Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, I have rearranged the date of this event to Saturday 24th October.
The theme will be all things 1950s including music, food, drink, dancing and of course costumes!
Proceedings will kick of at ten minutes to eight.
Food and Drink
Similarly to my previous party, I will be serving food and drink from the period. As food goes, I will likely serve a simple salad along with Devilled Eggs and a variety of sandwiches, with jelly and ice cream for a dessert.
The usual selection of drinks will be available but I will again be providing three: Tom Collins, Daiquiri and Gin Punch. Please do bring your own drinks as well if you feel able!
Costume Contest
There will, again, be a costume contest - prizes are yet to be announced!
Music
The music playlist for the evening can be found here; if you would like to suggest any additional songs you can do so here.
The playlist includes smooth, easy listening songs from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Guy Mitchell and Hank Williams, along with a section of Latin music from artists such as Pérez Prado, Tito Puente and Yma Sumac. Of course, there is a section devoted to Rock 'n' Roll / Rhythm and blues with artists including Little Richard, Carl Perkins and Fats Domino.
Dancing!
Dancing will of course be taking place during the party! All three of the sections (Smooth, Latin and Rock 'n' Roll) have various dances you will be able to take part in.
For the Smooth section, the following dances will be useful:
For the Latin section, the following dances will be useful:
- Mambo (or Salsa)
- Cha-cha-cha
- Son cubano
For the Rock 'n' Roll section, the following dances will be useful:
Finally, I will be teaching a couple of fun sequence dances from the period before the party but they are easy enough to learn! We will take these dances at some point during the Smooth section.
The first is the Harry Lime Foxtrot, danced to the theme from The Third Man. It is a simple but fun Foxtrot sequence dance set to an awesome tune.
Theme from The Third Man by Anton Karas
Second is the Rock and Roll Waltz, danced to the eponymous song by Kay Starr. I first learned this dance at a 1950s swing dance event at Birmingham Jazz Festival. The song is about a teenager coming home to find her parents attempting to dance to one of her records, and the only dance they know is the Waltz!
Rock and Roll Waltz by Kay Starr
Invitations
PDF copies of the invitations are available below:
This document was updated at with more details about the upcoming event.
