A very special event! Friday December 12 - Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five feat. Hilary Alexander

Name: A very special event! Friday December 12 - Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five feat. Hilary Alexander
Start: 2025-12-12T19:30:00-08:00
End: 2025-12-12T23:30:00-08:00
Location: Carrillo Recreation Center

Schedule

Fri Dec 12 2025 at 07:30 pm to 11:30 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

Carrillo Recreation Center | Santa Barbara, CA

Still only $20 - cash only at the door.
No special dress code, but please dress up in your best holiday finery!
We don't get this premier swing band often, so grab your dancing shoes and get down to the Carrillo Ballroom on the second Friday of the month, December 12! We'll swing out to the amazing music of Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander.
You know Jonathan Stout from Camp Hollywood, California Balboa Classic, or many other events and dances around the world! His band is considered the best swing band currently playing! He is bringing his Campus Five, with the inimitable Hillary Alexander on vocals. This group is one of the most sought-after swing bands around. We are lucky to have them at this special event.
If that weren't enough to get your feet to the Carrillo Ballroom, we'll also have the one and only Sylvia Sykes teaching! We will also have a beginning swing dance lesson, so bring a friend!
The lessons are included in the price of admission! Lessons start at 7:30. **Please be prompt for lessons. Doors to classes close at 7:40 in respect to our teachers and students**
Level 1: Join Lindsey Kasehagen for swing dance basics
Level 2: Join Sylvia Sykes. Class subject to be announced

Do. Not. Miss. This. Event.
The Carrillo Ballroom is a landmark 1901 ballroom, with the best spring-loaded wooden floor west of the Mississippi! You'll be able to dance all night on this gorgeous floor, all the while feeling like you're dancing on a cloud!
We'll have the ballroom regaled in holiday finery, and we are hoping that you will dress in your holiday best as well. As always, though, you may come dressed however you like. No partner necessary.
The Friday Night Dance Committee will be on hand with door prizes.
Admission is still only $20 for this special event, $10 for children age 13 and under (accompanied by an adult). Contact us for information about group rates.
Presented in association with @sbparksandrec https://www.facebook.com/sbparksandrec

BIOS:

Jonathan Stout
Jonathan Stout is a bandleader and guitarist specializing in pre-bebop jazz guitar. As a guitarist, Jonathan draws from the many and varied styles of pre-bebop jazz guitar, including the rhythm guitar of Freddie Green, the electric single-note style of Charlie Christian, the acoustic block-chord solos of Allan Reuss, and the gypsy-jazz of Django Reinhardt. Jonathan also writes a noted blog on swing guitar (now found here, on this website). Beside playing in his own bands, Jonathan is a member of the Bonebrake Syncopators (led by DJ Bonebrake of the band X), and has played guitar for Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders, Josh Collazo's Candy Jacket Jazz Band, Casey MacGill, Dean Mora (Mora's Modern Rhythmists, et. al), the Boilermaker Jazz Band, the Lucky Stars, Jim Ziegler’s Swingsations, Josh Collazo and his Feetwarmers, Bill Elliott, and Johnny Crawford. He played on Jeremy Wakefield's 2005 Album, "Steel Guitar Caviar" (Ecco-Fonic), as well as Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders' self-titled 2016 debut album.
As a dancer, Jonathan is proud to have learned from such original masters Ann Mills, Hal Takier, Freda Angela, and Bart Bartolo. Jonthan danced on the first place team at the 2002 National Jitterbug Championships. Because of his experience as a dancer, Jonathan is uniquely suited to understand the interaction between Swing music and dance.
As a bandleader, Jonathan has studied the authentic sound of the Swing-era, and how that differs from the styles of jazz that came before and after. Armed with this knowledge, Jonathan has given many musicality classes at dance events, using a live band to demonstrate the differences between Swing, pre-Swing Jazz, and post-Swing straight-ahead jazz.
As a student of the era, Jonathan has also branched out to study swing drumming, based on fourteen years of first-hand observations of only the best Swing drummers, Josh Collazo, Hal Smith, Brooks Tegler, Russ Wilson and Paul Lines. Jonathan has played drums for The Careless Lovers, Casey MacGill, Janet Klein, Falty and Friends, Stompy Jones, Dean Mora, Dave Stuckey, and Carl Sonny Leyland, as well as filling-in occasionally in the Campus Five and Orchestra. He most recently played drums on Janet Klein's 2015 CD "It's the Girl", using his 1941 Leedy drum set.
Jonathan has also DJed at swing dance events, including Camp Hollywood, Lindy Groove, and Camp Jitterbug. When DJing, Jonathan brings the same focus on authentic Swing music and unmatched danceability.

Hilary Alexander
Hilary Alexander is the co-bandleader and vocalist for all of the bands in the Campus Five family. Hilary was raised as the daughter of Jazz pianist and a Brazilian samba dancer. She attended NewYork City’s Professional Children’s School, along with many child stars. Growing up, she was surrounded by the sounds of jazz vocalists Anita O’Day, Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Mae Morse, and Blossom Dearie. She brings an authentic smooth style in the spirit of her favorite vocalists. She has been a featured guest vocalist with the Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra and Mora’s Modern Rhythmists.
As a dancer, Hilary was among the group of Los Angeles-area dancers that rediscovered Dean Collins-style Lindy Hop and Balboa in the late 1990’s. Growing out of her love of Swing dance, Hilary founded Camp Hollywood in 1998, and it has grown into one of the world’s premier Swing dance events, drawing over 1,000 dancers, including dancers from five continents and 30 countries. Camp Hollywood is celebrating its 19th year.
As a DJ, Hilary has spun at Lindy Groove, Camp Jitterbug, and Rusty’s Rhythm Club, as well as carefully handpicking only the best recorded competition music for all of the contests at Camp Hollywood.

Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander is the nation’s premier swing dance bands. Showcasing the small-group sound of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, the Campus Five is the most danceable swing band anywhere. The 7-piece Campus Five captures the true sound of the Swing-era, with all the energy and excitement that inspired millions to dance. Influences include the Benny Goodman Sextet, Artie Shaw's Grammercy Five, Count Basie's Kansas City Six, and the Harlem-based small groups of Illinois Jacquet, Cootie Williams, Coleman Hawkins, and Hot Lips Page.
Both founders (Hilary and Jonathan) have been dedicated Swing dancers for over 25 years, and the relationship between Swing music and Swing dance informs all aspects of the Campus Five. Song selection, tempo, song length and feel are all chosen with danceability in mind. The Campus Five’s five albums, “Jammin’ the Blues” (2003), “Crazy Rhythm” (2004), “Moppin’ and Boppin’” (2007), “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around” (2016), and “Hummin’ to Myself” (2021), are favorites of Swing DJs and Swing Dance Instructors all over the globe. The Campus Five have been featured at many of the premier Swing dance events around the world, and are known for their unparalleled competition music, which inspires dancers to new heights.
The Campus Five has been featured on ABC's "The Bachelorette" (2016), and on Warner Brothers TV's "Ellen" (2004).
Encore at The Chase Festival, 2019 - Heidelberg, Germany
Here’s a partial list of the swing dance events the Campus Five have been featured at:
Frankie 95 (NYC)
Camp Hollywood / National Jitterbug Championship (Los Angeles)
International Lindy Hop Championships (Washington, DC)
Lindy Focus (Asheville, NC)
Lindy Shock (Budapest, Hungary)
Lindy Blossom Weekend (Seoul, S. Korea)
California Balboa Classic (Costa Mesa, CA)
All Balboa Weekend (Cleveland, OH)
Beantown Swing Camp (Boston)
DCLX (Washington, DC)
Chase Festival (Heidelberg, Germany)
World Jam (Madrid, Spain)
Austin Lindy Exchange (Austin, TX)
London Balboa Festival (London, UK)
Great Southwest Lindyfest (Houston, TX)
Camp Jitterbug (Seattle, WA)
Inspiration Weekend (Orange, CA)
Stompology (Rochester, NY)
Lindy on the Rocks (Denver, CO)
Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout (Denver, CO)
Lastly, the Campus Five and our other bands also play regularly for corporate, municipal, festival, private and wedding clients, including: IBM, NBC, ABC, Pacific Life, Speedo, Los Angeles Music Center, Culver City Music Festival, Jazz at the Paseo (Pasadena), Ventura Lemon Fest, Ventura Music Festival, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School, University of Southern California, Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival (Los Angeles), Orange County Classic Jazz Festival
https://www.campusfive.com

Upcoming dances:
No dance January, 2026
February 20 – The Soda Crackers
March 20 – Barrelhouse Wailers
April 17 – Death and Taxes Swing Band