Live on Trail 1033: Callie Dahlberg-Healy, Zootown Swing — Lindy Hop in Missoula

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"I love dancing. It’s such a fun way to connect with people in a way that you normally don’t get to — in a physical aspect, without it being weird or romantic all the time.

It’s just like, for these three minutes or four minutes, however long a song is, you get to be in partnership with that person and have a special connection, and then go your own way."

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This morning, Trail 1033 Program Director and Morning trail guide, Mike Smith, welcomed Callie Dahlberg-Healy from Zootown Swing into the Trail 103.3 studio to talk about Lindy Hop, the Missoula swing dance scene, and Zootown Swing’s summer dance series at Caras Park.

Zootown Swing is a newer Missoula nonprofit built around Lindy Hop, a vintage swing dance that started in Harlem in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Callie describes it as a joyful, social, goofy, partner-based dance that gives people a way to connect for a few minutes at a time through music and movement.

The group started hosting dances in Missoula last September, with regular social dances at Free Cycles. What began with a small group of organizers has grown into a steady community of dancers, newcomers, and regulars who show up to learn, practice, and spend time together.

This summer, Zootown Swing is bringing the dancing outside with four events at the Caras Park pavilion: June 8, July 6, August 10, and September 14.

The first Caras Park dance is Monday, June 8. The evening starts with a beginner lesson at 6:30 p.m., followed by live music from The Jive from 7–9 p.m. The event is free, with donations encouraged to help pay the instructors and the band. No partner is needed, and beginners are absolutely welcome.

Callie also talks about how approachable Lindy Hop can be. You do not need to know fancy spins or complicated moves to start. A simple six-count basic can get you moving with the music, and the whole point is to have fun, connect with a partner, and enjoy the moment.

The conversation also gets into Callie’s background, from growing up near Seattle and skiing Stevens Pass to coaching young skiers with the Missoula Ski Education Foundation. Like a lot of good Missoula stories, this one includes skiing, music, community, a nonprofit, and someone deciding to build the thing they wanted to see in town.

If you have ever thought about trying swing dancing, this is a pretty easy way in: show up at Caras Park, take the beginner lesson, listen to the band, and see what happens.

The Zootown Swing summer series begins Monday, June 8 at Caras Park. Lesson at 6:30 p.m. Live music from The Jive from 7–9 p.m.

Learn more and follow along with Zootown Swing on Instagram at @zootownswing.

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Mike Smith:Got a guest in the Trail studio: Callie from Zootown Swing, hence the Benny Goodman. Callie, welcome.

Callie Dahlberg-Healy:Hi.

Mike:How are you?

Callie:Great. Thanks for having me. It’s exciting to be in here.

Mike:Let me get a better microphone for you here. This is on me.

Callie:Is that better?

Mike:So much better.

Great to have you in live radio on The Trail from Zootown Swing. How are you?

Callie:I’m great, yeah.

Mike:And this is our first time meeting you on our airwaves.

Callie:Yeah, likewise.

Mike:What’s your story? Right before we went on the air, you were like, “Oh, I’m also a ski instructor.”

Callie:Yeah, so I’ve been in Missoula for a couple of years now, since fall of ’23. I currently nanny, and in the winter I ski coach for Missoula Ski Education Foundation.

Mike:That’s cool.

Callie:So I really enjoy that.

Mike:What specialty? Who do you teach?

Callie:U10s and U12s, so between the ages of about 8 and 11. We just kind of have a rip and ski out there. I tell people that I kind of just get paid to ski with kids and rip around.

Mike:That is fun.

Callie:Yeah, it’s so fun.

Mike:Something I never did, always wanted to do. But I love skiing. I love skiing with kids.

Where did you grow up?

Callie:Seattle. Around Seattle.

Mike:So where did you ski?

Callie:Stevens Pass, mainly.

Mike:Nice. And now you’re up at the Bowl?

Callie:Yep.

Mike:Okay, cool. Well, no snow now. There might be a trace.

Callie:It was all right. Better than a couple of years ago.

Mike:Yeah, and we’re just going to hope for the best for next year.

Callie:Definitely.

Mike:Zootown Swing is another passion: swing dance.

Callie:Yeah, I love dancing. It’s such a fun way to connect with people in a way that you normally don’t get to — in a physical aspect, without it being weird or romantic all the time.

It’s just like, for these three minutes or four minutes, however long a song is, you get to be in partnership with that person and have a special connection, and then go your own way.

Mike:It’s a sport and it’s an art, kind of, right?

Callie:Yeah.

Mike:And swing dancing is your favorite style?

Callie:Yes. Lindy Hop, specifically.

Mike:Lindy Hop.

Callie:Yeah, which is vintage swing. It originated in the late 1920s, early 1930s, in Harlem, New York.

Mike:And this is what you think about when you think about a gin joint, and you think about that era.

Callie:Yeah, Prohibition era.

Mike:Yeah, a loud, brassy big band.

Callie:Big band, the music.

Mike:Big band music. So, a lot of fun. What is Zootown Swing all about? We’ll talk about your events coming up, but what is Zootown Swing all about? Is it about just spreading that joy, that love?

Callie:Yeah, definitely. We’re pretty recent. Just last year, last September, is when we had our first dance at Free Cycles.

I saw you guys did a segment with Bob.

Mike:Yeah, yeah. He’s cool.

Callie:I’m so happy that we have that place. We would not have been able to do our dances without Free Cycles.

Mike:I was doing a little research, and I see a lot of great photos, smiling faces.

Callie:Yeah, we’ve gotten some fantastic photographers out.

Mike:At Free Cycles.

Callie:Yeah.

Mike:Happening at Free Cycles. So that’s really cool and a great space.

Another fantastic space is Caras Park.

Callie:Yes.

Mike:And that’s where some of your upcoming events are going to be. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Callie:Definitely. We have four dances this summer at Caras Park under the pavilion, so rain or shine, we will be there.

We’re going to have a live band, The Jive, which is a fantastic local jazz band. They do a lot of stuff around Missoula. Every Wednesday at The Old Post, they have a jazz jam, which is really fun. I try and make it out to those when I can.

They’ve got a website as well, Elephant Gerald, which is a play off of Ella Fitzgerald.

Mike:Elephant Gerald.

Callie:Exactly. You have to kind of say it out loud to get it.

Mike:Oh, is that why you have an elephant in your purse?

Callie:Yeah, that’s The Jive. That’s their logo.

We’re going to be trying to put those around there. But our first one is this coming Monday. So next Monday at 6:30, we’re going to have a lesson. It is free. Donations are encouraged just so we can maybe pay our instructors and the band as well for being there.

We love our local artists, and so we want to pay them. But it is entirely donation-based.

Like I said, the lesson is at 6:30. The live band will be from 7 to 9, and it’s right by the river. So you can come and listen to music. You can dance, learn to dance, or just hang out.

Mike:You can just hang out. This would be me: I would go down there undecided about whether I was going to dance or not, and then maybe get a little confidence with the lesson.

Will there be beverages served?

Callie:We might have some popsicles.

Mike:Okay, okay. But to get a little encouragement, I mean, you seem like the person that’s like, “I just want to share this. I just want everybody to know they can dance too.”

Callie:Yeah, no, it’s fantastic. I started dancing actually in Bozeman when I went to school at MSU.

Mike:This is probably a no-no.

Callie:Sorry.

Mike:No, no. I grew up in Bozeman.

Callie:Oh, okay.

Mike:Bridger Bowl.

Callie:But I’ve been to more Griz games than I have games in Bozeman.

Mike:I think I’m about 50/50 on that right now, just because I spent my first 18 years down there.

Okay, so Bozeman is a great town. Missoula is also a really great town, and we are so fortunate to have someone like you and the rest of your crew.

How many folks make up Zootown Swing?

Callie:Oh gosh. To start, it was literally just me and a gal, Sophie. She has also been dancing for a while. She started in Corvallis, Oregon, which is a little town outside of Portland, and she helped with their scene over there while she lived there.

She moved here, and kind of like me, enjoys dancing, but there wasn’t really a dance scene here — specifically Lindy Hop. There’s lots of Western swing, but not really any Lindy Hop.

Mike:Lindy Hop. I’m making a note. I want to sound educated on this.

Callie:Yes, Lindy Hop.

So me and her just got together in a room in the library, one of their little meeting rooms, and we just kind of hashed out what we wanted this to be. We wanted to be a nonprofit. We wanted it to be affordable for people, and we just wanted to share this.

So it started with me and her. We have a board of about seven people, and we’ve been developing a core group of around 12 people — 12 to 15 to 20, depending on the night.

There have been a lot of regulars showing up to our dances. We’ve had two a month at Free Cycles, mostly since September. There were some breaks in December around the holidays, but we’ve been trying to do it every couple of weeks.

We’re taking a break at Free Cycles so we can do these Caras Park ones, but we’ll start up again, hopefully, in September.

Mike:Well, here comes some good news: you’ve got forecasted mostly sunny with a high of 72 for Monday. So things are looking up.

Callie:That’s perfect.

Mike:So that’ll be Monday, June 8. There’s going to be another one July 6, August 10, and September 14. We will let you know about those as we get closer to those events, but the one on Monday sounds like a perfect thing to do, especially on a beautiful day.

Callie:Yeah. Hang out downtown for a little bit and then just come by the river and listen to some music, maybe start dancing.

Even if you miss the lesson, you could find me. I’ll kind of be in and around there. I’ve been dancing for a while, so maybe you can recognize me from that. But feel free to ask me, like, “Hey, could you give me a mini lesson and just show me the six-count basic kind of thing?”

Mike:Are you the type of person that’ll go out there and be like, “Hey, I can show you this. Let me show you this move real quick?”

Callie:Yeah, definitely.

Mike:That’s cool.

What I know about swing is like two moves, but they’re real spinning of my partner, and that just gets a little tiring over time. I need to broaden my repertoire as well for what I know how to do.

Callie:The fun thing with Lindy Hop is, in our 30-minute intro lesson, we say that you could do the whole dance with just the six-count basic, which has no spins or anything. You just kind of are sitting there. It’s like a rock step, triple step, triple step, and you’re just kind of pulsing with the music.

You don’t have to do any spins if you don’t want to. We just kind of connect with your partner and get that cool experience.

Mike:All right, it’s Zootown Swing. The style of dance technically is Lindy Hop. The band The Jive will be playing. It’s happening at Caras Park on Monday. 6:30, the lesson will begin. From 7 to 9, live band playing, and you can dance.

My guest has been Callie from Zootown Swing. Any parting thoughts?

Callie:Just come down, check us out. We would love to have you there. I’m hoping it’s a really fun time.

Mike:I think so. Callie, nice to meet you.

Callie:Likewise.

Mike:The door is always open to The Trail for you and Zootown Swing, so we’ll look forward to talking to you down the road.

Callie:Thank you.

Mike:Take care. The Trail 103.3.

🌲 Trail Community Interviews are part of the Trail Listening Post podcast series and can be heard LIVE on 103.3 FM most weekdays at 10AM