OC LIVE : D&D; Takes a Swing at a Change of Pace

The hokey antler chandelier still hovers, and DJ Eric calls a tush-push for good measure, but Wednesdays are devoted to swing at Denim & Diamonds, where some of the area’s best dancers turn up--sans boots.

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Country twang, courtesy of Charlie Daniels, Clint Black and Alan Jackson, is by no means verboten , and two-steppers get a workout. But blues, be-bop and big band rhythms rule, thanks to the likes of Huey Lewis, Lee Roy Parnell, Pat Benatar and Brian Setzer.

Limitless creativity is part of West Coast swing’s tremendous appeal and surely helps explain its lasting power. Line dances, by definition, are meant to be repeated without variation. Two-stepping allows the man to determine the sequence of moves he leads his partner through, but most of those moves are themselves predetermined, like design elements joined together in prefabricated houses.

Swing has preset steps and an immutable, basic foot pattern, but within that framework, both partners go to town, limited only by their imagination. Dancers may step on the beat or syncopate, add spins, dips, fancy footwork or undulating body waves, strut across the floor, freeze when the music does, even do the splits.

D&D;’s Wednesday regulars, hot-doggers all, capitalize on this kind of artistic freedom with competitive zeal. In fact, each week the club sponsors a “Jack and Jill” contest (devised by Corona del Mar’s well-known hoofer Jack Carey), and winners take home $200 in cash and prizes. The competition, which bars participants from dancing with their regular partners, tests lead-and-follow skills.

A recent Wednesday bunch also threw itself into a “gang dance,” another swing community ritual that is much more innocent than it sounds. Per tradition, friends line up to swing with a birthday boy or girl, in this case three boys who enjoyed the limelight and then ate sheet cake.

Swing Night’s only blue note? Anemic attendance--particularly worrisome because the Denim & Diamonds chain’s other outlets in Southern California (Santa Monica and Woodland Hills) closed this year. There are no plans to close or convert this club, says managing partner Greg Stewart, although he is “trying different marketing and promotion ideas to bring the population back around.”

If neither swing nor country dancing brings you around, the bar serves an all-you-can-eat buffet and two-for-one well drinks ($3.25-$4.50) from 5 to 8 p.m. and $5 pitchers of draft beer and margaritas all night. A reasonably priced dinner menu includes salads, Mexican food, potato skins, ribs and a steamed veggie plate.

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* DENIM & DIAMONDS SWING NIGHTS

* 7979 Center Ave., Huntington Beach.

* (714) 892-3316.

* Wednesdays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

* $3 from 5 to 8 p.m.; $5 after 8 p.m.

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