Created: March 11 2013

MADjam 2013 Review and Group Placements

MADjam 2013 (Mid Atlantic Dance Jam) was an amazing weekend of West Coast Swing and Hustle in the Washington DC / Virginia area. There were approximately 1500 people in attendance and it had the feeling of a rock concert, complete with full purple lighting effects and fog machine. There were more professionals on staff at this event than I've ever seen at any other dance event. If you like taking workshops, this event offers more choices than almost any other event on this side of the country.

West Coast Swing and Hustle Worlds Come Together

Erik and Anna at MADjam (West Coast Swing and Hustle event) One of my own personal highlights was that I spent much of Friday night in the main West Coast Swing room and most of Saturday night in the Hustle room. It was a luxury to be able to enjoy both of the dances that I love. It allowed me to burn off much off my dance energy in different ways. MADjam is one of the few events that is able to sustain a true Hustle room with a genuine mix of club music, hustle music and some R&B. Best of all, I was able to connect with two different worlds of social dancing, West Coast Swing and Hustle.

Trading Tables for Rock Stars

event tables There are no tables at this event. There only bleachers. That means for group organizers, like me, it's a little challenging to create a "home base" for my group. The lack of tables also changes the social dynamics of the room, one feels compelled to either dance or be socially buzzing around at all times. For the younger generation of dancers, this is awesome - who wants to sit when you can either dance or say a micro-hello to everyone in the "dance world". But sometimes you want to sit down and chat, or take a break without feeling like you have to cross a highway of people to get back to the dance floor. The lack of tables changes things. I wouldn't recommend it for every event, but it sure works for this event which thrives from energy on the dance floor and makes people feel like they're living the life of rock star for the weekend.

Our Group

MADjam 2013 - Group Picture Our group ranged from dancers who took workshops all weekend long to highly competitive Jack & Jil'ers. Sometimes I'd see 3 or 4 of them together, but mostly they were swimming in a vast sea of other dancers from around the country. Our group picture shows how challenging it was to gather all the 18 dancers that attended from our community.