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Swinging Projects for Lindy Hop & Balboa Dancers

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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


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>> 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)

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Live Band

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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«.

Here is…

Week #4: Your Favorite Live Band

That's easy and I don't have to think about it:

Gordon Webster

Gordon Webster

In my eyes, there is no other band out there right now which brings such an energy onto the dance floor right from the start of the concert like Gordon Webster and his band (in different formations: Gordon Webster 7, Gordon Webster Sextet, feat. Naomi Uyama, feat. Steven Mitchell).

I have seen Gordon several times at different events and different locations and it's always like that!

No idea, how they do it.

At the end of the night, the dancers get crazy and the band gets crazy. The energy and the inspiration is going back and forth like a ping-pong game.

If you haven't seen them live, you're missing out on something.

And if you don't have his CDs, you're missing out on something again.

Posts about Gordon Webster on this blog

And don't forget to check out Gordon Webster's website.


<< Last Friday: #3 A description of your favorite partner (and why they’re your favorite)

>> Next Friday: #5 Your favorite Lindy Hop variation dance (charleston, balboa, shag)

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: A Description Of Your Favorite Partner

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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 is…

Week #3: A description of your favorite partner (and why they’re your favorite)

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge on Shuffle Projects

Another one of these «favorite something» questions… argh 🙂

I love to social dance and sometimes you have these magical moments with a person. Everything matches, it's the perfect communication.

In these moments, that person is your absolute favorite partner and you wish it would never stop!

But the reality is different. Another time, when you dance with the same person, the dances may be still great, but the magic is gone.

Would you still call this person your favorite partner? Probably not anymore.

My dancing is changing all the time, and (hopefully) evolving. Also my mood at events is not always the same. Even my confidence about my dancing is alternating. Therefore, also my favorite partners are changing.

When I think about that last paragraph, then I think this applies manly to people I don't know very much.

Because there is another group of favorite partners: they are all more or less close friends to me. With them, it's not only about dancing levels and perfectly matching dances, it's also about the relationship I have with them and feeling comfortable to spend time with them!


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