Chris Coduto / for the Arizona Daily Star

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Howard and Gayl Zhao got married at a swing dance. And why not? The couple first met at a swing dance. They bonded over Ella Fitzgerald and Balboa. All their friends love to Lindy Hop. Howard says it "just sort of felt right."

"I think we came up with that idea together," says Howard, 26. "We've both been into swing dance for a long time." Surrounded by friends and family, the two tied the knot in August at the First United Methodist Church near the University of Arizona campus. There was a short ceremony, followed by a one-hour East Coast dance lesson.

Howard wore a black Mandarin-style suit with scarlet vest. Gayl, 27, wore a long white dress for the 5-minute ceremony but changed into a shorter brown number for the reception.

Dinner was a potluck. Gayl says her friend Erica made a delicious potato salad but "we didn't get to eat that much of it."

Then, before you could say "Go daddy, go!" the DJ put the needle to vinyl and the dance floor came to life.

Not everybody falls in love at swing, like Howard and Gayl did. But it's hard not to fall in love with swing.

The music is infectious, with blaring horns and tribal rhythms. The clothes are a throwback to a dreamy fashion period full of sweetheart necklines and flowy skirts. The dancing is fast, but not frantic — the best dancers will sweat up a storm but never lose their cool.

Tucson is home to a small but devoted swing scene that boasts dancers who've performed at Lincoln Center and musicians who have played for presidents.

Moreover, the scene is growing, with more dances and dancers every day.

The Arizona Swing Cats, which sponsored the dance where Howard and Gayl first met, is the backbone of the city's swing scene.

The UA club has held lessons and dances every Tuesday in Room 4 of the Ina Gittings building for years. The lessons are free to first-timers and are open all regardless of university affiliation.

At a recent dance at the Arizona Ballroom Company, people of all ages spun, hopped and glided in every direction.

Eric Durham wore black pants, a short-sleeve button-down shirt, a black fedora and black suspenders. His dance partner, Aelynn Heinrichs, wore a pink dress straight from a 1950s ice cream shop, complete with matching hat. She said she found the outfit at a vintage store earlier in the day.

Durham spun Heinrichs around as the two Lindy Hopped first in a closed position, then moving to an open position that allows improvisation.

The term "swing dance" refers to a group of dances that developed at the same time as the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. The Lindy Hop is the most famous swing dance, but there's also East Coast, West Coast, Charleston, Balboa, blues and a handful of others.

Some swing styles coexist. You'll often see people doing blues dancing at a Lindy Hop event, which usually features big band music. Other styles are best kept apart. West Coast dancers, for example, usually host their own dances that feature more contemporary music like hip-hop and rock.

Regardless of what type of swing dance you prefer, there's plenty of opportunity to learn a new style. Most dances are preceded by a one-hour lesson.

Howard, who works for IBM, and Gayl, who is pursuing a graduate degree in music at the UA, danced up a storm at their wedding. Some of their friends already knew how to swing dance. Those who didn't were treated to a one-hour pre-reception lesson.

After the lesson, things really heated up.

The DJ played "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Choo Choo Cha Boogie," and "Nobody Here But Us Chickens."

At one point a jam circle sprang up. That's when all the dancers form a circle and couples take turns jumping into the middle and showing off their best moves.

"I think it went about as good as it possibly could have gone," Howard says.