R-Town: Buddy Schwimmer, A Dancing Legend

As many of you know, my daughter has been dancing for about 5 years now.  When we signed her up at what was then called "5, 6, 7, 8 Dance Studio", little did we know the history behind the owner was so extraordinary.  After 5 years of knowing Buddy Schwimmer, I finally sat down with him to hear more about him and his life dancing.

When you walk into Buddy's office, it's full of plaques, trophy's, large collage frames full of pictures of his kids, Benji and Lacey, when they were kids, current pictures of them as well, a jukebox, and more framed pictures and posters.  It's almost his life story right there on the walls of his office.  I sit on the long white couch across from his roll-top desk and his easy glider office chair, where he takes a seat.  He's such an easy going guy, that talking to him was no problem.  I just pulled out my phone, hit record and began talking as if we were just out to lunch.

Born in Gary, Indiana, Harry Daniel Schwimmer was the third child of 5.  "My mom was 4'10" and my dad was 6'2".  I got my mom's height and my dad's weight," he jokingly tells me.  If you know Buddy, you know he is always cracking jokes!  His parents were swing dancers, and "they never lost a competition in their life!  They won the Harvest Moon Ball 4 times…" he goes on to tell me, and explains to me that even though he "came out dancing," he was not a natural.  "I wasn't any good until I was 8 years old," he tells me.  When Buddy was about 4, his whole family moved to Whittier, California.  Buddy, who was given the nickname Buddy by a little boy who saw him reading a Casper the Friendly Ghost comic and told him "That's Casper, he's friendly!  You must be my Buddy!", said he spent about a year in his room, teaching himself how to dance.

He didn't start competing until he was about high school age.  He and his sister would dance at Disneyland at Carnation Place, and he met professionals such as Skippy Blair, who would ask Buddy to show him what he was doing.  He never took any lessons and would modify different moves and techniques.  With two sisters, I asked him if he danced with one of them, and he points to an American Graffiti poster with a guy and girl on it, dancing.  "That's me and my sister right there." So now I'm very curious…"Were you in American Graffiti or did you choreograph for the movie?" I ask.  "I was in it and choreographed it."  It was filmed in 1982 and by this time he was competing professionally and had been on many many dance shows.  He was asked by Tony Basil (Oh Mickey your so fine….) to choreograph the dancing, because she was originally asked to do it, but didn't know how to Swing.  She had heard of Buddy, and asked him.  He not only did choreography for the movie, but was also a dancer in it.  Prior to that, the several dance shows he was on were Shebang, Shindig Chivalry, 9th Street West, American Bandstand, and Soul Train ("I was the only white guy of the Soul Train Gang.").

Buddy has traveled all over the world performing and choreographing for various people.  He even had a story of flying to Austria to do a 20 minute show and said "we'd fly there, do the show and then take a late night flight out and come home."  I ask about his teaching, and he still (currently) flies all over choreographing routines for different people.  He just got back from Branson, Missouri where he choreographed a stage show that he does annually.  "Didn't you choreograph for the Olympic Skater?" I ask.  "Yes, for Jeremy Abbott.  I choreographed for him, Benji choreographed for him.  He started with me and then I brought Benji in."  Buddy continues to tell me about choreographing for Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and challenging James Brown to a dance off!  Now that's gutsy!  "Michael Jackson told me I was the only white guy he's ever seen dance."  Buddy didn't choreograph for him but they were both at a sound stage opening in Orange County, along with ELO and various other artists.

Once Buddy was married and had kids, I asked him if he wanted them to be dancers.  "We didn't force them to dance, but they were always going with us when we were dancing and teaching.  They would fall asleep under tables while we were competing."  As the kids got older, they were always around and would just pick things up.  Buddy reminisces on how Benji was just like him and had to work hard at being a dancer, while Lacey was more of a natural.  "But they both got their careers out of it," he happily tells me. As the kids got older, Buddy decided to quit all the traveling (he would travel about 40 weeks out of the year) and decided to start teaching out of his house in Moreno Valley.  That only lasted a short while, then in 1999 he opened up his dance studio on W. State Street, 5, 6, 7, 8, which was where I eventually met Buddy in 2009.  Then in January 2011, the heavy heavy rains caused a lot of damage to the building to where it was condemned.  Buddy had to quickly find a new building and in March 2011, he opened his new dance studio, The Dance Center, located at 1445 W. Park Ave, Redlands, Ca 92373.  The studio grew not only in square footage, but population as well.  It was as if it all happened for a reason.  Most nights you can find Buddy there at The Dance Center, but he does still travel and lead quite a fascinating life.  He loves kids and teaches little ones as well as adults.  Classes vary from Ballet and Tap for little ones, various levels of Ballet (including Pre Pointe), Adult Tap, Ballroom, Latin, Swing (of course), Hip Hop, Video Dance, Musical Theater, Break Dancing and more!  Check out their Facebook Page, The Dance Center!  There's always something going on!

Buddy, who loves kids, works with one of his classes on facial expressions to have while dancing.

Bonnie, one of the teachers at The Dance Center, teaches new choreography to her Tech class.