Dancing in the Aisles

My partner, Anna, and I had an opportunity recently to teach for a couple days at the Washington High School dance class.  I was a Freshman when I started dancing, and I try to share what I do with the high-school students at least once a year.  The students were polite and receptive, but probably not as involved as I would have hoped.  There was a very clear perception about learning partner dance that they had… “When am I ever going to use this?”  Worse yet is it’s not limited to them.  Time and time and time again, people who aren’t involved in the dance scene resist learning because, “When am I ever going to use this?”  So I thought I should give a few choice examples of opportunities I’ve found in Sioux Falls.

Anna, Josh and I were on our way down to Cowtown Jamborama in Omaha recently.  We were all psyched up for an amazing weekend of lessons and dancing, and boy, we were ready to dance.  We stopped at Subway on the way down and were waiting our turn at the back of a small line.  No worries.  I was humming a swing tune and Anna and I were dancing right there in Subway.  Josh took pictures.  Believe it or not, there weren’t nearly as many confused stares as you would have expected.

A couple weeks ago, coming back from day two of teaching at Washington High School, Anna and I stopped at McDonalds for lunch.  It was still early and they weren’t serving lunch for another 15 minutes, so we decided to hang out an wait.  I got my iPod and player out of the car, and there we were passing time by dancing in the isles at McDonalds.  It was very cool to see that everyone was smiling and enjoying watching us playing around and having fun.

One of my students used to work the cubicle gig at Qwest.  It’s a long, dull, frustrating job of dealing with irate customers all day.  He told me that things improved when he figured out he could be doing triple steps in his cubicle.

There are singles groups and dance studios that have dances pretty much every week.  There are a number of different bars in town with dance floors that bring in people and play music all night.  And that’s really all you need.  Music, a floor, and someone to dance with.  It’s so easy, it’s requires so little, and it really does make everything better.

When are you ever going to use this?  Anytime you want.

Cowtown Jamborama 2009!

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.

Who inspires you?

Back when I was living in California, there was a member of our local swing dance scene named Cid Galicia.  Cid is a renowned swing DJ along the west coast, but I remember him much more because he was just a slick dancer.  Well, our main weekly Lindy Hop event at the time was at a small studio owned by a friend of mine.  I didn’t always have someone to dance with.  So on the songs I was sitting out, I would stare at the floor and imagine seeing myself out there dancing.  I would think, “If I were dancing right now, what would I be doing?”  I did come up with a few new steps and ideas about technique that way, but the breakthrough was when I changed it to, “If Cid were dancing right now, what would he be doing?”  All of a sudden, whole new worlds opened up.  Cid had (probably still has) a much larger repertoire than me, and picturing him dancing meant seeing him doing all the cool stuff that I didn’t do.

Well, once I realized that I could choreograph these beautiful routines for Cid, it was time to try it out for myself.  Whenever I stepped out on the dance floor, I’d ask myself, “What would Cid do?”  My dancing improved immediately!  All of a sudden, I had a larger repertoire than ever before.  Could I do everything Cid could?  No.  But definitely a lot more than before.

Our biggest limitation is how we see ourselves.  Placing ourselves in the shoes of another liberates us.  The classic one is, of course, “What would Jesus do,” but it works equally well for dance.  Watch videos of the pros and find the dancer that inspires you.  Watch as much of them as you can.  Get to know their steps and their style.  And when you’re out dancing, ask yourself what they would do.  Then do it.  Make mistakes, try new ideas, experiment.  And remember that no matter what, you are still an artist.  You are still adding your own style, your own attitude to the dance.  You are unique, even when you emulate another dancer.  Aspire to be better than yourself, and discover how good you really are.

Thank you, Cid, for inspiring me to be better than myself.

Life, Swing Style

I’ve always loved the performing arts, not just dance. The arts academy where I learned to dance helped me find some great chances to perform, and I was lucky enough to spend a few nights singing with a big band.  And like so many others, I caught the buzz about wanting to be a real star.  So I took what was promoted as the “easy road” for people in my generation and decided to audition for American Idol.

I was still living in the suburbs of Sacramento at the time, and the closest place to audition by far was L.A.  But I’ve always hated Los Angeles.  Too crowded, too polluted.  No where else was close.  And it was a huge trip just to face the 99.5% odds that I was going to be eliminated in round one.  So I opted not to go just for the audition.  I was going to head to one of the major cities to dance.  I would find a swing scene who’s social dance coincided with the audition dates, and as long as I’m there… well, I might as well audition.  Out of all the places across the country that they were holding auditions, I ended up in Minneapolis.

Here’s the cool part-  I posted a message on the Twin Cities Lindy Hop message board saying that I was a dancer from California coming up to dance and needed a place to stay.  Within a day, a great guy named Justin contacted me back saying that he had an available guest room and I was welcome to stay as long as I liked.  Just like that, I had free lodging, transportation, and a guide for both the swing scene and the town.

I love the community feeling of being a Lindy Hopper.  Camps, exchanges, and workshops are always great about finding hosts so that out-of-towners don’t have to worry about paying for a hotel.  Social dances are always wonderfully welcoming to newcomers no matter where you are from or how experienced you are.  And I’m happy to have had the privilege of returning the favor for Lindy Hoppers who have come to visit Sioux Falls.

The auditions played out just like I thought they would.  I was eliminated in round one.  But the dancing in Minneapolis was awesome, and I wouldn’t have traded the trip for the world.

The nature of swing




I want to share with you a conversation I had the other day. I was talking with a swing dance friend of mine from out of town who, for the moment, we’ll call “Jane.” Jane is still fairly new to the Lindy Hop scene, but she is an excellent businesswoman.  She and I were discussing how to expand and bring new classes and opportunities to Sioux Falls (I don’t remember it word for word, so I might be paraphrasing a little).

Jane: “Why don’t you offer classes to younger kids? You can make a lot of money from parents who want their 4 or 5 year old to take dance.”

Me: “That’s true, but I don’t really feel comfortable teaching kids that young when the style is, by its very nature, about sex and chaos and rebelliousness.”

Jane: “It doesn’t have to be about that. If the dance is just chaos,
what’s the point of steps? Why wouldn’t you just do whatever you want?”

A momentary pause…

Jane: “Oh, wait. That’s how you dance, isn’t it?”

Me: “Now you’re getting it.”

This conversation really made me laugh, because there’s so much truth in it about what swing dance is. When Jane and I dance, she is always a little surprised at the variety of steps and styles that I use. I’m always a little surprised myself. Very rarely does a night of dancing go by where I don’t try something I’ve never done before. It’s chaos, and it’s awesome.

Yes, when you take a dance class you learn steps. But that’s not the point. Not even close. Dance is about having fun. There are no rules. There is no right and wrong. But rather than think that you can do whatever you want, remember that the trick is being able to communicate whatever it is that you want to do to a partner. Learning steps is just a means to an end. Imagine dancing with someone and being able to use steps and tricks from hip-hop, tap dance, belly dance, break dance, even disco,* and not only have your partner follow you, but make it look flawless! Like it was the plan all along. This is the glorious benefit that you get from all of our classes. Freedom.

If that’s something you want to experience (and it’s even better than it sounds), then treat yourself to one of our classes. Become an artist, and share your creativity with every person you dance with.

*I have personally used each of these styles when dancing Lindy Hop.