This weekend I volunteered for the Art of Jazz festival held at the Distillery District. This year marks my third year in a row volunteering for this fun event, only this time my roles were less “work” related but actually more fun.

The first night I was scheduled to be at the box office at the tent. I arrive promptly at 6pm and waited for Julie to arrive as she was supposed to let me know what and where to go for the evening. As she came, it turns out that the box office role was already taken and I really wasn’t needed at that time. So she led me to the dance studio where a dance clinic was to be held that evening. She mentioned to me quietly that so far no tickets were actually sold for this event and that the instructors were already there so the clinics had to go forth no matter what.

So, rather than have an empty studio room go to a waste, she had a few of the volunteers go up to the studio and spectate the clinics. No participation was necessary – so she said. So the three of us went to the studio and waited for the clinic to begin. As time went by, we noticed more and more people coming in. We realized that these were actually volunteers of the event that Julie probably managed to gather together to fill up the room. The dance clinic consisted of Cuban dance, African dance, and tap dance, each one lasting a good 50 minutes.

At the end of it all, there were about 3 paid customers while the rest of us seemed to be either staff or volunteers of the event. Nonetheless the studio was packed – along with some photographers and journalists to document the evening. Although Julie had said no participation is needed, the first instructor, the Cuban instructor spoke little English and only Spanish. He was however filled with energy and enthusiasm that he did get the entire room participating in the event. He was comical, he was alive, and he was determined to get everybody up off of their feet.

It was fun. It was tiring. It was much better than the box office gig! The evening progressed from one dance clinic to the other and at the end of it all, it’s as if I came to the Jazz festival that evening for a free dance clinic on Cuban, African, and Tap dancing. The tap dancing however, could have been better had we heard the taps of the shoes. An oversight on the event planner, the studio owner prohibited people using their tap dance shoes as it would destroy the hardwood floors. A rubber mat was placed so that she was expecting people to tap dance on that. Hello? A rubber mat? Tap dance?

Well, no doubt the paying customers weren’t pleased as she asked us how she could disseminate her disappointment towards the organization of this event.

Nonetheless we were all coached by one of the finest tap dancers around, the famous Jimmy Slyde. He has danced with big bands of the likes of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and is one passionate guy when it comes to tap dancing.

He coached us, told us the importance of tap dance and how it doesn’t take anything away from other dance types, only uses it and extends it by adding the listening component to them.

Brush, shuffle, slap, slap, riff.

Those were the basics, and if you can do that, you have your beginnings to a great tap dancing career. Seems simple enough. Yet harder than you think. The riff part seems to be the hardest for most people however I managed to convince Jimmy that I could do it.

It was a great evening of fun for me as it was something I wouldn’t normally do.

The following day I was scheduled to be at the front of the house for a critics panel discussion. However upon arrival, I was told that the discussions have been cancelled. So, what better than to listen to the great John Hendricks tell stories, and swoon us with his vocals. It was truly a special moment, albeit really brief. I was there for no more than 20 minutes until I was called out to be a helper for none other than Carla Bley. This 71 year old is a jazz composer and pianist and one with attitude. I had the privilege of standing behind her throughout her entire concert making sure her piano sheet didn’t fly off the piano from the wind.

So with those under my belt, my two shifts went by just like that. This year proved to be more of a hands-on year where I actually did more participating than actual volunteer work. It was great, and that’s why I keep coming back to this event year after year.

Until of course, Luminato came to Toronto…