This Halloween weekend, Happy Holler will host an eccentrically creepy crew.
Breakdancing puppets and musicians disguised as dead birds will bring the spirit of the spooky holiday to Relix Variety Theatre for “Halloswing,” a Christian Lange production. Despite the décor of the venue and the costuming of the performers and attendees, Halloswing is meant to be anything but frightening or unwelcoming.
Christian Lange, member of Swingbooty and founder of “Halloswing,” plans to continue the recent trend of community building in North Knoxville, especially in the Happy Holler area. By integrating different types of music, such as hip hop and hot jazz, with different mediums of expression, including flow art and painting, Lange hopes “Hallowswing” will be an inclusive event for all ages and tastes.
“I think the hot jazz movement is important, but I really think what’s even more important is the community that we are building altogether,” Lange said. “The music (VolatomiX Breakdancers) do is completely different, yet somehow or another magically it all falls together.”
Benjamin Hoskins, co-host of Halloswing, grew up in Knoxville and is excited about getting involved in the recent growth of a local artistic community in the city.
“The whole point of the thing is so my friends can come, but then my parents can also come and everyone have a great time and enjoy themselves,” Hoskins said.
The night will start with painters getting a head start on their work before the music starts so that incoming guests will have something to watch and pass the time before dance begins. To officially kick-start the performance, artist Anthony Howard will read some spoken word written specially for the event.
According to Hoskins, Howard’s piece is meant “to get everybody in the right mindset to receive the rest of the evening, to present our message and what we’re all about. We’re encouraging people as a call to action to really enjoy themselves.”
The night’s music will begin with Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego, a hot jazz band featuring heavy Latin influences that often incorporates other styles such as bolsa and flamenco into their performances. Swingbooty, whose members will perform dressed as dead birds, will take over for the second half of the night, with a short intermission featuring a performance from the VolatomiX Breakdancers.
Despite common misconceptions of a certain degree of formality inherent in swing music, Hoskins emphasized the classy-yet-carefree atmosphere of the event.
“We’re really pushing down that wall and showing people that it can be really hip and cool to do this,” Hoskins said.
Helping to break down the wall are the VolatomiX, an on-and-off UT affiliated breakdancing group that has performed at various local events for the past decade. Despite being veterans to the Knoxville dance scene, the VolatomiX have never done an event like Halloswing before. Member Michael Ellison, junior in biological sciences, described the acting element involved in the group’s upcoming performance, which even includes costumes.
“This is the first year that we’ve had a theme to most of our dances,” Ellison said. “Most break dance performances are just hip-hop dance, but this year we specifically sought out music that had a creepier vibe to it.”
The theme of the 15-minute set will be “Puppets vs. Robots” and features different dance styles for each opposing faction, with puppets incorporating more of a waving base and popping, robotic motions for the robots. Ellison will be the leader of the puppets while other member Dustin Peek, freshman in accounting will head the robots.
“The robots in general are more aggression than fearful, but it’s definitely got a very nice creepy vibe all the same,” Peek said. “They (puppets and robots) flow together pretty well.”
Despite the large variation in dance styles featured at the event, Lange assures that the performance will be a cohesive effort to keep attendees entertained and dancing.
“The audience is performing with the band. The artists are performing with everybody else,” Lange said. “The live artists are going to be producing and creating their work, and a lot of them tell me that they see themselves akin to jamming with the other performers. Everybody is jamming together, but working in their own medium.”
“Halloswing” will be at Relix Variety Theatre on Friday night from 8-11:30 p.m. The show will be for anyone 18 and over and admission is $7. The first 100 people to attend will receive free flow toys and Central Flats and Taps has offered 25 percent off appetizers to patrons who mention the code word “Halloswing.”
