Swinging In The Spokes: Partner Dancing Picks Up In Western Colorado

Word’s getting around Western Colorado about an unlikely swing dance spot: Brown Cycles in downtown Grand Junction.

Misti Dawn Kelly dances with Freddy Witarsa. Photo by Dmitri Leon.

Two Friday evenings a month, a distinctive mix of music — from Pink Martini to Bessie Smith — floats onto Main Street. Inside the shop, dancers jitterbug and Lindy Hop beneath the Cannondale bikes hanging overhead. Outside, passersby pause to watch the whirling couples and swirling skirts, the dips and slides, the spins and grins.

“It’s my happy, safe space,” says musician Misti Dawn Kelly, who curates the tunes for each gathering. “We’re here without alcohol or other distractions, just enjoying the time.”

Kelly and several other regulars have been twirling together since at least 2018 when the scene centered on a local coffee shop. After the pandemic shut down that dance venue, bike shop owner Chris Brown up offered his space. “The cool thing about this group is that we don’t do anything and people just show up,” he says.

WESTERN SLOPE ECLECTIC STYLE

Hoofers from as far away as Cedaredge and Montrose (and sometimes even Moab) converge on Brown Cycles for the chance to dance. Newcomers have discovered the group through Facebook or word of mouth. For Front Range transplant Bridget Hyde, it was the “Swinging in the Spokes” poster she spotted in Brown’s front window. She’s rarely missed a dance since.

John Unger dances with Vicki Tromburg. Photo by Freddy Witarsa.

Back in Denver, the 26-year-old was a fixture in the city’s thriving swing scene. Now, she mixes with an eclectic local group that spans college professors to chiropractors, Gen Z to Baby Boomers. “People do a little bit of everything here,” says Hyde. “There’s so much variety on the Western Slope.”

The Grand Junction gatherings are much smaller than those on the Front Range, but Hyde reports a bigger variety of music styles at Brown. It’s free to boogie at the bike shop, but Denver dancers plunk down $12 or more. In Grand Junction, Hyde gives impromptu private lessons when dancers ask for pointers. On the Front Range, she says, there might be 50 or 60 people at a lesson.

HANGAR DANCE ROARS INTO GRAND JUNCTION SEPT. 30

Hyde will teach the swing basics to dozens of beginners at a much-anticipated event: the Commemorative Air Force’s third annual hangar dance. “Keep ‘Em Flying” is a throwback to the 1940s, with live music by Grand Junction big band Swing City Express. Up to 300 vintageattired attendees are expected to descend on the Grand Junction Regional Airport on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. When they’re not swinging to the music, dancers will snap photos of classic cars and check out World War II bombers.

“Our success is sort of a revenge on the ‘cool kids’ table,’ because we always have something going on now.” — Bike shop owner and swing dancer Chris Brown

The Friday night dancers from Brown Cycles will turn out in full force for the hangar dance. Shop owner Chris Brown senses that their star is on the rise. “It’s easy to imagine that most of the group spent their high school careers without a date on Friday and Saturday nights,” he says. “Our success is sort of a revenge on the ‘cool kids’ table,’ because we always have something going on now.”

Learn more about the hangar dance at bit.ly/hangar_dance. Dances are held on the first and third Fridays from 6–9 p.m. Brown Cycles 549 Main St. Grand Junction

Originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of Spoke+Blossom.