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What is Gypsy House Party?

The Idea: Gypsy House Party is the creation of Jerry Warwick along with the help of his good friends, Tina Davis and Steven Watkins. During many dance weekends they have had the opportunity to share the late night DJing spots and have always enjoyed being able to ‘loosen’ the rules of what is ‘correct’ music for a “Blues” / ”Lindy” / ”Soul” event. They and the dancers always seem to enjoy it immensely.

So, the concept was born, a weekend where the rules are intentionally bent to provide the dancers with great dance music, be it blues, lindy, soul, R&B, funk, whatever. If it makes the dancers move, then it will probably be played.

In the blues/lindyhop world these get togethers are usually called “House Parties”. Invite all your friends, move back all the furniture, and have a heck of a good time. But, we wanted to do it in a larger format.

The DJ’s: The gypsies (Jerry, Tina and Steven) have added several DJs to round out the mix:

• Steven Watkins, Dr Feelgood, need I say more?
• Tina Davis, Sweet T, Tina Diva. Yummy!
• Loreto “Lo” Agdinaoay, DJ extraordinaire from Cleveland
• Heather Adams, she can throw down with the big boys!
• Jerry Warwick
  
  Jered Morin, who was originally slated to be a DJ has moved to Europe to join the foreign legion and will not be able to make it this year. We wish him well.

These are the only DJ’s for the whole weekend. 5 DJ’s - 32 hours of music. NO Filler DJ’s! If you miss a single minute, you may miss the best set of the weekend.

The Music: Each night will have a musical theme. Where the DJs will have normal sets until 1am and then will all gather together to play as a collective group, “Trading 1’s”, bouncing music off of each other and bending the rules.

• Friday - Swing / Lindy
• Saturday - Blues
• Sunday - Soul

The Venue: The gypsies needed a venue with a setup that would allow for multiple rooms like a ‘house’? A big dance floor, a big living room, and best of all, a big bar. Sons of Hermann in Dallas is just such a place. So, for the weekend of November 11-13, it will become your home away from home. (Unfortunately, we haven’t figured out how to sleep there....yet)

The Parties: To keep with the house party idea, each night will have a ‘party’ theme and we encourage you to dress up if you desire. Remember when putting together your costumes, you still might want to dance, so plan accordingly. Here are the list of themes:

• Friday Night - “Mad Men Swing” - Inspired by the TV show, think 60’s, Rat Pack and Martinis.
• Saturday Night - “Gypsy / Steampunk Blues” - rogues, scoundrels, coin scarves, belly dancers
  We have added Steampunk to the mix also. Don’t know what that is, use the Googles.
• Sunday Night - ”Superhero Soul Sunday” - Superheroes, Crimefighters, Villians. If you come as
  a sidekick, someone should come as your main character. No Pepper Potts without an Ironman.

The Superhero Routine Workshop: Kathy along with Melissa Johnson have once again come up with a choreographed routine for the weekend which will be performed on Sunday night. This one is Superhero themed and from what I have seen, will be lots of fun. The workshop to teach the routine is planned for Saturday afternoon at 4pm.

The Living Room: Weekend pass holders will also have access to “The Living Room” where you can relax and cool off. There will even be movies playing on the big screen for your enjoyment. On Sunday afternoon we will be showing the Dallas Cowboy football game.

The Games: There are lots of things to see and do around Dallas, but if you just want to hang out around the ‘house’ there will be lots of stuff going on at Gypsy. We had lots of fun with the games last year and we will do something like it again this year. Go to the Games page for all the information.

The Bar: Happy hours during the afternoons to socialize with your friends while the DJ’s spin their magic for your listening pleasure. There will be food for purchase and it will be a great way to start the evening. The kitchen will be open for food purchases.

The Weekend Pass: Purchasing a weekend pass will get you several things in addition to a weekend of dancing.

• Three nights of Dancing from 8pm - 4am.
• Three drink coupons to be used during the Happy Hours (4pm-8pm) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, including the Dallas Cowboy Game.
• Games tournaments. Compete for prizes.
• Access to the “Living Room” where dancers can relax, watch a movie, play some games, watch the Cowboy game on the big screen and even have changing rooms for clothing / costume changes.

Day Passes: Individual day passes will be available for Gypsy House Party for those who can’t attend the whole weekend. Each day pass will get you into all of the festivities for that day.

Housing: Request to be housed are closed.  If you prefer a hotel, I have always found the best hotel rates thru Hotwire.com or Hotels.com. You will want to stay near downtown since the venue is there. Also, if you are a local dancer and would like to open up your home to some cool out of town gypsies, let us know by indicating you would like to house people on the registration page.

Registration: Online registration is CLOSED as of Nov 10th
You may still purchase weekend passes and daily passes at the door.

Weekend Pass Price - $70
Day Passes (includes daytime activities also) - $25 per day
Late Night Dances (after midnight) - $5

Sponsored, in part, by: Improving Enterprises www.improvingenterprises.com