Band
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander is one of the world’s premier swing dance bands. Showcasing the authentic small-group sound of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, the Campus Five is the most danceable swing band anywhere. The Campus Five’s six albums 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, including Camp Hollywood, Lindy Focus, the International Lindy Hop Championships, DCLX, the Austin Lindy Exchange, Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing, and at balboa specific events such as the California Balboa Classic, All-Balboa Weekend, the Great Lakes Balboa Blowout, and the Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout. Also, the Campus Five is the swing band on earth co-led by two dancers who actually danced at Bobby McGee’s, dancing with and learning from the Balboa “Old Timers”.
Jonathan Stout is a guitarist and bandleader, well-known to swing dancers everywhere for the wonderful dance orchestras he leads, but any fan of swing guitar currently stalking the internet knows him for his mastery of the electric swing guitar style of Charlie Christian, and the acoustic chord-melody style of Allan Reuss. Jonathan was recently featured on the “Fretboard Journal Podcast”. He’s brought 28 years of Lindy Hop and Balboa experience to bear on 21 years of leading bands specifically for swing dancing.
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, and she grew up surrounded by the sounds of jazz vocalists Anita O’Day, Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Mae Morse, and Blossom Dearie.] 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 25th year.