swing dancing as it is the spirit and jubilation behind swing dancing. We want to honor our swing dancing and Lindy Hop ancestors by inspiring people with our spirit and energy.
Catch us at our next performance or contact us to book us!