Check out our Program.
This year the MJDA is reanimating the best of the swing era with
MLX8: Exchange of the Living Dead!
inspired by the creepiest classic horror films of Hollywood’s 1920s, 30s and 40s.
And to really set the weekend on fire - it's back! The Australian Hellzapoppin' Prize returns to Melbourne in 2008.
Tickets and Passes
To get the best value for your dancing dollars register for an MLX8 pass to score an amazing discount. But if you miss out on a pass, we will still be selling tickets to individual events at the door.Thursday 27th November
Menace of the Mummy
- 8:30pm Thursday-Late
- The Fabulous Speigletent
- $10 or free with an MLX pass
MLX8 Comes to life at the grand opening night private party at the world famous Spiegeltent…Step back to the 1920s, the era of Charleston and Hot Jazz.
The discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb leads to Egypt being in Vogue, think glamour, tuxedos & flapper girls, pompous British explorers with safari suits, the debut of Art Deco, & the men of Cairo in their fez.
Dress accordingly.
PRIZE : One lucky fella and one great dame will receive a 2009 MLX pass for the most glamorous or suitably themed outfit.
08.30pm- Late : Drinks on the terrace
11.00pm- late : Dancing in the tent
Friday 28th November
Hellzapoppin'
- 7:00pm-12:00am Saturday (competition Starts 7:30pm sharp).
- Band Starts at 9:00pm
- Ormond Hall, 557 St Kilda Rd Melbourne (enter via Moubray St)
- Many of the trams down St Kilda Rd from the city, including #6, #5 and #64.
- $35 or free with an MLX pass
- Dress: Glamor puss 1930s and 40s or smart evening attire (please - slip out of your Tshirts & jeans and into something special)
Step back to the 1930s and spend a night at the Savoy Ballroom.We start the night early with the Australian Hellzapoppin' Prize. This is the competition Australian swing dancers love - and fear! - most. Fast, furious, freakin' hot and hard-core. No rules. No runners-Up. Just one winner. And one awesome Prize.
The Prize:
2 FULL PASSES for
SWING CAMP OZ
JANUARY 25-30, 2009
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA
…then The JW Swing Orchestra will be swinging hard from 9pm for three solid hours of social dancing delights. Hades certainly will be a poppin' at the fanciest ball you’ll attend this year, with all the dancing wickedness a body can take... or sit back, enjoy the music and a world class European beer from the bar.
For competitor information see the Australian Hellzapoppin' Prize Information page.
Le Manoir du Diable
- Midnight til late, Friday
- Forever Dance ballroom, 432 Church St, Richmond
- #70 tram runs down nearby Swan St from the city
- $15 or free with an MLX8 pass
Having survived the furious, freakin' hot and hard-core dancing of Hellzapoppin', welcome to Le Manoir du diable, The House of the Devil ! Dance til dawn with some of the finest local and visiting DJs with solid swinging action in the main room and, a first for MLX, seriously old and scratchy action in the back room... because some band leaders just won't stay dead!Saturday 29th November
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Find your after-life on the dance floor or bury yourself at the bar at this regular Saturday afternoon band gig. Chris Tanner's Virus have had this residency for years, and are joined by locals and jazz fans every Saturday afternoon.
Dawn of the Dead
- 8pm till dawn, Saturday
- Forever Dance ballroom, 432 Church St, Richmond
- #70 tram runs down nearby Swan St from the city
- $35 before midnight, $15 after midnight or free with an MLX8 pass
After sleeping all day, stagger onto the dance floor and shake it like you still have a pulse.
We'll tempt you with naughtiness in all its deliciously wicked forms, from furiously fast swinging jazz to seriously slow and saucy music in two rooms to hellish treats from the Zombie “I screeeam” bar.
With two bands playing back to back in two rooms, you can be sure of a frighteningly good time: Carol Ralph and Friends return after a triumphant MLX7 and The Sweet Lowdowns take up where the Red Hot Rythmakers left off. And once we've passed the witching hour, our spookily awesome DJs will dance you til dawn: once again the main room will be just right for lindy hop while the back room will be wickedly right for blues dancing.
Sunday 30th November
Feast of the Vampires
- 8pm - 3am Sunday
- Forever Dance, 432 Church St, Richmond
- #70 tram runs down nearby Swan St from the city
- $20 or free with an MLX8 pass
No dread of Dracula here, this lair is for creatures with ravishing dance appetites who still want just a little more. Over-indulge with the best DJs in two rooms, gorge on pizza and beers - all at the MJDA's expense, of course! The slayer might even enjoy this Monsterfest - so keep an eye out for the chosen one!
Unofficial MLX8 events
Each year the MJDA keep their ears to the ground to let you know of a host of unofficial events to coincide with the MLX weekend. Join us for the 'off-program' MLX8 events:
Madame Dynamite's MLX8 special
- 8pm - 11.30pm Wednesday 26th November
- Hashy Hall, 214 Inkerman Street, St Kilda East (cnr Raglan & Inkerman Streets - look for the funky graffiti)
- $7 or $4 with an MLX8 Pass
Hard core social dancing at one of Melbourne's premier social dancing venues. For more questions post on the Swing Talk board or check Madame Dynamite's website
Swing Mafia Poker Pub Crawl
- 12:00pm Sunday
- Starting at Crown Casino
Those boys from the Kick Ass Pub Crawl are back and have been scouting some new venues for this year's pub crawl.
Starting Sunday 30th at Crown casino at 12pm at "the Pub" at Crown Casino and will be touring some of the great local pubs and awesome eating places around South Melbourne and ending up at Forever Dance for the last gig of MLX
Join the Swing Mafia Pub Crawl facebook group for additional details and to let the guys know you are planning on coming!
100th Birthday of the Alexandra Gardens
- 1:30pm - 3:30pm Sunday
- Cotham Road, not far from the Kew Junction, (Mel Ref. 45, F10)
A community day to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the Alexandra Gardens, one of our special heritage gardens in Kew. The gardens are in Cotham Road, not far from the Kew Junction, (Mel Ref. 45, F10). It's an outdoor event although the gardens do have a rotunda around which most dancers are going to be based. Swing Patrol are teaching a free lesson for the public and a few quick performances from Brat Pack along with heaps of social dancing.
CW Stoneking at the Corner Hotel
- 3pm-6pm Sunday
- Corner Hotel, 57 Swan St, Richmond
- Tickets $23, 94279198
For all you blues type people, the inimitable C.W. Stoneking – guitar and tenor banjo player, singer/songwriter and raconteur – returns with a new collection of original tunes, Jungle Blues. Inspired in part by his amazing experiences as a survivor of a shipwreck off Africa’s West Coast in 1998, it draws on the blues of the Southern U.S.A., calypso music of Trinidad, jungle jazz of the 1920s, and hillbilly music of the 1930s for a musical journey into a heart of darkness.
Book tickets for this one! http://www.cornerhotel.com