Kris Swearingen owns a pair of feet that live to dance.
“I always joke about it, but it’s somewhat the truth,” Swearingen said of his near-addiction to dancing.
Dancing is similar to jogging. Once the habit is formed, it needs to be fed.
“I went over a month (without dancing),” he said. “I was almost in pain. Once it gets in your blood, it’s there.”
It’s a feeling he’s had since he was a senior in high school, when the senior production was a dance-filled musical, “West Side Story.”
Since then, he taken and taught dance, mostly West Coast Swing, and travels out of state every month or so to compete in dance contests wherever he can find them — San Diego, Tulsa, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Milwaukee, for example.
“Just all over the place,” Swearingen said of his travels. “I went to my first event February 2007 in Tulsa, took a lesson from one of the top dancers in the world, and it just kind of blossomed from there.”
He’s often placed in the top three in the national contests, despite the relatively short time he’s been involved. He has entered in four categories and is preparing now to expand that to five. He described the differences in the categories:
• “Jack and Jill:” Dancers are paired randomly, with dance music randomly selected;
• “Strictly Swing:” Dancers choose their partners, but music remains random;
• “Pro-Am:” Dance teachers, such as Swearingen, dance with their novice partners to music selected by the dancers;
• “Rising Star:” At least 60 percent Swing, with dancers wearing costumes and allowed more flexibility in moves, lifts, and aerials.
Swearingen and his partner of about one year, Hannah Bechthold of Kansas City, Mo., are preparing to compete in the “Showcase” category, which involves lifts and a choreographed routine that meets requirements. They began competing as a pair about one year ago, after a contest in San Diego.
“This is actually the first routine we did,” he said.
A friend and mentor of Swearingen from Wisconsin lent a hand in the choreography.
“He gave us kind of a skeleton routine that we could add to as we see fit,” he said.
The pair often dance together in Kansas City’s jazz district, where live bands and spacious dance floors allow them the freedom to enjoy West Coast Swing dancing.
“West Coast Swing is a much more fluid, much more flowing kind of swing,” Swearingen said. “... West Coast is a momentum-type dance. Once you get going, you keep going. It’s a lot of stretch, and breathe, release.”
The dance is based on the classic “Lindy Hop,” an outgrowth of the Charleston and popular in the 1920s and 1930s. It reportedly was named for aviator Charles Lindbergh.
West Coast Swing steps fit into many styles of music, from hip-hop and rap to blues and jazz.
“It’s all got the same core, like walks and triple steps, built into it,” he said. “Just the look, feel is totally different.”
He finds that dance affects his life, in general.
“It’s weird for me to kind of break that habit... I’ll generally walk like I’m doing West Coast Swing,” he said. “It’s built into me. It’s a natural position for your body.”
Swearingen had to create his own way to satisfy the urge to dance in Emporia. He found help in the form of a new friend, Wendy Casebier, whom he met in Emporia. They had more in common than they expected.
Both are from Overland Park and both are students at Emporia State University. They’d even taken dance lessons at the same studio in the Kansas City area.
“We both danced at the same studio, but at different times,” he said, explaining why it took so long for the pair’s paths to cross.
Club meetings initially were held at Casebier’s workplace, My Place, Too, a downtown Emporia bar that catered to young adults.
“The first couple of weeks, I was the only guy there, and there were about 10 girls,” Swearingen said.
As other men joined the group, a larger venue was needed and organizers worked to get the dance club status at ESU as a Recognized Student Organization, eligible to use university facilities.
Dancers from the university and the area — or much farther out — now meet on Wednesdays at the Colonial Ballroom in the Memorial Union at ESU. Attendance ranges “anywhere from 10 people to 40 to 60 people,” he said.
A high school sophomore from Gardner frequently has come to Emporia to dance.
“Her mother would drive her down to dance with us,” Swearingen said.
Dance club events are open to the public, with lessons for beginners from 7 to 8 p,.m., and dancing from 8 to 9 or 9:30 p.m.
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