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 | Dance
 | Dancing
in Austin This
is a good source for general information about dance in Austin including
places to dance. I mention a few notables below. Another
extensive resource list
(This page is a bit old but has a pretty complete list of dance
locations.) Another list of Swing,
CW and Latin places.
 | Broken
Spoke (512-
442-6189) This is a classic Texas honky-tonk that has hosted many of the best known country western singers and bands. The music is good for swing, waltz, and slow dancing as well as country dances (e.g., Texas Two Step and Triple Two Step). The bands are usually very good. Its usually crowded on the weekends.
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Other
clubs On Wednesday and
Sunday evenings between 6:30pm and about 9:00pm, many dance folks go
to Dallas nightclub (7113 Burnet
Road, 512- 452-2801) to practice. After 9PM,
the college hunks and hunkettes take over, the floor gets crowded,
and the music gets a youth orientation. Before 9PM the floor is
seldom crowded and you will see some very good dancers. Like Dallas,
the dance crowd often shows up early at Ropers (2113 Wells Branch
Parkway, 512-990-5991)
on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Ropers is in the North end of
Austin. Finally, many swing dancers go to Tangerine's on Thursday
evenings. Tangerine's (aka
Club Renaissance)
is the discotheque adjacent to the Renaissance Hotel in the
Arboretum at 9721 Arboretum Blvd. 512-343-2626
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Heart
of Texas Whip Club If you
are a West Coast Swing enthusiast, this is another resource.
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The
Cotton Club and Steakhouse
(512-859-0700)
in Granger, Texas. If you want to soak up some small town Texas
culture and have a great time dancing too, go to one of the dance
halls in the small towns surrounding Austin. The Cotton Club in
Granger is a lot of fun on the weekend and the bands are often quite
good.
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The
Coupland Dance Hall (512-852-2226)
is
reputed to be a fun spot similar to the Cotton Club, but I have not
yet tried it out.
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| Ed's River Place
(830-868-4342) in Johnson
City is another popular dance hall with a 4000 square foot dance
floor. It is quite a drive (about 60 miles from Austin) but can be a
fun adventure and worth the drive. While they don't have a web site,
if you do a search on the name and city, you will often run across
the web sites of bands that will be appearing. Of course, calling
ahead is best.
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Texas
Honky-Tonk "Culture"
This is a pretty good resource that goes beyond just Honky-Tonks by
providing a list of the places and events that are part of Austin.
The resturant guide does not include all of my favorite restaurants
but many of my favorites are on it. It provides a fun sense of the
culture of Austin and of Texas in general.
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Donn's
Depot If you like to dance
to swing, Fifties rock, big band music, slow romantic oldies, or ragtime, try
Donn's. Its in the
railroad cars on Fifth street (1600 W. Fifth). I have not been there
for a while but the last time I went, it was a lot of fun.
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The
Oasis (Lake Travis, 6550
Comanche Trail, 512-266-2441) The Oasis has a great view of the
sunset over Lake Travis, large outdoor seating areas, adequate
Margaritas and food, smallish outdoor dance floors, and often (in
the summer) really good music. It is often (though not exclusively)
Latin so if you like to Salsa, Cha-Cha, Samba, etc., this can be a
fun place to do it. Warning: the dance floors are often crowded.
Call ahead to see who is playing.
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Another list of dance halls
from the Austin
Chronicle.
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Austin is the
live
music capital of the
world. More live music per capita in Austin than anywhere else.
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Dance
Lessons
Ricardo Moncada is an excellent teacher who teaches virtually all
popular dances. He is especially interested in West Coast Swing and
Argentinian Tango these days and provides several levels of instruction,
from the beginner level to the advanced. But he teaches many dances so
if you want to learn a specific dance, he probably teaches it. He has a
set of assistants who are among the most accomplished dancers in Austin.
We have taken lessons (off and on) from him since 1989.
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| Amazon.com Just
about my favorite shopping site on the web.
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| Google
In my opinion, the best current search engine.
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| Yahoo! Sometime
Yahoo's world model is a help to reduce the chaff.
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