I just danced in from Omaha. Boy, are my legs tired. Ba-dum-bum.
About 10 of us from Sioux Falls made the trip down to Omaha this year for their annual Lindy Hop event, Cowtown Jamborama. Second year for me, first year for most of my students. 3 days of classes, 4 nights of dancing. Let’s bypass all the obvious stuff. It was beyond awesome, the dancing was incredible, the teachers were amazing, you really missed out if you didn’t go, and so on and so forth. There’s so much new information I have from my experience to share with all of you (and believe me, a lot of it is coming right here to this blog), but today I’m going to talk about something besides the technique.
I’ve been immersed in swing dance culture for more than 9 years. It’s second nature to me. I know the background, the timeline, the hot spots, the main players. And I’m so used to living in that environment that I often overlook introducing new students to the actual lifestyle of swing. Sometimes, that’s a good thing because there’s so much that it can be overwhelming. But to the people like myself, and my partner, and so many of our students who have fallen in love with the dance, it’s so important to remember that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Something that connects us intimately with people we’ve never met on the other side of the world.
Lindy Hop has an astonishing history. Both in America where it gave a voice and an audience to so many great African American dancers at the Savoy Ballroom, and in Europe where swing kids were persecuted and driven underground by the Nazi regime. Lindy Hop has an astonishing future, with swing dance scenes developing in every major city in the world and new generations discovering the love of the past. I’ve seen teens and 20-somethings wearing a t-shirt in the dance scenes that says, “I was born in the wrong decade.” I kind of want one myself.
But more importantly to us, Lindy Hop has an equally astonishing present. How wonderful is it that dancers from all over the country can come to a city for a weekend just to share their love of dance with each other? And in that community, we speak the same language. We are brothers and sisters to people we have never met because of the dance that links us together. My heart and gratitude goes out to Nathan Woodhams of the Omaha Jitterbugs for organizing Cowtown Jamborama, and to all the organizers that help to bring us together.
Music, clothing, people, dance. It’s hard to fall in love with one without the others. I listen to big band swing, I wear a fedora, I idolize Frankie Manning, I dance Lindy Hop. I invite you to explore our world. Discover all we have to share. There’s more than you ever imagined. And all we want is for it to make you as happy as it has made all of us.
Enough talking. Now come dance.
