Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing Enters Week Three, Begins 7/12

The noise coming from Damrosch Park is the roar of dancing feet as Midsummer Night Swing draws to a thunderous close with Week Three. Afrobeat star Femi Kuti & The Positive Force takes over on July 12th, with the associate choreographer from FELA! sweating out the relentless beats and a pre-show DJ set by Jump n' Funk's Rich Medina with Sahr from the cast of FELA! On July 14th songstress Catherine Russell and Cat & The Hounds Swing Band takes over, with a bluesy, jazz-tinged night of swing. Then on July 15th the great ladies of disco will be featured when Loser's Lounge presents Ladies Night, so get ready to hustle. Change partners and dance on July 16th to New York's own La Excelencia, the sound of the next generation of salsa dura. On July 17th Swing closes out with its annual tribute to the late, great bandleader Illinois Jacquet featuring the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra and special guest, reedman Frank Wess. The Second Annual Ambassador Prize Dance Contest will happen in between their sets, with the top couples walking off with cash prizes.

Midsummer Night Swing is 15 dazzling nights of dancing to the world's most popular dance bands. There will also be a Kids' Day at Midsummer Night Swing sponsored by Target®, when children of all ages can learn the latest steps, for free, from top dance teacher Pierre Dulaine on July 17th.

This year marks the launch of Lincoln Center's summer-in-residence blogger, James Sims, who will be writing about all that summer at Lincoln Center offers. It also marks the inauguration of a new, permanent dance floor, new lighting and new space design done by the firm 513 Design. Decorative arches ring a dance floor that accommodates 1,200 dancers, and etched plexiglass railings provide attractive safety fences along the sidelines. Globe lights atop the arches change color and give the dance floor a Tivoli Gardens look - fanciful and summery, enhancing the mood on midsummer nights.

Midsummer Night Swing's evenings of dance are ticketed events. Each evening begins with a dance lesson at 6:30 pm for all levels with some of New York's foremost instructors. Lessons are included in the price of admission. Live music and dancing is at 7:30 pm until 10 pm. All events take place on an elevated dance floor in Damrosch Park.

Midsummer Night Swing is made possible in part by grants from Daisy and Paul Soros
and Charina Endowment Fund.

Tickets and passes are on sale now. Multi-evening Swing Passes are priced at $90 for six nights, and $160 for the full season. Tickets for individual evening events are $17.

The Swing box office is located in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway and 65th Street. Tickets for individual events and passes can be purchased in advance or on the night of the event at a box office in Damrosch Park. All major credit cards will be accepted. Tickets and passes can also be purchased through CenterCharge, 212-721-6500, or by logging on to www.MidsummerNightSwing.org. Twitter users can sign up to follow Midsummer Night Swing @lc_swing for ongoing news and updates.

Rain Policy Midsummer Night Swing makes every effort to present each event of the season, as long as unpredictable weather allows. Performance cancellations due to inclement weather will not be announced until 8:30 pm on show night. In the case of cancellation, ticket holders are entitled to exchange for another performance or a refund. Pass holders are not entitled to a refund. If a performance has begun and is cancelled after 8:30 pm, exchanges or refunds are not offered.

The schedule for Week Three:

Monday, July 12
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force Afrobeat, Afro House
Femi Kuti's late father, Fela Anikulapo Fela of Broadway FELA! fame, is credited with inventing the hypnotic Nigerian funk style known as Afrobeat. But while the son learned from the father, Femi Kuti and his band, Positive Force, have taken the genre further by mixing Afrobeat with contemporary soul-jazz nuances. Kuti's Lagos nightclub, Shrine, is an incubator for both this infectious music as well as for the fractious political atmosphere out of which this music is born.
Lesson: Maija Garcia, associate choreographer of FELA!
DJ: DJ Rich Medina (Jump n' Funk) with Sahr

Tuesday, July 13 DARK
Wednesday, July 14
Catherine Russell and Cat & the Hounds Swing Band Jazz, Small Band Swing, Blues
Catherine Russell is a jazz and blues singer with a voice that is dusky, feminine and soulful. The daughter of Louis Armstrong's longtime musical director, Luis Russell, and outstanding bassist and vocalist Carline Ray, her talent can stand comparison to her prodigiously-gifted forebears.
Russell has performed with such noted artists as Cyndi Lauper, Steely Dan and David Bowie. Her first two CDs - Cat and Sentimental Streak - won accolades from sources as diverse as The Wall Street Journal and France's Prix du Jazz Vocal 2008. Her newest CD, Inside This Heart of Mine, was just released.
Lesson: Joe Palmer
DJ: Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus
Sponsored by Capital One Bank ®

Thursday, July 15
Losers Lounge: "Ladies Night" Disco
The Losers Lounge is a collective of some of New York's best musicians and singers who perform the great songs of the 60s, 70s and 80s. According to The New York Times, they "honor pop stars from these eras and validate the zeal of music fans." When Losers Lounge performed a night of disco-era classics two years ago at Swing the dancers hustled themselves into the ground. Honoring the great women of disco - Donna Summer, Vicki Sue Robinson, Sister Sledge, Martha Wash, et al. - is guaranteed to bring on a boogie marathon.
Lesson: Maria Torres
DJ: Belinda Becker

Friday, July 16
La Excelencia Salsa Dura
New York's new La Excelencia plays sizzling salsa dura, as raw and tough as the city it calls home. The voices are loud, the percussion louder, the horns loudest of all. Their lyrics are about the struggle of life in the city. La Excelencia is, according to Latin Beat magazine, "the real thing", music to be celebrated, listened to, danced to.
Lesson: Carlos König
DJ: DJ Andreas

Saturday, July 17
Harlem Renaissance Orchestra with special guest Frank Wess: "A Tribute to Illinois Jacquet" Big Band Swing
Jump to the big band sound of the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, a group that was formed more than twenty years ago to revive the great sounds from the big band era. The band recognizes the masters of the big band sound: Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and many others, and plays their music like it was yesterday. The band's special guest will be Frank Wess, the great saxophonist, flutist and NEA Jazz Master who has played with Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Clark Terry, and, at age 88, is still going strong.
Lesson: Margaret Batiuchok
DJ: Larry Kang

On the 17th there will also be the 2nd Annual Ambassador Prize dance contest, honoring the late Frankie Manning, lindy hopper extraordinaire. Last year's winners - Eden Atencio and David Graybill - will be dancing in the contest to defend their crown!

Special Events for Midsummer Night Swing 2010:

Saturday, July 17 from 3:00 to 4:30pm
Kids' Day at Midsummer Night Swing
Free
Ballroom, Tango, Swing for kids
Kids can get in on the act with a special afternoon session (ideal for the entire family) with the famed dance teacher Pierre Dulaine, featured in the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom." He'll get youngsters off on the right foot, teaching them the basics of ballroom, tango and swing.
Sponsored by Target®

Boogie Nights! Special Event July 15
In conjunction with Midsummer Night Swing, the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center (YPLC) host an annual outdoor bash in Damrosch Park. Designed for young professionals in their twenties through early forties, YPLC's Boogie Nights! includes an open bar of specialty cocktails and gourmet hors d'oeuvres from neighborhood restaurants. Guests will raise a toast to summer at the home of Fashion Week, and experience one of the hottest social events in the city. For more information and tickets visit LincolnCenter.org/YPLC or email yplc@lincolncenter.org.

Midsummer Night Swing is made possible in part by grants from Daisy and Paul Soros and Charina Endowment Fund.

Additional support for Midsummer Night Swing 2010 is provided by Capital One Bank ®, Amtrak, Zabar's, Great Performers Circle, Chairman's Council, and Friends of Lincoln Center.

Operation of Lincoln Center's public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York.

Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc.

WNBC/WNJU are Official Broadcast Partners of Lincoln Center, Inc.

Continental Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center, Inc.

MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc.

"Summer at Lincoln Center" is sponsored by Diet Pepsi and The Wall Street Journal.

Midsummer Night Swing is a presentation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. (LPCA), which serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of over 400 events annually, LCPA's programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors and Live From Lincoln Center. In addition, LCPA is leading a series of major capital projects on behalf of the resident organizations across the campus.

Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. Braille and large-type programs are available for selected Lincoln Center concerts. Wheelchair seating and assisted hearing devices are available at all concert halls and theaters. For further information or to receive a Lincoln Center accessibility guide, call 212-875-5375.

Programs and artists subject to change.

For information and program updates for Midsummer Night Swing visit MidsummerNightSwing.org or call 212-875-5766, or follow on Twitter @lc_swing for ongoing news and updates.