Dancing to ragtime music, fathers two-stepped with daughters and grandmothers fox-trotted with grandsons at this weekend’s Great Connecticut JazzFest in Moodus.
With dancing lessons and bands from around the world providing continuous music in the festival’s five tents, organizers achieved their goal of exposing a variety of people to jazz.
The recent swing craze is credited with boosting festival attendance by 20 percent, to about 12,000, organizers said.
Natalie Lindstrom, a member of the Prim But Not Too Proper Ragtime Dancers, helped get festivalgoers involved by teaching them swing dances such as the Charleston on Friday and Saturday.
“People were still on the dance floor at midnight,” she said.
Fresh from their lessons, people were able to adapt their dance steps to different forms of jazz, since swing dance steps can easily transfer to Dixieland jazz, said Joel Silvestro, another member of the dance group.
The Connecticut Youth Workshop Band was another festival highlight. The band features children who learn to play alongside more accomplished musicians. While many schools are developing jazz bands, few student-musicians get to experience the thrill of performing before a genuine crowd.
“They finally realize how much fun it is when we’re up in front of an audience,” said Jeff Barnhart, a musician and teacher from Mystic who has participated in the Youth Workshop for five years.
“We were outside and it was a different atmosphere,” said Angela Orum, 15, a saxophone, clarinet, flute, and piano player who made her JazzFest debut this weekend.
The festival works to support jazz education through its Horns for Kids program, which donates musical instruments to schools. The donations, combined with the workshop, help promote jazz.
