Email
PrintSwing Time
Dancing at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.
A contingent of Western-dance dudes and dudeens practice their new steps during a session at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Almost every Thursday night of the year, instructors from Dancers’ Workshop offer free lessons at the Cowboy, teaching the four-count swing and the Texas two-step.
(page 1 of 3)
Oh, sure, I can country swing and two-step. After all, I grew up in a small Midwestern town, where my aunt and uncle owned a local tavern. And my great uncles played in a country western band.
I can swing, sure. But at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar? With its mix of authentic cowboy onlookers and skeptical visitors who meander through its doors?
The Cowboy is famous for its western décor and throwback atmosphere evoking a time when cowboys staggered into saloons and sidled up to the bar. I’ve walked past its intimidating entryway on many days, and bumped into its patrons during evening walks.
I wasn’t sure if I had the courage. But the time had come; I had to do it. The mission: Join other adventurous locals and visitors for a free lesson.
Inside it’s dark, but neon lights glare from walls and behind the bar. Tables are filled with diners and people who’ve stopped by for an after-work drink. Past the tables of cowboys (both real and wannabe) swigging whiskey and PBRs is a wooden dance floor. A stage, its lights turned off, serves as the backdrop.
I meet Clair Carlson, the evening’s instructor. He wants to know if I’m there for the lesson.
“Yes,” I say.
“We start out pretty slow,” he says, “but then it picks up.” He introduces me to his “demonstrator,” Jan Marie Hobart.
“He just makes me look good,” she says.
Carlson and Hobart work through the auspices of Dancers’ Workshop, a Jackson nonprofit that offers lessons in numerous dance genres and classes for all ages. Year around they teach steps to a diverse mix of students, mostly at their studios in the Center for the Arts. But their instructors also show up here at the Cowboy almost every Thursday evening.
The instructors dress the role. Tonight, Carlson sports a white cowboy hat and classic Wrangler jeans; Hobart wears a blazer and a back skirt.
Before we begin, Carlson fiddles with a cassette-tape player, searching for a particular song. “What are we listening to?” an attendee asks.
