The Swing Movement

[Paisley]

While I agree that back in the day, a few dancers got carried away, I think experienced dancers are quite skilled at avoiding other dancers. I hav seel floors full of dancers as i am sure all the dancers here hav, where many people work well together.

I think that the problem sometimes is non dancers who are not as savvy at avoiding other dancers. granted, if everyone is just doing a simple closed position swaying back and forth, no one bumps into anyone.

But I have alwasy thought, with apologies to anyone who says different, that this is the common phrase thrown about by people who just did not like the dancers "intruding" on their scene with a little less concern about style and clothing.

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I'm all for new people learning to dance and staying for the band or DJ. I'm also for dancing with newbies: I detest the attitude of "I'm only going to dance with other rock stars and pretend that everyone else doesn't exist." And while dressing up a little is great, I've never been bothered by those who don't.

 

[Salv]

This is nice - not lindy, jive or jitterbug, but some fine moves:

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[reetpleat]

And we are both a lot older and wiser...I remember you!

Regarding invading others' space on the floor - for about 3 years, I studied Cuban popular dance with a master from Havana. He says that there, if you nudge someone else on the floor, it is like slapping them, and you tend to get beaten up!
Even when the music gets very hot, one stays in one's own little orbit, so that everyone can enjoy the experience. And when you are talking about outdoor dances on the plaza, with about 3000 dancers at once, you see the reason for that self-control. Also, they all dance exactly on the beat, so you can hear the orchestra. And no talking! Cubans are an interesting culture, they take the music very seriously.

I would not care to bump into an old cuban or a harlem hipster on a day he was in a bad mood. But I don't think you can compare closed position style dancing to lindy. Maybe they should have divided the floor. Lindy hoppers are fine avoiding each other, but if you try to mix closed position ballroom type dancers and lindy hoppers, they lindty hoppers will bump and hte closed position dancers will get in the way and neither will like each other. On bigger floors it tends to be the fox trotters or non hot dancers around the outside ahd the hot dancers in the middle. Back in the day and now. But we were trying to dance on such small floors sometimes and athe lindy hoppers were all so new that some of them tended to not have the control of an experienced dancer.

 

[reetpleat]

And we are both a lot older and wiser...I remember you!

Regarding invading others' space on the floor - for about 3 years, I studied Cuban popular dance with a master from Havana. He says that there, if you nudge someone else on the floor, it is like slapping them, and you tend to get beaten up!
Even when the music gets very hot, one stays in one's own little orbit, so that everyone can enjoy the experience. And when you are talking about outdoor dances on the plaza, with about 3000 dancers at once, you see the reason for that self-control. Also, they all dance exactly on the beat, so you can hear the orchestra. And no talking! Cubans are an interesting culture, they take the music very seriously.

My Grandfather was a active dancer in mexico city in the fifties. i can only imagine the bands he saw. Before coming to new your, many cuban greats fleeing the revolution ended up in Mexico.

Mainy danson. It is said that a good danson dancer can dance on a brick. It is avery small dance with complex and subtle footwork. I am sure you can fit many danson dancers on a small floor.

 

[reetpleat]

The 40's and 50's jive classes will be rocking/R&B based rather than swing/jazz and the style will be quite different.

This is typical UK-style jive:
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There are some lindy classes in Brighton - try this page first, there are a couple of different classes on Monday nights. And there's a contact number for another class on this page.

Jive is cool and I love how popular it is amongst the rockin crowd. But I have alwasy found the arm pumping a little dosconcerting. I am not sure if that is authentic to the fifties or not. If so, I thin it is a european variation as I have never seen it done in quite that way in the states in old footage. Much more geared to teh hard beats of r and b than lindy, although lindy was and can be adapted to a bit of a more rockin feel. Watch don't knock the rock for great examples.

I like jive but do consider a lindy a bit more complex and elegant, and if you can do that, you can easily pick a jive style with little effort.

 

[reetpleat]

(In regards to the Jive youtube clip):
It looks like Jive is east coast swing (6-count swing) with heavy styling in the body. Lots of arms, "attitude", etc. Not a lot of footwork at all like boogie woogie.
If you're just starting with swing dancing, probably start with East Coast Swing just to get moving. Hopefully they will teach you triple-steps in it. From there you will need to learn more about lead and follow connection....

I very much agree. I alwasy recommend somene start with east coast swing. Very versatile, and while learning the lindy swing out is a whole new thing, if you have the ecs foundation, it will not be too hard, and it also would be easy to pick up jive.

Jive is as simple as doing ecs but not alwasy rock stepping, so it can be four count or six count, then if you want to do the english style, just pump the arms up and down. Actually, there is a little more, you pivot the follower a bit rather than just the side step side step. It is fun.

 

[ChrisT]

very interesting thread

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Indeed. It is a few years old but most things didn't change much. In europe the Lindy Hop scene is growing. Most dancers still don't dress up much.

Last weekend there was a swing event in my town and Lennart Westerlund talked about the development of swing in europe. When he started in the early 80s in sweden there was no scene. They tought they were the only people still interested in this dance and tought themselves from film clips (no youtube!) and books. Only later in the 80s they travelled to New York and met Frankie Manning and some others. Quite impressive. I think it is cool to have all the possibilities to take courses and watch movies that we have now. Oh and about the clothes of the 80s swing pioneers....you don't want to know.


PS: I am still not a good dancer at all. It would be silly for me to "judge" other dancers based on their modern outfits. But of course I would love to see more "dress up" events.

 

[ChrisT]

in the book "Amercan Allegory" one may read:
When the Lindy Hop dance featured in the Gap advertisement became a national sensation, other companies immediately started utilizing the dance in their own marketing. Companies such as Haggar Clothing, Buick, Kahlua, Brummell and Brown, TNT NBA Basketball, Toyota, Dockers, Dis-ney, Burger King, Carson Pirie Scott...

Do someone know where one may see these commercials? I know the Gap video, but not the others.

 

[ChrisT]

PS: I am still not a good dancer at all. It would be silly for me to "judge" other dancers based on their modern outfits. But of course I would love to see more "dress up" events.

In the "Paris Flying Festival" some of us will be in vintage (style) clothing