Swing Fling

Benny Goodman’s come back in all his clarinet-playing glory, which proves that good dance music has at least as many lives as a cat.

Like their grandparents before them, North Idaho’s teenagers are swinging with a vengeance to big band sounds. Some are even swinging with their grandparents.

They’re flying, twisting, straddling and flipping. They’re screaming and laughing.

“It’s fast, energetic, you get thrown around,” says Molly Hearn, a Lake City High junior who spins with such force around her partner, Zach Mathers, that her blonde curls fly up like an open parasol.

She’s traded saddle shoes for sneakers and a full skirt for jeans. But she moves to the energizing music of the Brian Setzer Orchestra the same way her grandmother jitterbugged to Louis Prima 50 years ago.

“Adults are good at the footwork. The kids just want to go into the air,” says Marcia Torgerson, a Coeur d’Alene dance teacher and owner of the Creative Impact dance studio.

Since last fall, 50 kids have flocked to Marcia’s swing lessons. High schools in Post Falls, Rathdrum and Coeur d’Alene are scheduling student swing dances. Everyone wants to try the high-energy dance floor romp that The Gap khaki commercial blasted back into popularity a few years ago.

“I was in high school in the ‘80s and we just stood around and bounced (at dances),” Marcia says. Her middle-generation envy probably isn’t unique. “Swing has that whole element of teamwork and trust.”

Trust, for sure. Katrina Mathers, 17, strategically persuaded her prom date, Bryon Scharenberg, 17, to take swing lessons with her. He obviously liked her and wasn’t about to smash her face into the floor during a throw.

She confidently entrusts herself to his dancing whims now, allowing him to flip her backward, pull her through his straddled legs and push her up toward the ceiling.

Swing has its risks, which might be one reason the younger set is so attracted to it.

“I tried a `round the world,”’ says gutsy Molly, referring to a move in which the man whips his partner’s legs, then her head around his waist. “I hit the guy in the leg and got a bloody nose.”

Something her grandmother probably saw coming.

Speak up

If you turn pale and sweaty when it’s your turn to speak in front of the class, you might be interested in the Kootenai/Shoshone County 4-H youth leadership program.

The Post Falls Toastmasters Club 7562 is in charge this year and will teach kids ages 12-18 some tricks to public speaking, group discussions and meetings. Couldn’t we all use those?

The eight-week program starts April 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Kootenai Extension Office, 106 E. Dalton Ave., in Coeur d’Alene. It’s free, but class size is limited so register early. Call 667-6426 for details.

Making money

Every organization needs money for good causes, but there are just so many sources of the green stuff. So some groups never get off the ground while others flourish.

There are tricks to good fund-raising and the people behind Kootenai Medical Center’s Festival of Trees know them all.

KMC and Festival of Trees organizers from other towns will share their secrets with anyone interested March 25-27 at Templin’s Best Western Resort in Post Falls.

Go Friday, March 26, for $50 or all three days for $105 including meals. Sometimes you have to spend money to make it. Call 666-1820 for details.

Spring training March sun means more outdoor time and less dessert at my house. Important events like Coeur d’Alene’s Spring Dash are approaching fast.