MLX5 has come and gone...

And we're still recovering.

The organising team from the Melbourne Jazz Dance Association would like to thank all their volunteers and helpers for their hard work over the weekend (see this page for a list of suspects), as well as all the excellent friends - both new and old - who flew, walked, drove, bussed, trained or biked into town for the weekend.

We had an excellent weekend, and we hope we've sent you home smiling, exhausted and with an address book full of new friends.

If you have any feedback, questions, concerns, complaints, lost property, etc etc etc, please do let us know - you can contact us at any one of a number of email addresses, or grab us in person.

Thank you all for supporting MLX5 - the first we've run under the MJDA banner - and we hope you come back NEXT year for the 2006 Melbourne Lindy Exchange which will be on again in November.

MLX5: The Shoe String Exchange

This year the MLX gets back to basics.
All play and no work in this 100% social event program, and all on a shoe string budget. A dancer's shoe string, that is.
We're showing off the biggest swing scene in Australia with a long weekend of social dancing and socialising: nothing but fun for at least 72 hours.
The program showcases the best of Melbourne's bands in nightly dances, and you'll wear your dance shoes out at the late night parties, dancing to the finest tunes spun by local and visiting DJs.

So drop in for one of Australia's favourite swing dance events:

The Melbourne Lindy Exchange 2005: The Shoe String Exchange
Thursday 17th - Sunday 20th November 2005.

This year's organising team

Running an exchange is a massive task, and can't be done by just one person. This year Wendy Renehan, Dianne King, Brian Renehan, Darren Witt and Sam Carroll have formed the non-profit organisation the Melbourne Jazz Dance Association to run the exchange. To read more about the organising team, see this page.
But the team are making sure they rope in as many volunteers as possible: without whom no exchange would be possible!

History of Lindy Exchanges

The concept of lindy exchanges began in America, where groups of dancers would visit other local scenes for a long weekend of social dancing. The 'exchange' came when these visitors would host dancers in their own town: dancers would exchange hospitality, showing off their scenes and making new dancing friends (read this page for the story of an early lindy exchange).
While the American scenes could sustain purely social exchanges, Australia dancers had to overcome geography and expensive flights when they began 'exchanging'. The infrequency of visiting international teachers led to the perfect marriage of social dancing and workshops at camps and exchanges in Australia. And the birth of camps like the Lismore dance camp and the MLX in 2001.
It was not until 2003 that Australia had its very first 100% social dancing exchange at Canberrang, but in 2005 the calendar sees a major swing dance event nearly every month! In 2005 we offer you the first, entirely social Melbourne Lindy Exchange: MLX5:The Shoe String Exchange