Experience a special festival-evening with large-scale, swinging jazz, bubbles in your glass, and tapas. And let's not forget to bring our dancing shoes - this is an event where you're more than welcome to dance along to what is one the worlds premiere New Orleans-orchestra; Swedish "Kustbandet".
Be prepared for surprises, a elevated heartbeat, and fun(!) when the festival audience, visiting dance-enthusiasts and some of the worlds foremost proffesional dancers meet on the same floor. Everyone, regardless of their level of ambition, will fit in nicely.
During its first 50 years, jazz wasn't limited to a nodding, listening and applauding audience. Jazz was music you didn't just listen to; you danced along. Legendary venues such as Harlems Cotton Club set the benchmark for how a nightclub should look. No more than 25 years ago people went to dance-restaurants during the weekends, even here in Norway, and some claim that this is the explanation for the explosive growth of population after the second world war. Today most of us are happy to sit in front of the television and watch celebrities sweat through their exercises in rumba and foxtrot, which is why Moldejazz now want to bring jazz and dancing back together. We travel back to the 20's and 30's with Kustbandet, and for those so inclined we'll offer training in the many dance-styles of those days, be it lindy hop, foxtrot or jitterbug. All led by some of the worlds best instructors, and all included in the admission fee.
Kustbandet has existed for more than 50 years, and was started in 1962 as a smaller New Orleans-orchestra by Kenneth Arnström and Christer "Cacka" Ekhé. Listed among their early inspirations are names such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and the early swing-bands.
As ambassadors for Swedish jazz, Kustbandet has achived a world-wide reputation for their personal interpretations of the maestros of old. The string of skilled soloists have grown long over the years, and to date the band still attracts musicians at the very forefront of their field. Kustbandet have performed at everything from garden-parties to Nobel Prize-parties, and have traveled all over the world from Lapland in the north to Australia in the south, from New Orleans in the west to Tokyo in the east.
The idea of "Dancing with the stars jazz" was conceived during a dialogue between Festival Director Anders Eriksson and the young, local [to Molde], and up-and-coming dancer Mathias Melsæter Rydjord. Rydjord has been dancing swing actively for several years, he's a two-time Nordic champion, and he's won the boogie World Cup. For the time being he's studying to become an actor at the Academy of Theatre in Nord-Trøndelag.
