Hah! ‘Sola’ in Spanish can be translated to ‘alone’. However, the UCF Swingknights’ SOLA stands for no such thing. It is an event that brings dancers together from the surrounding areas and attempts to encourage friendly competition between everyone from the scene.
Why is SOLA Awesome?
A bunch of reasons. For one thing, the competitions are free, so they’re super accessible to all dancers. They are also incredibly informal. I remember right before one of the competitions running around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for someone to partner with. There are no sign-up sheets, no numbers on anyone’s back; from the dancer’s perspective, everything is very off the cuff. Just walk up and start dancing.
Another thing unique to SOLA is that competitors are not allowed to dance with the same partner more than once. SOLA is the only event that I know of which does this and it really helps emphasize a feeling of community. The categories this year were: Medium-Slow, Medium-Fast, Ludicrous Speed, Jack n’ Jill, and Balboa.
Why was SOLA a Bummer?
Sadly, there was no Solo Charleston this year. I think that Solo Charleston really helps promote musicality. On top of that, I dance it almost neurotically; so when it’s missing from any competition I always feel somewhat slighted. Other than that, this event was pretty fantastical.