Variety – why so little in Lindy Hop (or where did the groove go?)

Maybe this is just me, maybe it’s due to my absence the last year, but…

All or nothing at all… why is that the theme for so many Lindy Hop events (even scenes)? What happened to events with a huge variety, specifically, I mean, in the music (there is bunch of variety in the classes, but it almost all revolves around the same music). It seems that the music is all of one kind or all of another, especially blues or hot/classic jazz right now. I see very little in between anymore (I acknowledge that it does – it seems to be a niche though, now)

I don’t recall the last time I danced all night to a heavy groove between 120 and 160. I don’t typically want to do that all night, but neither do I want to spend all night dancing at 180 plus to lo-fi records, or spend my whole evening below 100; However I’ve seen a lot of 180+ or 100- only weekends lately and not very many that cover the whole spectrum.

For me, a perfect night of dancing would include both extremes, and the middle. It seems so few organizers appreciate the middle anymore. I miss dancing to a deep grooving swing, that’s so nice to do and it’s so accessible. Where did it go? Won’t somebody please bring back Smooth Sailing, Splanky, Satin Doll, or Shiny Stockings – at least occasionally?

Maybe this has to do with dancing trends. Not too long ago everyone was trying to be all smooth and slick, now dancing like you just stepped off the screen of a ’30s/’40s flick is what we all aspire too. When I started dancing I learned to loathe “hollywood style” in favor of “modern” savoy style (or more accurately described as wiggle hop).

Here’s my question… how hard is it adapt your dancing to a variety of music? Is it that difficult to go from blues, to jammin’, to balboa, to a heavy pulse in 3 hours of music? Are we, as a community, not capable, or too lazy, or just unwilling?

I’ve had more than a couple friends all but quit dancing because they’re tired of the monopoly one style of music has exerted on their scenes, again either blues or hot/classic jazz at the moment. Bring back the variety and I would wager that more people will come out more regularly, and the ones who stomp off in a huff, probably weren’t all that much fun to dance with anyway – if they danced with anyone but themselves.

Variety is the spice of life, Lindy Hop included

Advanced Dancer Weekend

I have just recently begun discussing an idea for an advanced Lindy Hop weekend getaway with a few friends. Ideas continue to spring from the concept of Lindy Hop as Performance Art and I think it would make for an amazing weekend to structure a small event in that pursuit, if only for the laboratory experience of having experimented.

Ideally I want 32-40 dancers in attendance, enough to break into four groups of 4 or 5 couples each. After (early) morning sessions of yoga and pilates one group would go to contemporary/modern jazz, another to african dance, a third to hip hop, and a fourth to tumbling. Everyone would rotate through all four during the course of the weekend (2 each day). Late afternoon/evening would be occupied with choreography; two groups would focus on a lindy hop(ish) routine and the other two would do solo charleston/vernacular jazz and then switch the next night. Choreography would last for a couple hours, and then its time to perform for the other groups and then just dance with each other. Somewhere during the day would come food, and sometime after the dancing would come sleep. It would be oh so grueling and oh so fun.

So who wants to join me? Who can we get to teach?

In Theory

I participated in a local practice session last night. Towards the end of it we were all sitting around chatting about what, forget, but we got onto the topic of the necessity of compromise between partners on the social dance floor.

A comment was made by one of the members of our group to the effect that connecting with a visiting dancer was extremely difficult because said dancer would not compromise. That of course digressed into a nearly heated argument (cooler heads fortunately prevailed) about whose responsibility it is compromise.

During the course of things an interesting observation was made about theory versus practice and a question was posed: Are you going to let your principle (of bother partners meeting in the middle style/connection-wise) get in the way of dancing?

It reminded me again of something I’ve heard Steven Mitchell say over and over and over and over, both toward a group, and to me specifically, both as an admonishment, and as a “Good Job”… as a leader you have to take care of your follower. You are dancing for her, she is not dancing for you.

I’ve found that when I think this, when I approach a dance and make it about her and her enjoyment I have a lot better dance, I am much more creative, I connect much better, regardless of her level. But when I approach a dance with an expectation that I’m going to get something from the dance, and look to her to connect with me the way I want to, when I expect, or worse, demand that she follow me a specific way, the dance is usually crap; it become wholly unfulfilling.

I expect the reverse holds true to, if I were a follower I would have much better dances if each time I worked to connect with my leader exclusively and regardless of my leaders efforts to connect at my level.

And then the theory holds true, if the leader strives to reach the follower where she is, and the follower reciprocates, but each independent of the other, that’s when there is magic on the floor.

technorati tags:Dancing, Lindy-Hop, Balboa, Blues-Dancing, Swing-Dancing, Leading, Following, Technique, Social-Dancing

My Favorite Events

(this will probably become a permanent page, just FYI)

On the left you will notice a list of links under the heading “My Favorite Events”. Shortly there will be 5, but for the time these are my 4 most favorite event (which I know doesn’t really make symantical sense, but common usuage permits it and since English is a living language… I digress). The sorting is alphabetical only and shouldn’t be interpreted as any more. Nor will I divulge which is my absolute favorite.

All four of them have a common theme, and that is the atmosphere is what stands out the most. For each of them the sense of community holds the biggest attraction for me, over all other events I attend.

All Balboa Weekend

I love the size and and excitement and the energy of this event. It is simply huge in all ways. The crowd is massive with all levels of bal-ability present. It is well run and well organized and so it is an easy event to attend.

Lindy Focus

I’m a huge of fan of Lindy Focus in large part because it is a South East event, which almost inherintly means it is friendly. The atmosphere is very laid-back, folks are there for a good time, and even with the introduction of competitions the focus still feels to be on the friends you make while working on your Lindy Hop. The instructors are mostly regional too, which really helps with the affordability factor.

Swing Out New Hampshire

Summer camp in the woods, on the lake. Mix in Lindy Hop and late-nights and that is SONH. The mixture of relaxed summer camp coupled with incredibly intense lindy hop training is wonderful. The dancers that arrive each year seem to leave their egos at home, everyone dances with everyone and everyone has a permanent smile affixed.

The Private Collecion

I must divulge a bia here, The Private Collection is an event that I produce personally. That said, I think I would love it as much if it wasn’t mine. The atmosphere is very exchange like because everything is so “chill”. While there isn’t as much dancing, as it is a weekend workshop, it just has that feel common to so many exchanges. Classes are all instructor choice, and teachers are only doing a couple of classes each so there is ample time to hang out with them. The price is great and everyone there is super friendly and hungry to learn.

technorati tags:Balboa, Lindy-Hop, SONH, All-Balboa-Weekend, Lindy-Focus, Swing-Out-New-Hampshire, Private-Collection, workshops, swing-events, swing-dancing, best-swing-event, lindy-weekend

Yes Dancing

Last night I had the pleasure of teaching a blues class with Mihai of San Francisco. Well really he did most of the teaching will interjections from me and some also from Abigail, but he and I collaborated pretty evenly during the prep time.

The class I was involved in was a masters class, which of course means we got to do some pretty cool stuff. It is important to note here that I’m a lindy hopper at heart, until recently blues has been little more than a really neat niche reserved for my wife and late nights, with few, but existent, exceptions. I’ve had few remarkable “blues” dances, but I have had a few.

The crux of the class really became focused on one exercise, which was awesome. Everyone paired of and then the followers were asked “How would you like to be led?” Firmly, gently, authoritatively, loosely, distinctly, creatively, playfully, etc. We did allow for a few moments to explain. Then we all danced for a minute. Then the leaders were asked “How would you like to be followed?” Literally, playfully, interpretively, hesitantly, attentively, etc.

Specifically I asked for my follower to follow me precisely and to extend my endings, so at the end of a turn or lead or what not to take freedom and continue the motion somewhere else, just don’t do anything different with my lead. The results were surprising. And then I asked someone else to follow loosely, yet aggressively. To take my lead and really “go for it” but not worry about going exactly in the event inspiration hits.

After we rotated a couple of times we did the exercise again, but saying “yes” when your partner did something that lined up exactly with your request. It was amazing. One of the best dances I’ve ever had, and it sounded like I wasn’t the only one with the same reaction. The room was filled with a crescendo of “YES”.

So this got me thinking… what if I started every dance that way, and specifically requested a “yes” each time I fulfilled her/his (because I do dance with guys too) request. It may not work so well for fast dances, but I bet it could revolutionize slow and medium dances, if I can get my partner to go along with the idea. I could see that coming off as creepy.

So here’s to more “YES” dances across the community.

technorati tags:Blues, Lindy-hop, Swing-Dancing, Mihai, Vintage-Rhythm, Abigail-Browning, dancing, workshop, dance-class