Shuffle Projects

Swinging Projects for Lindy Hop & Balboa Dancers

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Class Taken

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

This week, I'm talking about:

Week #9: Favorite class taken – Not a dance class, though

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Class Taken

It was in 2005 at Waterkant Jam, a Lindy Hop festival in Hamburg Germany.

Lennart Westerlund, yes THE Lennart, was teaching a musicality class with live band.

He was talking about the structure of jazz and the band was playing what he was talking about.

I would say, to have a live band in class was at that time quite unique.

But that's only half of the story.

If you know Lennart, then you know that he does things always a little bit differently.

So, he was talking about the AABA structure. Therefore he lined up three apples and another fruit as a visual example. Then he started to eat pieces of two apples to illustrate, that not all of the ‘A's in the AABA structure are exactly the same.

It was hilarious!

Could one show you that in a more memorable way?


<< Last Friday: #8 Your favorite instructor

>> Next Friday: #10 Favorite workshop weekend (Lindy Focus, Camp Hollywood, etc) or one you’d really like to attend

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Instructor

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30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge on Shuffle Projects

Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

Here is my topic of this week

Week #8: Instructors, who have inspired me a lot

There is no such thing as a favorite instructor.

They all are different. Some of them I adore, some of them I don't like that much. That's normal, isn't it?

So, how should I choose THE one. Impossible, at least to me.

Therefore, I'm going to tell you, who of the instructors inspire/d me most and why.

Johnny Lloyd

Johnny was my first Lindy Hop teacher. When I started with Lindy Hop in 1999, he was one of the most influential people in the swing scene in Switzerland. I liked his smooth and elegant style. He taught a lot about lead & follow and didn't focus on crazy moves.

Frankie Manning

Of course, I have to mention Frankie. He was not only a huge inspiration as a instructor, but also as a human being. And his hearty laughter is legendary.

Peter Loggins

Peter's shuffle style inspired me a lot. I spent hours to learn and practice the shuffle steps to finally create my own style.

Marie Nahnfeldt & Hasse Mattsson

Their warm and friendly style of teaching stands alone. I don't know any dancer who doesn't like taking classes with these guys.

I once had a private lesson with Hasse and we were working on the swing-out. Hasse just said to me how to start the swing-out: “invite her”. I tell you, these two words changed the way I do the swing-out forever!

Nick Williams

Two things I really like about Nick: His ability to break down moves, no matter how difficult they are, and his marvelous musicality. No idea, how I can nearly get there 😉

Carla LaRue Heiney

Carla's professionalism as an instructor impressed me a lot.

It was in Eauze at SHSC, when I asked her after a class about the move we just learned. It was a quite difficult body movement the lead had to do. Carla danced with me, backled the move and I understood it within two minutes, what I couldn't figure out during the whole class.

Sylvia Sykes

Sylvia has this dry sense of humor. I learned a lot from her and I use many of her explanations in my own classes. And, I just like her!

Laura Keat

Laura is very empathetic and she can give you feedback that is really helpful and pushes you forward. I try to be as helpful as a teacher as she is.


<< Last Friday: #7 Something You Really Want To Learn

>> Next Friday: #9 Favorite class taken

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Something You Really Want To Learn

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

We reached the seventh week and the topic is

Week #7: Something you really want to learn

Of course, there are many things I want to learn – I really want to learn – but I guess I have to confine myself to one topic.

Learn To Be A Good Follow

Yes, this is something I really wanna be good at, both in Balboa and Lindy Hop.

I'm already following from time to time but not very well.

Why do you want to learn to be a good follow? Aren't there enough follows?

Well, I understand this question. Most of the times, there are too many follows at dances and I can imagine that it's frustrating when there are two guys dancing with each other.

But, I believe it helps me to become a better dancer (see 33 Tips & Actions How To Become A Better Swing Dancer):

  • I learn to move my body in a different way than I'm used too
  • I appreciate more the follows and their skills as such

I must add though that you can be a great dancer without knowing the opposite role.

Random Clips

It's not new that guys are dancing with each other. When you watch the first clip with Al Minns & Leon James, then you can suppose that guys already danced in the 1930s and before with each other.

Al Minns & Leon James (couple dancing starts at 2:34)

Adam Lee & Voon Wai


<< Last Friday: #6 Your favorite group dance (shim sham, tranky doo big apple, etc)

>> Next Friday: #8 Your favorite instructor

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Group Dance

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

As promised, I'm back on track. It's Friday again and the topic is

Week #6: Your favorite group dance
(Shim Sham, Tranky Doo, Big Apple, etc)

I'm really a bad group dancer because I never really learned any of them properly, unless the Shim Sham and the Jitterbug Stroll at the beginning of my Lindy Hop career.

Dean Collins' Shim Sham

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Group Dance: Dean Collins Shim Sham

There are various Shim Sham versions out there and many of the original dancers created their own.

Right now, the Dean Collins Shim Sham is my favorite one and I started to learn it. I like the different energy levels, sometimes it's very smooth, only to become more energetic in the next moment.

Especially the second part is packed with Dean Collins' typical jazz steps such as “Tabby The Cat” or the “Savoy Kicks“. These movements are fairly distinctive and I totally love them.

Clips

This clip is featuring Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. In the first part they are performing “Hep And Happy” and you can see a few excerpts of the Shim Sham.

Another clip is from 1983. Dean Collins (on the right w/ white trousers) & Bart Bartolo are performing the Shim Shim to a rather slow song.

The last clip is from 2000 and shows Lisa Ferguson & Peter Loggins performing Dean Collins' Shim Sham at the London Lindy Hop festival.


<< Last Friday: #5 Your favorite Lindy Hop variation dance (Charleston, Balboa, Shag)

>> Next Friday: #7 Something you really want to learn

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Lindy Hop Variation Dance

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Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

Well, I'm too late this week, it's Saturday. Never mind! Here is

Week #5: Your favorite Lindy Hop variation dance
(Charleston, Balboa, Shag)

If you are a regular visitor on this website then you already know the answer. My absolute favorite is:

Balboa

Meanwhile, I would even say Lindy Hop is my favorite Balboa variation dance, I have become that addicted to that dance :).

Lisa Ferguson & Peter Loggins by Lisa Johnson
Lisa Ferguson & Peter Loggins
Photo by Lisa Johnson

My first contact with Balboa was in 2000 (or 2001, I'm not sure anymore) at Herräng Dance Camp where I booked a Lindy Hop week.

Peter Loggins & Lisa Ferguson, one of our instructor couples, were teaching Balboa in their classes. At that time, you couldn't sign up for Balboa classes.

I was still pretty new to Lindy Hop and therefore I had a hard time to memorize this “new” dance. At nights, we were dancing Lindy Hop so I couldn't practice the Balboa outside of the classes.

When I got back home, nobody did the dance and I forgot the steps as fast as I learned them.

After these classes, I took one or two taster classes, but the steps I learned there were kind of different to the ones I had learned before.

By 2006/2007, Balboa had become very popular in Europe and I had the feeling that one have to know to dance Balboa beside Lindy Hop.

Back in Herräng in 2007, tired of taking Lindy Hop classes, I took up Balboa again. It was much easier now to learn the steps but unfortunately, the music in the library, which has become the Balboa room in Herräng, was too fast for me and my partner. Again, we danced mostly Lindy Hop at nights.

I liked the dance from the beginning and I really wanted to learn it but as you can see, it needed me a lot of effort, to really get into it. I couldn't see any possibilities to improvise in this dance.

One year later, my girlfriend and I decided to attend the Balboa week at Studio Hop Summer Camp. The concept of dancing Balboa all day and all night seemed to be the only way to avoid dancing Lindy Hop at nights.

But it was also scary. I hardly could imagine how it would be possible to dance Balboa all night and this for a whole week. Remember, I thought there is no space of improvisation in this dance.

I'm so glad I did this. On the third evening I had this dance epiphany and everything changed. I started to understand the dance, the movements made sense and suddenly, I discovered lots of improvisation opportunities within my dances.

Since that night in the summer of 2008, I'm hooked on Balboa!


<< Last Friday: #4 Your favorite live band

>> Next Friday: #6 Your favorite group dance (shim sham, tranky doo big apple, etc)