Shakin’ that ass! Swing Night in Wageningen

I eyed the posters for a few months before I felt brave enough to go. “Swing Night” in Wageningen: Promising hits of the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and naughties.

With the S & M stiletto on the poster conjuring up all other kinds of “swing”-related thoughts, I decided I need reinforcements. So I gathered the troops and we headed towards Hof van Wageningen to check it out.

We got there at 22:30, just around the time the place was starting to fill up. The hall was not very atmospheric. In fact, it brought back awkward memories of sweaty high-school dances under a chipped mirror ball and the beady eye of the gym teacher. The music was the same anyway. So we headed to the bar and see what happens.

Eventually the lights were dimmed and some of the braver ladies took to the floor. As usual, most of the men still hung around the bar, scoping, sipping and generally trying to look uninterested. But not even they could not resist the old favourites. And neither could we.

The night turned out to be fabulous fun. The average age of the crowd was early thirties, although a few much younger (and much older) people also threw their hands in the air (like they just don’t care). From Beach Boys to Beyonce, Meatloaf to Mika, ABBA to Rihanna, if you knew the words to a song, chances are they played it.

Swing Night is a lot of fun if you want to have a laugh, let your hair down and meet new people. The dance floor is big enough to show off your best Michael Jackson moves, but small enough to not feel like an idiot while doing it. The crowd is also quite international with a good mix of hotel guests, international students and Dutch partygoers thrown into the mix.

The overall vibe was friendly and relaxed. Of course some serious flirting was going on, but in general the attention seemed welcome and the interest mutual. It’s not a complete meat-market, but large groups of ladies getting down does merit some attention it seems.

However, it did irritate us that we could not cash in our unused bar tokens when we left. We were told to keep them until next time (which in my mind is blackmail). But we were in such a merry mood we didn’t even argue.
All in all, Swing Night in Wageningen can be loads of fun. It happens once a month (except in the summer months) and a flood of posters around town will tell when it’s coming up again. Check out http://www.swingnight.nl/#wageningen

I will definitely go again, since I have to spend my remaining tokens anyway. And I actually had a really good time. Only next time I’ll avoid that evil last biertje that cast me off my bike on the way home.