HEATHER STEWART

Australian Premiere & Festival Exclusive:  dance class 6.30pm, doors open 7pm Take a trip back to 1920s New York City, where gangsters ran the nightlife, charleston ruled the dancefloor – and the only way to move was to sugarfoot stomp or shake that thing!   774 ABC Melbourne, Swing Patrol and Melbourne International Jazz Festival present a ritzy evening of unadulterated hot jazz showcasing the music, dance styles and debonair of the Roaring Twenties.   Two of Melbourne’s most explosive bands – Michael McQuaid and his Red Hot Rhythmakers and Leigh Barker and the New Sheiks – will have the dancefloor quaking. The dance instructors from Swing Patrol will be teaching the basics of the charleston – so whether you’re an aficionado or new to the scene, slip on your two-toned shoes and dip your hip for an all-inclusive, energetic night of music and fun. It’s gonna be the cat’s pyjamas. Despite a typically patronising photo in the entire festival program of NOT our two bands, we the musicians and you the dancers and audience are gonna make this a TRULY WONDERFUL EVENING!