I was wondering if anyone else here enjoys swing dancing. Wikipedia reference if you don't know what it is: here
I never danced before in my life, till I went to college this spring. Most schools/colleges will probably have some kind of disorganised dance at their official dances, but at my college practically everyone swing dances.
It's very fun, old-fashioned, American, fast dance. There's a plethora of moves that you can string together in any order (along with crazy stuff like aerials and such). I know a bit of eastern swing dance, which is a little more complicated (harder footwork, especially for us guys), but at college dances we usually do our own, simpler kind. Then there's the weekly swing dance club practices, where we usually work on stuff like aerials.
Usually in swing you dance with a different partner each song, so you get better dancing with a bunch of different partners. That's how I made most of the friends of mine that are girls at college.
Generally you won't see something of quite this level at our usual dances (both of them are pretty good) but here's a vid of a friend of mine in a swing dance competition at my college:
Oh, and girls normally tend to enjoy it when guys know how to dance alright, and it's very simple to show a girl the basics of swing, only like 5 minutes before it can look fairly good (maybe 10 minutes to teach a guy, since in this dance the guy's always the leader).
Tried it, thought it was a lot of fun, then I started playing ICCUP instead of going to the lessons. Also didn't have anyone in particular to dance with, so that didn't help. Still, I pretty generally hate dancing except for swing. I encourage anyone to try it who likes the music. That's pretty important.
I've never tried, but I've always wanted to. A little late to join my school's swing club, but do you know if there's any online/written materials I could look at?
there's a cowboy bar here that people go to for dancing like this. it's really quick to learn and even the girls love to show the guys the basics. a few years ago i had 2 neighbor girls who were really good at it and showed me a lot of steps and variations.
compared to the video the good couples here are much more faster and flip their girls more
swing dance is a lot of fun. my school had a club for it too and they would organize dances with other schools in the area. There are SO many dances and places to learn. easiest way is to just go to a college campus and say hello. I've never heard of swing dancers not willing to teach! oh, when you first start you'll probably learn east coast which is boring as all hell, but a lot of the other styles are tons of fun (particularly lindy hop). the male to female ratio is pretty baller too
On July 07 2010 11:40 Megaman703 wrote: I've never tried, but I've always wanted to. A little late to join my school's swing club, but do you know if there's any online/written materials I could look at?
Unfortunately I can't recall any good sources atm (other than looking up specific moves on youtube etc.). I learned at college, and also some from the local swing dance place in the town I live in. Swing dance is pretty popular in my area
One thing is that sometimes swing seems to get boring, especially if you get hung up on the footwork. Really, it can be better to learn a simple step or two then start working on stuff in the upper body, such as a bunch of turns looped together, and the pretzel.
Edit: Another thing is that a lot of swing places will only play old music from the era in which swing originated (1940's, I think). That can make some think that you need real swing dance music to swing dance, but really swing can go with a lot of different music, including modern music (I personally like a mix of the two).
On July 07 2010 12:12 Chairman Ray wrote: Looks fun, I might try to learn it sometime. I prefer solo dancing personally. I'm learning Irish step at the moment.
Coincidentally, Irish dancing is also one of the other dances popular at my college. Though I don't do it.
The other kind of dance I know some of is contra dance, some really old traditional group dances (like square dancing, sort of) from Europe.
The thing with swing is that it's hard to find clubs and venues that play swing music. Give salsa dancing a shot instead. It's similar to swing dancing but a lot more popular right now. Also, it's the biggest racket imaginable for picking up girls.
I love the lindy hop. It's a more technical form of swing dance but it's extremely fun.
Honestly I was starting to get bored with east coast swing after a while and I feel lindy hop has a lot more dynamic and tension to it than regular swing. That's why I try to do lindy hop whenever I can
Jitter bug is indeed a kind of swing. As is lindy hop
Can't say I've heard of salsa dancing myself. Probably depends on area about what's popular; if you google "swing dance" you'll come up with stuff for central PA (which is where I live), and my college's pretty close too. So basically in my region swings prolly more popular.
I love swing dancing! Holy crap, most awesome thing ever. If you think you might like it, I encourage you to give it a try. You can find places to dance in your city by googling (name of city) + "lindy hop". Actually if you ask in this thread, I'll try to tell you any good places near you for this kind of dancing. I'm kinda obsessed with it myself, so I'm happy to help anyone else get started
As was said, you'll generally enjoy a dance if you like the music it is danced to. Although getting into swing has made me appreciate the music a lot more than I did before I started dancing... it's true that if you don't like the music, the dance won't be enjoyable for you.
If you like swing/vintage jazz music (or similar-era stuff like 50s rock or jump blues), learn lindy hop. The dancing is extremely energetic and based almost entirely around improvisation - very few set patterns other than the basic (swingout). They might start you with east coast swing first as it is a lot easier for a beginner to pick up, but it isn't as fun of a dance, so learn lindy when you can.
If you like pop, disco, or mid-tempo blues, learn west coast swing. The dancing is less energetic (not a bad thing, just a different style) and incorporates some ideas from club/hiphop.
Actually there's no reason not to learn both. WCS evolved from lindy in response to changes in popular music. There is a fair amount of overlap between the techniques. I don't really "know" wcs, but I go to their dances occasionally and have a fun time.
Yeah, my college is also in Central Pennsylvania and I'm learning east coast swing, which has more jitterbug and some lindy hop while west coast swing is a more relaxed lindy hop. I enjoy east coast more just because it can be played with an older type of music while west coast is generally danced to country and pop.
I've been at it for just over a year, it's great fun and has become a big part of my weekly routine. I did my first aerials workshop a while ago and that was some of the most fun I've had.
On the whole I'd highly recommend it to anyone - great social activity, good exercise, and it's impossible to listen to that music and be anything but upbeat.
I learned how because it was the only venue at which I could get a date with the girl who is now my girlfriend. The longer you do it consistently the easier and more fun it becomes.
Many community clubs often hold weekly socials which usually include introductory level lessons at the begining I would suggest looking into such communities groups. Its alot easier to pick up in person.