| Lindy Hop primer |
[Apr. 22nd, 2007|11:39 am] |
I posted something on Jared's blog about what you need to start lindy hop (he said he has a problem with coordination, which stops him doing certain things). Unfortunately, it turned into a bit of an essay, so I'll post it on here. This version has been heavily modified so that it applies to people in england rather than america. It remains guy-centric though.
The level of co-ordination you need to go to a beginner class is pretty basic*. Look for a class with a social dance afterwards, and go along to that. Things to google for are:
"lindy hop" (best dance in the world),
"jitterbug" (another name for lindy hop. Seems to be used by people who like to dress up in period costume for it)
"balboa" (for lindy hoppers that want to get intimate :P )
"swing dancing" (a general term for the family of dances. People are sometimes careful about using the word "swing", for obvious reasons)
www.yehoodi.com (has a forum where you can probably find a class with a good social dance after)
Ask me (or any lindy hopper) about "Judy's list". You can't google it, but you can get someone to forward it to you.
* Many dances have a simple "basic step" (set of steps less than 5 seconds long), and your feet do that same thing (or simple variations on it) for a whole song. Eventually, it stops being about coordination, because you don't have to think about your feet. If you're not very co-ordinated, it's not a problem: it just means that you'll need a bit more time learning the basic step.
* Triple-steps are sometimes quite tricky to do at first, but most good teachers will wait until their whole class can do them before moving on (or leave them out entirely in some beginner (East Coast Swing) classes). Triple steps are useful because a follow can use a single triple step to move a good metre or get most of the way around a turn (basically, they're good for flash-gits).
* If you can hop four times without having to put your other foot down, you're balanced enough to learn the charleston basic. You can't really avoid the charleston in england (certainly not Cambridge) because it's what everyone knows. The charleston is marginally harder than the triple step based 6-count basic, but it's easy to improvise with. It's possible to dance a whole dance with simple variations on the charleston basic without worrying about your partner getting bored.
Notes on social dancing:
Most places have more girls than guys, so you don't have to keep a boring conversation going for too long before some girl will ask *you* for a dance. As long as you say "sorry, I've forgotten your name..." before every dance, and "thank you" afterwards, you'll have a great time and meet lots of really nice people. "hey: can you remember how to do that thing they taught the other week?" is a good way to start a conversation with anyone (guy or girl).
Don't get too worried if you think someone's flirting with you: They're not. It's just a dance. Guys/girls who *repeatedly* try to get off with other lindy hoppers at regular events quickly get a reputation, so generally they don't (or if they do, they don't do it *on* the dance floor, and especially not at regular weekly events).
For people who know another form of dance: Note also that Lindy Hop is different to things like ballroom in that lessons are always very closely associated with the social scene, and there is almost always a social dance immediately after lessons. This leads to some quite interesting differences between social dancefloors of the two styles. For example, there are certain phrases that are acceptable on a ballroom dance floor that are less popular in lindy socials.
For example:
"Sorry, I can't dance the [type of dance]"
becomes "*sweats and catches breath* tell you what: give me a dance to cool down, and I promise I'll dance with you next time"
or "*bounces for a few seconds to get the beat* Bloody hell. It's a bit fast/slow isn't it? What are they [the DJs] trying to do to us? [I reckon we could dance half time/double time/( or tango/samba/waltz if you really don't like the DJ) to this? Let's do it!]"
"No: I think you're doing that wrong"
becomes "*changes to a different basic*"(for guys)
or "that's an interesting variation *attempts to follow*"(for girls)
or "*confused look* You'll have to teach me that step later"(for both)
"*following/back-leading something that wasn't led*"
becomes "*hesitation*...*improvised break/jazz step*"
or "*waits until the lead actually leads her somewhere*". This means that you can dance with beginners/intermediate follows from another part of the country, and it tends to go by with only a few surprises.
"*Taking a girl and doing loads of moves that she doesn't know, expecting her to follow*" sometimes happens, but that can't be helped sometimes. If you mess up and lead something that can't be followed, most people either do a break, or default back into charleston basic (which almost everyone can follow and is always fun). |
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