Hey all :) So my local swing dance group is having a big anniversary party with a live band. It's my first event where I feel like I have all the basics solidly down enough to really enjoy and start adding my own style. Would love to celebrate with a new outfit. Any recommendations where to find some cool retro/vintage stuff? submitted by /u/tql102 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Hello, I'm a jazz musician (sax player) and I'll be leading my own band in a few weeks at a Lindy hop event. I never did this before so I'm looking up some info. I'm reading the ideal tempo for Lindy hop dancers is between 100 and 200 bpm and that 130-160 bpm is the perfect range. Is this right? So I have a few extra questions. Do you ever dance on ballads (like 60-80 bpm)? How about waltzes? Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/ontheginza [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Our small organization has been offering financial assistance for events and lessons for several years now. Nobody has ever requested financial help from us. I understand there is a stigma behind asking for financial help, but we kind of figured at least one person would have asked by now. We are at the point where we feel we should be revisiting this topic and make some kind of change, so we are looking to other groups to see how they operate. Does your dance scene or event offer financial assistance? How long have you been offering it? How often is it utilized? What have you done to promot ..read more

Would any experienced collegiate shag dancers be able to give me a little background on shagout variations and styling? I’m a primary Lindy Hopper who has been learning and dancing shag recently. I vaguely heard of ‘Shagouts’ (the collegiate shag version of a swingout) but have never been taught them. I assumed that you would adapt your shag footwork to an 8-count/single-time(?) basic (i.e. quick-quick, slow, quick-quick, slow) while performing the general mechanics of a swing out, and I have been experimenting and with leading that on the floor to some *success (as far as I can tell). But to ..read more

So I'm a pretty anxious bean, but I really want to improve. I've been dancing for a couple of years now, so I'm definitely at a point where I'm not getting much feedback from teachers who are actually teaching the class because I'm not completely goosing the footwork, elbowing anyone in the face, or trying to rip anyone’s arms off. There's one teacher in the class who will occasionally give me a bit of feedback when I lead (when he's just in rotation), and it's always extremely helpful and like, immediately improves whatever I'm trying to do by 100000% There's a lot of other dancers that I re ..read more

I'm looking for videos that illustrate Lindy as a conversation between partners really well. I'm not sure if I'm describing it well, but basically I'm interested in things that really show both lead and follow responding to what the other is doing, in the way that Laura Glaess describes here: https://youtu.be/4BvQuMkrj-U?si=xBFFpJ7RpsAvsp_d Obviously every high-level dance features this to a degree, but not every dance shows it in obvious ways. Maybe my question is not very good or clear, but I'd love any suggestions anyone has (videos of choreographed routines are probably not the best thing ..read more

Hi all. I'm looking for a move I've seen some people do during social dancing a couple of times (I cannot ask because I have not seen them again lately). I would describe it as a "delayed swingout" but I'm not sure. It is a swingout variation in which it feels like the stretch in 3-4 is prolonged a bit into the 5-6 and then the follower is sent forward in a much more swoooshy way. It is somewhat similar to this syncopated swingout here but without the over-rotation (I tried searching youtube for just "syncopated swingout" but didn't find it like that either). Do note that since I have only se ..read more

My partner (F37) and I (F33) have been going through a travel bucket list and came across a potential hang up. We both love swing dancing and I want to go to more extensive swing workshops around the world. She wants to go to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We may have found the best of both worlds with Novellang Swing Camp in the beginning of August. I asked my local scene and some people warned us that there's a 50% chance that the Italian scene might be very conservative and unaccepting, or they might be fully accepting of our relationship (and my partner's status as a transwoman.) Does anyone ..read more

I’ve been dancing all my life (mostly contemporary ballet, but some jazz, tap, hip-hop, etc.). When I moved to a new state for grad school (almost 10 years ago) I picked up swing dance as a way to meet new people. I met my now husband at school and convinced him to try swing. He had never danced or played music or anything, so there was definitely an imbalance of skill. But he got much better as time went on and he’s still my favorite person to dance with. We even had a big band play at our wedding and got to show off a few moves. The problem is, in his words, he has a different relationship ..read more

Or is it just not for lower level classes? I prefer to learn new movements by counting the beats out. This helps me remain connected to the music while I’m learning, but most of my classes use things like “rock LEAD” or “triple LEAD.” I watched a YouTube video where the instructor told leads to remember that you are usually leading on even beats. That seems a lot easier to remember than by thinking about the step sequence. Now when I learn tuck turns, it’s been helpful to notice that I feel the compression with my partner on the 4. Does this change or is it all the preference of the instructo ..read more