Cumberland Shuffle is proud to announce that our videographer this year and professional filmmaker Andrew Rozario, will be teaming up with Jon Tigert to produce Nashville's contribution to the "I Charleston the World" project at Cumberland Shuffle!

We're excited to support this project because Andrew and Jon really have a clear vision--they're thinking BIG. You may have seen Andrew's similar project for Lindy Focus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsXBvyyLG7s
For the I Charleston Nashville project, the final shot is the skyline of Nashville and the entire city will seem to be dancing, infected by the irresistible joy of swing. What better way to represent dancing in Nashville? 

Time for this project will be listed on our official event schedule, and more information will be available at the event from Andrew and Jon directly. Are you interested in participating? It will only take an hour of your time and talent to help make "I Charleston Nashville" a reality! Keep an eye out for more details, and in the meantime, you can register for your Cumberland Shuffle pass to make sure that you don't miss out on any of the fun we have planned!

Not familiar with the I Charleston the World project? Check out the site: www.icharlestontheworld.com

We've got more registration updates for y'all!

Since our last registration update, the leaders have stepped up! While we are still looking for more leaders to register and keep the ratios balanced, there are currently 5 registration spots open for followers before we need to temporarily close follower registration again. Followers, get a leader to register with you, and maybe we won't even have to worry about it!

Of course, like always, weekend passes are overall limited. There are currently only 13 passes left at the current price of $99, and after that, registration goes up to $109 for the last 50 passes (which, let's be honest, is still pretty darn cheap for everything you'll be getting!) For those who have asked, mark it on your calendars--dance pass registration will open on Thursday, February 28, and we will only have 75 total dance passes available for the price of $49.

Those who register for the weekend can select to be added to our list for local housing. Unfortunately, this year, spots are very limited, and we cannot guarantee local housing to everyone. We'll try our best to put everyone somewhere, of course! But we've also prepared for the chance that we won't be able to host everyone--just check out our Lodging page!

That's right, Cumberland Shuffle has secured some great rates for hotels in the area, all within 6 miles of the dancing activity at Avenue 2 Dance Studio. Want to make sure you have space to stretch out, or just want to make sure you get a hot shower? Grab a couple friends and book a room today--splitting the cost will make it extra cheap! Booking a hotel room is also a great way to make Cumberland Shuffle feel even more like the dance vacation you want it to be.

With just over a month left until the old-timeyest dance event begins in Nashville, we want to make sure you're not missing out on any of the details. Have questions for us? Go ahead and shoot us a message using our Contact form!

You know by now that we couldn't run Cumberland Shuffle without our sponsors, but did you know that we hand-pick those sponsors to find the best relationships possible for us, our sponsors, and our attendees?

That's why we're proud to announce that one of our sponsors for Cumberland Shuffle this year is none other than REMIX VINTAGE SHOES! That's right, the classiest shoes on the dance floor are a part of the old-timeyest dance event in Nashville!

Re-mix Vintage Shoes are faithful reproductions of designs from the 1920’s through the 1940’s, and they are renowned for their style, comfort, and danceability. Whether you're looking for a pair of hand-tooled round toe pumps, or a classic cap-toe oxford, you'll find a quality pair from Re-mix. To top it off, their personal attention in customer service is excellent. See their full range of products at their website: www.remixvintageshoes.com

We're partial to the blue Bloomsbury slingbacks, shown at left, but we know everyone has their favorites. Want a chance to win a gift certificate to use to get your very own dreamy pair of Re-Mix shoes? Then I guess you'll want to register and enter our Vintage Dress contest on Saturday night! 

We have some absolutely fantastic sponsors that help us to put on Cumberland Shuffle every year, and the Nevermore Jazz Ball in St. Louis is one of them!

Cumberland Shuffle and Nevermore Jazz Ball have a great rapport--attendees support both events, both events feature great live music and top-notch instruction, and they're the best places in the world to learn dances like St. Louis Shag or Peabody, that you probably won't learn anywhere else!

This year's Nevermore Jazz Ball is November 7-10, 2013, in St. Louis, MO (the home of St. Louis Shag!) The event will have plenty of the things that have driven dancers there in the past--history talks (and walks), the famous Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, and all the culture of St. Louis--as well as some new surprises from the team that runs NJB. There are two things you can be sure of: it will be a swell time, and you'll want to be there!

Mark the dates for Nevermore Jazz Ball on your calendar, and keep an eye on their website: www.nevermorejazzball.com

To get your chance to win free passes to the Nevermore Jazz Ball, to meet some of the NJB team, and to get a head start on learning St. Louis Shag, you'll want to go register for Cumberland Shuffle, too. So go Register already!

Cumberland Shuffle wouldn't be possible without the sponsors that help to put it on. So, this week, we honor our lovely sponsors by drawing attention to them!

The whole point, by the way, is for Cumberland Shuffle fans and attendees to get to know a little bit more about these great companies and events. So make sure to stop by the Sponsors page on your way to registering!

Our nearest sponsor is the fantastic Down South Camp Meeting, put on by the Down South Swing crew in Atlanta, GA. They always put together a great time, and this year's event is no exception! Down South Swing Camp in 2013 features classes by Naomi Uyama & Peter Strom, and Jenna Stworzyjanek & Carl Nelson, as well as special electives in (old-timey!) Cakewalk and Fancy Hair, and even more topics! Bouncehouse from Tallahassee, FL will play music, and all this (3 nights of parties, 2 days of classes, and more southern hospitality than you can shake a stick at!) goes on in the lovely early summer weather of Atlanta.

Down South Camp Meeting runs from May 31-June 2 and registration is open now, so...

"Git on as fast as you can
You've heard the sermon sublime
Down south camp meetin' time!"
www.downsouthcampmeeting.com

Attendees of last year's Cumberland Shuffle may remember the amazing sight of everyone all dressed up in vintage-esque garb, dancing the whole of Saturday night away to live music. They might also remember the crowd-chosen winners of our Vintage Contest that night, Michael Quisao and Annabel Quisao née Truesdell, and the piles of loot they walked away with just for dressing well!

This year, YOU could be one of the lucky ones to walk away with a pile of loot, because we're bringing back the Vintage Dress contest! Here's how it works: Saturday night, March 30, break out your vintage (or reproduction vintage) best. We're looking for looks spanning the 1920s-1940s, but you'll still look great if you put together a fantastic Edwardian look, or only have a 50s pinup look to pull out!

Those who wish to be entered in the Vintage Dress contest will submit their names at the registration desk before 10PM on Saturday night. The list of entrants will then be gathered and set up in a poll, for all other Cumberland Shuffle attendees to vote on. Voting will be open on Saturday night from 10PM-midnight. It's purely a majority decision, and winners will be announced just after midnight on Saturday (technically Sunday).

Why do you want to enter? Because many of our vendors and sponsors have contributed prizes to be given away! You could win everything from some gorgeous accessories, to a gift certificate for Remix Vintage, to passes for sponsor events!

Start preparing now! And don't forget to Register for the event so that you don't miss out! 

The exciting news just keeps coming, and we're still a month and a half away from the weekend of Cumberland Shuffle! If you weren't sure when to register, the answer is...NOW!

Back for another year, the fabulous Emily Schuhmann will be teaching a class on Vintage Hairstyling for ladies (and any gentlemen who are curious about pin curls or victory rolls, too)! You can read up on Emily a bit more on our Vendors page, where she is also listed. For those interested, Emily will have a limited number of spots available for personal styling over the weekend. be sure to Contact Us if you'd like to book her!

This class will be perfect preparation for those who are serious about our Vintage Dress contest on Saturday night, so make sure you don't miss out! Check out the class details:

Vintage Hairstyling Intro for Dancing Dames and Daring Divas
Bring your combs, hairspray, and bobby pins because this fun and humor-filled workshop will introduce you to the basics of  how to identify style, part, shape, curl, and ‘brush in’ looks from the 1940’s-Oh, and how to match those to your dance or day outfits. We will discuss best methods to curling, and a few modern/realistic ways to fake a curl that take 15 minutes or less. We will focus on how to brush your curls into a sculptured and vintage-worthy style, how to secure your style while minimizing the visible bobby pins, and how to ‘free’ create-or modify styles to suite your face shape. Best of all—this workshop has a DIY focus. No more watching someone effortless pinning her hair during the workshop only to experience an at-home bobby pin mayhem or frizzy woes when you try to woo your locks into holding a style: This workshop is hands-on and you will leave with a fully or (depending on your learning curve) partial vintage style that compliments your face and gives you a good base for future experimentation. If that wasn’t enough-Saturday night you have somewhere to show of your fabulous vintage style!!

Bring to class:
Bobby Pins, preferably in your hair color (please don’t bring the open kind or the super large kind- whatever you local CVS or Walgreens has will be fine. If you want to be Sally on the Spot you can pick up a tin of small pins at your local Sally’s in your hair color as well
Any flowers, scarves, or hats you wish to wear Saturday night
Curl or set your hair (tutorial link)

Your life will be easier if you do this, you face will be surrounded by a beautiful layer of fluffy goodness, and you will set yourself up for a successful workshop. If you don’t want to try this: feel free to use a curling iron and pin the curls down to your head prior to the workshop.


We're excited to have Emily on board along with our other vendors. And we're even more excited to see a whole bunch of well-dressed, wo

Hey there, Cumberland Shuffle fans! Just a little update on registration for this year's event...

As you may or may not know, we limit the number of full weekend registrations for Cumberland Shuffle in order to ensure that our lovely instructors are not overwhelmed by class sizes, and to help make sure that you get the most out of classes! We are limiting full weekend passes this year to 100 sold. As of this posting, there are just over 60 left, so make sure you register as soon as you can and get yours!

BUT WAIT--that's not all the news we have about registration! In addition to limiting the number of full weekend registrations, we also keep a close eye on the leader/follower balance, to ensure that classes (and the weekend) are as fair as we can make them. We don't want to leave anyone out of the weekend, but we also don't want anyone to feel left out during the weekend!

As of this posting, there is ONE follower registration spot left until we must temporarily freeze follower registrations. When that happens, followers will not be allowed to register unless they register with a lead. How can you keep this from happening, and keep the registrations flowing? Simple! Leaders, show up in force and register now, to make sure that you get to see and dance with all your favorite followers over the weekend. Followers, you're doing a great job with your own registration, but you might need to help convince your favorite leaders to sign up so that you get a chance to, too!

With all that will be going on during Cumberland Shuffle weekend, we know you don't want to miss out. Better get your registrations in while you can!

We just keep making this last year of Cumberland Shuffle better and better, and our next announcement is no exception to that rule!

Those of you who enjoy shopping will be happy to hear we've got the fabulous Michelle Morrison coming to set up shop with us for the whole weekend of Cumberland Shuffle! You might recognize her from her work at Lindy Focus, or as another one of those fabulously-outfitted dancers roaming around. She's just one of our several vendors we'll be featuring on-site over the whole weekend!

Michelle will be setting up a one-stop shop featuring a Vintage Boutique, Clothing Consignment, and Shop Shop! More info on each is below.

Vintage Boutique:
From now until event time, we will be hunting down vintage garments of all kinds and looking for some special finds in period wear.  There will be both women's and men's clothing & accessories represented at VERY reasonable prices....And we may even have a sweet vintage suitcase or two for you to take all your finds home in!

Clothing Consignment:
Got a few extra garments collecting dust in your closet?  Think that someone else may appreciate them more?  Well bring a few of them with you Cumberland Shuffle, sell it to your fellow dancers, and make some quick $$!!

How it works:

Timing is key...if you can check in your items on Friday night, you will have a better chance of selling things throughout the weekend.  Check in time takes only a few minutes.
Please bring only clean & wearable vintage or dance-appropriate garments with you to consign. Strict 10 ITEM LIMIT per consignor so bring only your best! Stop by the boutique after you check in and we will get your items tagged, hung up, & looking good.  You set the price and if it sells, you get 70% in cash...or 80% in store credit! 
The boutique will be open daily during the entire event.  You can drop off or pick up clothing at any time during boutique hours.  Any items consigned and not claimed after the event, will be considered donation for local charity.  

What we can accept:
*Formal & Casual Dresses (Social Dance Appropriate)
*Skirts
*Ladies & Men's Pants & Tops
*Ladies & Men's Vintage or Gently Used Dance Shoes
*Coats
*Some accessories (Hats, gloves, scarves, unused hosiery, and vintage jewelry)

Shoe Shop:
Ready to turn those favorite kicks into dance shoes??  The boutique will also offer a sole sueding service.  $15 per pair for high quality suede and professional strength cobblers adhesive.  Please only bring those shoes you are NOT wanting to wear during the weekend to suede...the adhesive needs ample time to cure for best results.  Same day service available in most cases.  Too much dancing left you with some busted kicks? No worries! Minor repairs to existing shoes also available!

Excited yet? Check out the rest of our Vendors for the weekend, go snag one of the , and make sure to bring some spending money when you come down!

Exciting news: class topics for Cumberland Shuffle 2013 have been announced! Between our four instructors, you'll learn everything from Black Bottom to St. Louis Shag. We're going to stuff your brains FULL of new (old) dances, so get ready!

You can check out the full list of class topics on the Classes page. More information on class schedule, and even some example videos, will be released as we get nearer to the event, so be sure to keep an eye out!

Don't forget, Cumberland Shuffle limits the number of full passes we sell in order to keep class sizes relatively manageable. As of this blog post, there are fewer than 70 full weekend passes (total) available. Make sure you don't miss out on all these great classes and the rest of the weekend's fun by registering now!