The Huntsville Swing Dance Society got it's start in 1995 when Paul Wieland and a few friends started getting together to swing dance. He started it with some of the dancers gathered at a drug store downtown that served ice cream sodas. At that time, HSDS held a dance every few months. Al and Alta Bogush joined in 2000 and, (among helping with many other things), have kept records of HSDS events, year after year.

In 2001, Steve and Lynne Edmondson moved to Huntsville. They soon found Paul and his dedicated group of swing dancers. Steve worked with Paul to increase the frequency of dances, and with help from many others, Steve and Paul started having monthly dances. Unlike other dance events in Huntsville, these dances were devoted strictly swing. They started promoting the dances to try to attract enough participants to be able to bring in live swing bands instead of using DJ'd music. Steve and Lynne also offered swing dance lessons, including Lindy Hop; something new to the Huntsville area. The proceeds from the lessons helped to pay for the bands. With the help of Shirley and Bob, they also promoted swing dancing in Huntsville by giving dance demonstrations at community events such as Panapoly.

Steve and Lynne also took the next big step of incorporating HSDS as a state non-profit organization. It was this incorporation that allows HSDS to do many of the modern things it accomplishes today. For over half a decade Steve and Lynne ran HSDS. During this time, Bob and Shirley as well as Carolyn assisted in HSDS's running.

In Roughly 2007, Erica and Adam Roberts formed a Sunday lindy hop dance upstairs at the former House of Brews, (where Amendment XXI currently resides). It was this dance that introduced many of the current HSDS board members. Later that year, Steve passed the torch on to a new board, many who still run HSDS. It included Rob and Kristen Bethlenfalvay, Huy Huynh and Danielle Beardsley, and Gabriel and Tabitha Bassett.

The new board took on an ambitious plan, transitioning HSDS from mainly DJ'd dances to primarily live band dances. The new board, under the oversight of Kristen, went on a hunt for new venues. They finally partnered with the Flying Monkey Arts Center to provide a new, more intimate venue for HSDS dances. Huy and Erica began regular lindy lessons at the UAH Fitness Center, continued on by Tabitha and Gabriel Bassett. Rob Bethlenfalvay scouted multiple new bands with the help of Danielle and others to provide the diverse musical line-up we currently enjoy. Gabriel re-constructed the website, newsletter, and facebook group in their current forms. And the board as a whole strove to recreate top-notch workshops including instruction from Reuel Reis, Mike Legett, Megan Adair, Michael Gamble and Jaya Dorf, and many others. These workshops marked Reuel's first foray into teaching in Huntsville; a very productive relationship.

Since then many others have helped support HSDS. Dana Dafner and Chris King have joined the HSDS board as promotion and DJ focals respectively. Kansas Cavanaugh assists as an event focal. And HSDS has a great list of volunteers who assist us in running our dances.

Additionally, after a brief stint on the HSDS board, Leighanne Dauro has carried swing to the UAH student community by continuing Thursday Night Swing, (formerly Ninja Swing started by Seth Farrington), and hosting many swing workshops and lessons. Swing protege Dana Dafner teaches swing for KCDC studio. HSDS has truely spread it's influence well beyond the small group Paul started with, not just to local dancers, but even as far as Nashville, Birmingham and Atlanta. And it will continue to be the epicenter of swing in the Huntsville area!

I have pieced the above together from multiple sources. If any dates or facts are incorrect, please email me at swing@huntsvilleswingdance.org and I'll correct it.

Also, I know many of the couples cited in this page were not married when they started the activities credited to them. For that, you can get over it =).