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30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: That Move You Love

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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“.

Let's talk about moves.

Week #18: Texas Tommy

I like the Texas Tommy and all the variations that use the concept of bringing the follow's arm behind her back and creating fluent movements.

It takes some time and practice especially to get this flow.

“Texas Tommy Yo-Yo”

“Texas Tommy Yo-Yo” by Kevin St. Laurent & Jo Hoffberg. The quality of this clip is horrible, but you get the idea of the variations I'm talking about.


« Previous: #17 Styling
» Next: #19 That move that eludes you

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Photo Of You Dancing

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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“.

Week #16: A Fantastic Snapshot

Christian Bossert and Tiphaine Paillard @ SHSC 2011
Dancing with Tiphaine @ SHSC 2011. Photo by Stefan Deuber.

This photo was taken at the Studio Hop Summer Camp in Eauze France in 2011. I was dancing in the Balboa Jack & Jill finals with Tiphaine Paillard.

I just love it. A fantastic snapshot by Stefan!

I can't remember what was that funny but obviously, we were quite relaxed 😉


« Previous: #15 Favorite classic clip
» Next: #17 Styling

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Classic Clip

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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're reaching the middle of the series.

Week #15: Classic Clip “A Day At The Races”

Beside Hellzapoppin (who would have thought it?…), there's another classic clip I can watch again and again:

That's a very lively clip, there's so much going on. I love Ivie Anderson, the dancing fat man is cult and of course the inspiring Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, although without Frankie Manning!

It was another group of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dancing in this clip. At that time, Frankie was performing with his group at the Cotton Club in New York.

Frankie writes in his book [easyazon-link asin=”1592135641″ locale=”us”]Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop[/easyazon-link]:

“Some people think that I choreographed Day at the Races, but I don't say that. Before the Ethel Waters group left New York, each couple did their own solo, and I coached them and gave them suggestions about where to put steps. This is where their individuality came out.

Then I gave them the ensemble section, which included the horses that are done at the end of the scene. […]

The routine was shortened in the movie, so I can't say they did exactly what I choreographed, but it's fair to say that I was partly responsible. […]”

Frankie wasn't jealous that not his group got to be in the movies. To be performing at the Cotton Club was a big deal!

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« Previous: #14 Your Swing group of friends
» Next: #16 Photo of you dancing

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Swing Group Of Friends

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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“.

I'm late again…

Week #14: My Best Friends Are Dancers

Most of my friends nowadays are dancers. It just naturally happened.

Many of them are longtime friends since the beginning of my swing dance career.

When I started dancing Lindy Hop more than 10 years ago, I was regularly travelling from my former hometown to Zurich (one hour drive) to dance as much as possible.

Marcia, my present dance and teaching partner – who actually was my first regular Lindy Hop teacher! – introduced me into the Zurich swing scene. Thus it happened that I met a lot of new people and soon after, I was part of a performance troup.

The majority of these guys are still involved in my local scene and over time, I became best friends with a few of them.

Through my extensive travelling I also made international friends. I even got two brothers: a Catalan and an Austrian :). I love to hang out with them and spend time as much as possible when I see them.

I have non-dancing friends as well but I have to admit, that most of my activities and social contacts are somehow related to dancing.

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« Previous: #13 Favorite Dancing Memory
» Next: #15 Favorite classic clip

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Favorite Dancing Memory

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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, it's already Sunday, but here I am with this week's topic:

Week #13: Herräng Changed Everything

Herrang Dance Camp

As you already know, I attended Herräng Dance Camp in 2000 for the first time.

Before I left for Sweden, everybody who had been to Herräng before was telling how special it will be and that I will get into this special 24h swing mode and that this is a feeling I haven't had before with Lindy Hop dancing.

Well, that set my expectations very high. Too high, I have to say, at least for the first few days when I was at the camp. There was no such feeling at all and I felt lost.

Instead, it was overwhelming. So many options (and I would say nowadays there are even more): daily meeting, evening classes, talks, lectures, parties, etc.

I had the feeling I need to attend all of these, otherwise I would miss something. Overwhelming indeed.

Then, I think it was on Tuesday night, I had this magical experience that changed my dancing and how I looked at it forever.

I was dancing with a friend of mine from Switzerland and it was like having a conversation with each other. She was doing something and I was responding, I was doing a move and she took it and made something out of it.

When you're an advanced dancer, then you think: So what? That's the idea of social dancing.

Right!

But to me, that was completely new.

At that time, I already was dancing for several years, ballroom and all kind of other stuff. And as to me, it was about learning steps and moves and choreographed patterns. No improvisation at all. The music was just decoration.

And here I was as a Lindy Hop newbie (I started 9 months before), under a charm, improvising TO the music and dancing WITH someone.

“Now, I know what dancing is!” That was my conclusion after these extraordinary dances.

Of course, I was looking for this magical feeling again and again and more often than not, it was not there while dancing.

But I had now something to strive for.

There was something else I could take from that experience

You don't have to be a super advanced dancer to have these magical moments while dancing. Just enjoy yourself and don't think too much about your dance level!


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