Proud To Be...
"What's swinging in words? If a guy makes you pat your foot and if you feel it down your
back, you don't have to ask anybody if that's good music or not. You can always feel it."
--Miles Davis
|
Jack Spratt Could Eat No Fat...
so he went swing dancing
Started in the 30's, Swing Dancing is making a come back today. Movies like Swing Kids
and Swingers along with new swing bands like "Brian Seltzer's Orchestra" and "Big Bad Voodoo
Daddy" are catching the attention of teens all over. The first time I heard swing music was
in a Socials class. We were watching Swing Kids, a movie about life in Germany during World
War II. The music was upbeat, catching and, best off all, different than the stuff I'd been
hearing for way too long on the radio. I borrowed the sound track from a friend and got
hooked. I had no idea how many others did too.
A couple of years later, I was hanging out with a new group of friends and they invited
me to go swing dancing with them. Turns out, they regularily went swing dancing on Friday
nights. So, I joined them and caught on pretty quick. This is pretty amazing since I've
never been good at dancing. Could never get myself to move right to the music, but swing
dancing was way different. The groove is so unmistakable and so strong that it is next to
impossible to just stand and listen. You HAVE to dance or at LEAST tap your foot. There are
so many things you can do. You can learn a few moves and perfect them or you can make up
your own stuff as you go along. And the best part is, you can always get better. It's never
boring because you can always learn new stuff, or make up new moves, and it's always
different when you dance with someone new.
The two most common types of swing dancing, at least here in Vancouver, are East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. East Coast is what most people start out with. It has a nice and easy basic step and is loaded with flashy moves that look good right from the get go. After a couple years of East Coast I started noticing a lot of dancers pulling really neat twirly moves. I wanted badly to learn that move and it wasn't until a year later that I realized it was a whole different dance - Lindy Hop. Lindy Hop is much smoother and graceful than East Coast. When done well, the basic move - that twirly one - can feel better than the best East Coast move. There are many more dances as well (balboa, shag, blues, west coast) that are danced on a swing night.
So, get out there and try it! But beware, you'll likely get hooked.
|
If you've never heard a swing song before, don't judge it on a pathetic little midi version.
|