Wednesday 17 December 2014

swing versus sport

my favourite sports teams
my favourite sports teams











I am a passionate sports fan. I have been throughout my life and I support teams in a variety of sports with the badges for the most prominent of those featuring above. I have also played a load of different sports for just as long, competitively and just for fun, although if you ask some of the ones I played pick-up basketball with at university they may argue that my competitive switch was never really off - which maybe why they nicknamed me 'Violent Boy.'*

However, despite my incredible love for sport, it is slowly being superseded by my love for swing dancing for several reasons.

Some of the more astute amongst you may be able to recognise every single badge up there (if so, I'm hugely impressed) and consequently may now also be questioning my judgement when it comes to choosing teams, but this may also reveal where I got the inspiration for this post.

Last week I watched my beloved Liverpool exit the Champion's League and then lose to some herd of glipes from Manchester. In fact, of the eight teams that feature above, only two of them (the Irish rugby team and my local football club, Ards) won their last matches with the other six losing. Liverpool, like most of the rest, have provided me with some serious highs over the years and as have some of the teams I have played for, but now that I am regularly going to swing dance events I am finding an alternative source for my kicks.

In fact, not only is swing dancing a guaranteed high but it also pretty much guarantees no lows - physical or pride injuries aside.

When I watch my teams play in big events the nerves I get are something awful, and unless my team are steamrolling the opposition I can rarely relax until the final whistle. On top of that, I really resent the antipathy that is often shown by players and/or fans (and occasionally by me) towards players and/or fans of the other team.

Swing dancing events, however, are like a slightly paradoxical hippie utopia but without the bits that might be described as 'night-time telly' - everything is legal and everyone is full of love for their fellow man, happy, atypically dressed, sweating with strangers and a diminished concern for personal hygiene, and high on music and dancing.

Seriously, what is not to love about that?!

The buzz I get from swing dancing weekenders sometimes stays with me for a good few days after but I have yet to get that from a sporting victory and that's also because it is also much better fun being the one doing something than watching someone you don't know doing the same thing (because that's what spectator sports effectively are about).

And if you are thinking "well, you just need to play more sports rather than watch them!" then you've missed another of the advantages of dancing: you can't lose!

I've been fortunate enough to have played for a few amazing teams and some of them were even cup-winning sides. The elation I experienced from that was incredible but it is also rare, maybe happens once a season at best, and those seasons are hard to come by. The rest of the time you inevitably have to deal with defeat in one guise or other but with dancing you just cannot lose. Sure, some dances you have are better than others but even if you mess up, no one cares! And if something really bugs you then you can get that same person up again for a do-over and laugh about it or forget the whole thing without having to worry about how you let your team down and having 10 or more team-mates scowl at you.

I understand that one of the great features of sport is that the pay-offs come after a whole season or more of working towards a title and so the reward is hard-earned and all the more satisfying; but the same can be said of swing dancing.

Whether or not I choose to compete is another matter, but every time I step onto the dancefloor I hope to improve on the last time - maybe with a new move or refined technique - and that is because I have been working on those aspects of my dancing. So when I nail something that I've never nailed before it makes me rather happy, and I imagine everyone else is the same.

Furthermore, aside from solo blues, jazz or others, dancing is a team enterprise! Whether you are performing a routine, dancing with a regular partner or even dancing with a complete stranger - you are working together towards the common goal of being awesome. I know I've finished dances and practically strutted off the dancefloor with my partner sharing a euphoria with her that equals how I have felt after scoring the winner in an important match.

I love sport, I still do and I'm pretty sure I always will (although Sepp Blatter and his crooked FIFA cronies continue to test my love of football) but in contrast with sport, swing dancing is all wheat and no chaff, is exercise without thinking about it, and, like local lad Rory McIlroy at a golfing Major - for me, a swing weekender is a four day procession to ecstasy.

[*Based on the 'Violent Boy' moniker it may be fair to suppose that I didn't do enough to adapt my basketball playing style as, although the folk I learnt to play the game with were all really decent guys, it's safe to say that the physicality I developed when playing with them on street courts in Berkeley and Oakland, California did not translate well when I went back to Scotland to play with with university professors]

Monday 8 December 2014

Lindy Hopper's Delight 2014

a class of lindy hop swing dancers from Galway's Lindy Hoppers Delight
my workshop class from the weekend











Lindy Hopper's Delight is the title that Galway's November swing weekender goes by and it is bang on the money.

I'd mentioned before that I was excited to visit Galway after hearing a number of ringing endorsements about the swing scene and about the city but most of all about the people and, for me at least, the latter is key - not only because it's why I most look forward to visiting new spots but also because it's why I choose to revisit them; and I know I'll definitely be back in Galway.

(and that's not just because Skye and Frida will be there in April!!)

My weekend in Galway got off to a later than scheduled start as my university graduation was the very same Friday and, as that was in Scotland, by the time my delayed flight to Dublin had arrived and Anna, dance partner extraordinaire, had very kindly collected me from the airport it was close to 2:00 am before we were able to check into our hostel and quietly sneak into our dorm room causing as little disturbance as possible.

Although, as one temporarily terrified roommate can testify, it seems we were somewhat unsuccessful with the latter. Sorry, David!

At breakfast we met a few familiar faces from the Cork lindy hop scene and that set the tone for the rest of the weekend as about half of the people there had either visited events in Belfast or else our paths had crossed at other weekenders, and the small size of the classes meant it was very easy to get to know the rest.

A lot can be said for the more intimate teaching environment they had in Galway and I know we all benefited from it because at some stage I'm sure every person there received individually tailored advice from the pros on one thing or another.

That's not to say you don't sometimes get that in bigger classes, but often time is a constraint and it's not always possible to give specific tips to every person in attendance. So, what then happens is you get more general advice, like "I can see a few people doing this but what you should be doing is that..." - which often causes a whole load of people (often the ones that that advice is targeted at) to nod their heads in affirmation whilst silently scoffing "huh, well, I know he's not talking about me..."

clockwise from top left: Michael & Evita, Sarah (with Éamonn O'Sullivan), and front and centre of the most fun lindy hop photo out, David


The teachers for the weekend were Michael Jagger, Evita Arce, David Zilkha, and Galway's own Sarah McHugh and everything they taught was fun and fresh. I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be swing-wise but after nearly two years of learning lindy hop it's rare that I can go to that many consecutive classes and learn that much novel content.

It wasn't just that they were sharing new moves but also new techniques and tips on floor craft - which may have been a consequence of my first foray into a higher ability-level class - so if I really take them all in, the little chestnuts offered here and there should have a much more profound effect on my overall dancing than just being able to add a couple of new moves to my repertoire.

One of the things that most stood out to me about the teachers was the smoothness of their dancing - something that I find more synonymous with west coast swing and doesn't always get the same emphasis in lindy hop - and David's style in particular, perhaps due to his background in contemporary dance, focused less on large ostentatious moves but more on creating visual contrasts in the size, speed and height of his lead (and therefore his follow) which resulted in a hugely varied display every time he danced that was fantastic to watch.

However, as much as I truly enjoy classes it is socials where the fun really happens and what a social it was.

Again reflecting the smaller size of the workshops the social wasn't huge - even though the numbers had been swollen a little bit by the arrival of other Galwegians who hadn't been to classes - but I found this to be a virtue rather than a shortcoming; especially for someone like me who enjoys the challenge of trying to dance with every follow in the room at least once but often finds that to be a futile aspiration at large events

The music started well and just got better as the night went on (with a sprinkling of my favourite stuff - rock'n'roll - towards the end to really finish on a high!) and as I had lost time to make up for, having completely missed the social the night before, I was determined to stay on the floor for as long as possible. This was made an incredibly easy task by the fantastically fun dancing that was to be had and as some of the tunes played were especially conducive to more animated interpretation, with a few of them even coinciding with a couple of dance crushes here and there, I can honestly say it was one of the best nights of dancing I've had.

Away from the dancing, Anna and I attempted to make the most of our weekend in the West of Ireland so as well as going to a few jazz socials in local bars on the Sunday and Monday nights and another (solo jazz) class led by Sarah, we also took the opportunity to go to see the Cliffs of Moher. Or at least that was the aim as the rain and coastal fog conspired to soak and obscure all who approached them. Consequently I monopolised a hand dryer in the visitor centre toilets for about half an hour as I took off and dried just about everything I was wearing (key info: I was in a cubicle) and it was one of those rare occasions where I was glad they had an old fashioned jet-engine type hand dryer and not one of those funky Dyson Airblade yokes.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and I would encourage everyone to take a trip to Galway if they can - although, if you'll allow me to be selfish, maybe not all of you at once or it could mess with the intimate vibe that makes it so special...ha! A huge thanks to Paul Neary and Sarah McHugh for organising, Galway Swing for hosting, the fantastic teachers: Sarah, David, Michael and Evita, and the amazing dancers from/visiting Galway who made the weekend what it was and I'll hopefully see you all again in April!

And finally, I also want to give a quick mention to Sheila for telling me she has been enjoying reading this blog! I've been incredibly grateful for the feedback and tips I've received so far as I get to grips with this blogging malarkey but it means that little bit more to hear it for the first time from someone I've never previously met and so was under no obligation to say nice things to a friend! ...and all being well, my head will have suitably deflated in time for my next blog post...

In fact, there is going to be another post about Galway to follow shortly with some photos courtesy of the fantastic Anita McGarry Photography so you can all have a shufty at what was going on!

Saturday 6 December 2014

Frankie Manning: the Passion, Part I

it's hard not to find a photo of Frankie displaying his sheer delight at what he did











 
This is the first half of an article that is featured in its entirety on the Frankie Manning Foundation's website but I shall also be sharing the second half of it here next month!

The Frankie Manning Foundation recently asked me to contribute an guest post about Frankie and being given such a broad remit for such an important figure was a little daunting as there are already plenty of easily accessible resources that detail all of the key events in his life (and, as ever, Wikipedia provides a good place to start). But it occurred to me that something was rarely presented in many of the emotionally-neutral chronological pieces on his life and that was a prominent mention of his pure and unbridled passion for lindy hop.

By all accounts, Frankie had a gregarious personality and a genuine knack for teaching but had these not also also been allied to a radiant passion it is likely that lindy hop would not be as popular as it is today, and I felt that this was something that deserved to be more celebrated.

I have spent many years in education, first as a student and now working at a university, and along the way I've met academics who have really affected me - mainly for being fantastic but occasionally for being completely awful and the key distinction between those groups was either an abundance or absence of passion for their own field.

The great educators just bubble with excitement for what they do and entice you to feel the same way. Some have more traditional methods whilst others head off on the most amazing technicoloured tangents but no matter what they say, it sticks, and you can only become infected by their zeal.

The not so great ones, however, occasionally challenge your natural instinct to keep breathing and I can remember one particularly prosaic lecture where, in an attempt to entertain myself, I assembled a variety of confectionery items and other things with labels still attached and set about deciphering barcode. The raw excitement of that lecture has somewhat obscured my memory of what it may have been about but I know that by the end of it I could look at the thickness and arrangement of the lines and determine the numbers that should be typed beneath them.

These may seem like slightly random anecdotes but I share them because they are genuinely relevant and not only to the university lecture theatre but to teachers in a wide variety of disciplines and that includes dancing. Truthfully, I have not yet encountered any apathetic lindy hop teachers (who I have found to all have an infectious contentment with their lot) but I have found it to be the case in other styles. It's not that such teachers don't have a passion for dancing but it seems that this passion is not something they want to risk sharing with their students, and to borrow a sporting analogy: the best athletes don't always make the best coaches.

Frankie, however, not only seems to have been a fantastic dancer but was also able to translate that into being an excellent proponent of the hobby he loved so dearly.

As a newcomer to the lindy scene, having only started dancing last year, I had never had the opportunity to learn from or even meet Frankie, so I can only share second-hand stories. Nonetheless, what really comes through from the people I know who met him, learned from him or danced with him is how utterly happy lindy hop made him and how Frankie had a steadfast desire to share his elixir. And so, with this in mind, I chatted with a few folk I know who took it from his hand and drank deeply.

Potentially, there are plenty of people I could contact who had well known connections with the man himself but I have specifically sought out the ones who have directly influenced me in my brief but blossoming relationship with lindy hop and whose passion to continue Frankie's legacy has been clearly apparent to me.

Swing Belfast's Bahia Ma'ani (L), and (R) Frankie Manning at the far left of a Whitey's Lindy Hoppers lineup











There's no better place to start than in my own home city of Belfast (which, along with London and Manchester, was one of the venues for Frankie's first visit to the UK as part of a Whitey's Lindy Hoppers tour in 1937) where I have benefited from the effervescent tutelage of Sharon Matchett, Richard Turner, Adib Ma'ani-Hessari, and Bahia Ma'ani at Swing Belfast and it is Bahia who had first-hand experience of Frankie's passion when they shared a dance at a social celebrating his birthday.

I can well imagine Frankie being seriously in demand in any social never mind the one on his birthday and Bahia admitted that this also happened to be fairly early on in her lindy career so the usual fears of inadequacy at first socials were likely further magnified by the status of the person she was dancing with, which is probably why, Bahia confesses, she was too scared to speak to him. But that didn't stop Frankie from beaming at her throughout and putting her at least a little more at ease.

By itself, a single dance may not illustrate much but Bahia remembers being amazed, not only by his obvious joy and the gentleness of his lead, but how Frankie kept getting up and going despite the high energy demands of a night of dancing and even in his old age it was clear that his passion for lindy hop had kept him young and healthy when other octogenarians were developing more sedate proclivities for crosswords, velcro and beige.

[... the rest of this article can be read on the Frankie Manning Foundation website]

Tuesday 18 November 2014

the dance crush

a couple swing dancing in harmony
spontaneously clicking with a new dance partner is an incredible experience











With another big event rapidly approaching, one of the things that I'm really hoping to experience again is a 'dance crush'.

In each of the three weekenders I've been to so far I've had at least one social dance with someone that can be described as such and in each case that usually ends up as one of the highlights of that weekend.

To start with, this is not a crush in the conventional boy-meets-girl sense of the word where eyes meet across a crowded dance floor... hearts flutter... and daft declarations are made. Instead, a dance crush is someone who, though you may never have even met before let alone danced together, just gets your lead, can read and match all of the idiosyncratic nuances in your dancing style, and ends up feeling like an extension of your own body. 

It. Is. Incredible.

And this is of course a two-way thing so just as many follows bounce off the floor after having had a telepathic connection with their lead where they could sense a move coming before their partner had barely intimated anything (definitely not to be confused with back-leading) and they had absolutely nailed every move their lead attempted.

I could get a little Byronic with my description, but one way I can think of portraying it is like being able to turn an artistic thought into a perfect reality.

Whether it was in school or it still occurs on a daily basis I imagine most folk have at some stage picked up a paint brush or a camera with creative intent and the work of a master as inspiration, only to later concede that they were unable to translate the artwork that had been etched on their mental canvas into a satisfying realisation.

With a dance crush, however, the movements of the girl at the far end of your arms are just as you'd envisaged and she is a veritable Mona Lisa with a whiff more eyebrow.

Before anyone misinterprets what I am saying I need to stress that this has nothing to do with the ability of the lead or the follow but everything to do with just the chance meeting of two dancers with perfectly complementary styles. I've had dance crushes where I was the weak link and others where I was perhaps the more experienced half but in each case our dancing styles just clicked and the outcome was amazing fun.

We all have our own style that has been influenced by one factor or another - for example, if you are a recent convert from salsa chances are you dance slightly differently to someone who is a reformed ballroom dancer - and it is these subtle differences that make each of us look different on the dancefloor.

Add in that you can't really tell if someone else's style is going to blend with yours so perfectly adds to the unpredictability and rarity of the experience and ensures, if you are so fortunate to experience a dance crush, that is becomes one of the abiding experiences of the weekend.

Tuesday 11 November 2014

swingin' in new places with new faces

swing in full flow at the Bishopsgate Institute in London
swing in full flow at the Bishopsgate Institute in London











In just over a week I'm heading to Galway for the Lindy Hopper's Delight weekender and I'm absolutely stoked. Sadly I'll miss the Lindy Hop Championships on the Friday as it coincides with my university graduation but I'm really looking forward to the workshops and socials on the Saturday and Sunday, seeing familiar faces, visiting a corner of Ireland that I've quite embarrassingly never before set foot in, and, more than anything else, finally experiencing the Galway lindy scene that I have heard so much about.

I absolutely adore the local swing community in Belfast and it has been amazing to watch it grow to a size that matches plenty of other cities I've been to but when I also get the opportunity to travel and meet new people in a big, established scene it's hard not to get really excited.

I had my first experience of that in June this year at the London Swing Festival, followed that up the very next week with a trip to Cork (both lindy hop weekends) and in September I went to my first big west coast swing event, the Midland Swing Open, in Birmingham. On top of that I've had the opportunity to swing in a few other cities and countries but it's the non-stop workshop weekends that give me the biggest buzz.

For anyone that hasn't been to a dance weekender I can't recommend them enough and that especially goes for those that are completely new to swing. Understandably it can be hard to justify the price of some of these events if it's only a new hobby as, unlike that new bike you bought in 2012 after watching Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins make cycling look like a good idea, you can't recoup some expenses on ebay when you come to your senses. But, if you reckon you're in it for the long-haul, the amount you can improve in just one weekend is incredible and there are usually plenty of other folk there who arrive complete newbies but leave confident dancers.

At most weekends the workshops are split into different ability levels and this time I'm pushing myself by going for a higher level than I have previously as I've decided I'd rather be at the bottom of a challenging class than at the top of a more comfortable one. All being well I won't be the obvious class dunce but I think the risk is definitely worth it as I stand to gain a lot more, not just from the teachers themselves, but also from the other 'students' and, taking the London Swing Festival and the Midland Swing Open as examples, I know I came back from both on a high and a seriously improved dancer.

Learning new moves and refining old ones are the more obvious benefits from the workshops themselves but getting the opportunity to meet a whole load of new people is one of the things that's guaranteed to get me going.

Maybe it's because I'm trying to make up for lost time after barely speaking for much of the first 18 years of my life - so much so that my grandparents dubbed me "The Quiet Man" after one of my Granda's favourite John Wayne films -  but when you've a load of people in the one room that all share a common passion the conversation creates itself; and I often enjoy giving it a hand.

In each of the events I've attended so far I've met some great people, many of whom I'm now in regular contact with, and it's a wonderful thing being able to rock up somewhere new and have people there who can show you around and introduce you to the rest of the scene. An example of that was just this past summer when I went to Bordeaux and I was able to get in touch with a guy I knew in the local lindy scene who brought me along to a social for a great night out.

I have also just booked to go to my first event that actually requires a passport to get there - a west coast swing weekender called 'Budafest' (guess the location; hint - doesn't involve Asian enlightenment) and I'm planning on going to a few more lindy and west coast shindigs over the next year but for now I am very much looking forward to heading South to Galway (via Scotland!) and I am sure I will have plenty to report when I get back.

Wednesday 5 November 2014

swing slate 7: tips for beginners

seven simple swing tips
seven simple swing tips











In my last post I mentioned some of the fears that beginners may face at their first socials so here are a few tips that I hope will help ease the nerves! 

• skip the first half of the song • a simple solution for anyone new to the social dancing scene who's worried that the repetition of the limited moves they know will bore their partner is to wait until the song is about halfway through and then ask someone for a dance as this way it's unlikely the repetition will be obvious. I used this a lot when I started out and it really helped build my confidence.

don't be afraid to repeat those basics there's not actually anything wrong with going over the same basic moves again and again - practice makes perfect is a cliché for a reason, but the idea that practice also makes permanent is incredibly true. I have watched professionals dance to an entire song genuinely using only the three or four fundamental moves you learn in your first few classes and it looked phenomenal, so if you can make those moves second nature you're home and hosed.

• do they smile? • before you rush towards someone to ask for a dance have a look to see if they smile when they're dancing with others. This sounds seriously cheesy but it doesn't matter what level you are at: if your partner doesn't smile at all when you feel like you are having fun and pulling your best stuff it can be very disheartening and especially if you've not yet got confidence in yourself. So look for the ones that always have a grin ear to ear when they dance and when you partner up with them you'll feed off their energy.

• dance to songs you know well • this is a great way to take the edge off because if you know the song inside out you'll probably be able to relax a lot more and you'll be more able to feel out the rhythm without having to listen to it intently, mentally repeating "one, two, three-a-four...", BUT, and best of all, dancing to a song you know and love is one of the simple pleasures of swing dancing!

• I ask to dance, not to sex this might sound a tad ridiculous but for most people the only other environment where people go out to dance is a nightclub where the intentions behind approaching a stranger in a dimly lit room do not always have the noble intentions of dancing/conversation as the end-goal. When you go to a swing social dance, however, the atmosphere (and lighting!) is completely different. I'm speaking mainly as a bloke, here, but it took me a while to get used to the idea that I could saunter up to a girl to ask for a dance without fearing her presumptuous rebuttal. I should say that I'm not so naive as to think that more 'adventurous' thoughts beyond a swing dance don't occur to a few (and as a good middle-ground for that there is blues dancing or kizomba) but beginners should know that you can confidently walk towards a potential dance partner projecting only good intentions.
experienced dancers don't bite • I've mentioned before that experienced dancers should do their bit to get beginners up and going but I also really want to encourage new folk to ask the seasoned swingers - they were in your position once, will likely say yes, and you'll probably learn more in a few dances than you did in a few weeks whilst looking pretty flash at the same time! You can also use this opportunity to help out your more nervous friends by asking the experienced dancer to get one of them up.

and finally... • have a chat with the person first it's called social dancing for a reason! Go over to someone, introduce yourself and just get chatting! You are both there for your mutual love of swing dancing so you can ask for tips, how they got into it, how long they've been doing it etc. whatever you want and if that other person has any sense then they'll get the hint and ask you for a dance - and if you time your conversation right it combines nicely with tip #1!

Monday 3 November 2014

grab a newbie

being the new guy at the social - a little scary
new guy new fear











In the time I've been dancing, few things have yet to top the terror of my first few social events.

Classes can be intimidating for anyone starting out but at least you are surrounded by others at your level, all being told exactly what to do and with each move repeated until it starts to stick, but socials are a different beast entirely.

It would be great to be able to plug away at classes until you have everything completely nailed and then strut out onto your first dancefloor as a finished product, but as anyone with even just a few events under their belt will stress: it's social dancing where you really learn, especially if that's with someone who knows their swing onions.

That said, one of the subtler caveats of partner dancing is that it requires a partner and plucking up the courage to acquire one when you're the new guy/girl can be a tad scary; especially when you've probably done what most new dancers do at socials - sit and watch for the first while thinking you just want to take it all in before getting up but in fact all you're doing is building up a subconscious fear you're seriously out of your depth.

For those of great testicular fortitude maybe nothing phases you and you're quite content to bounce up to the local pros on your spacehopper-sized balls (or the equivalent female metaphor) and prepare to blow them away with the best basic steps ever performed. But, for everyone else, other than dancing with classmates you're probably not going to get an opportunity to partner up with some of the more experienced dancers unless you're asked.

It's easy to say that beginners should just step out of their comfort zone and ask but I think it is much more important for the more experienced dancers to remember that they were in the same position once and to make a point of getting the new guy or girl up for a swing.

I feel incredibly strongly about this and it's probably due in part to a bad experience I had had one night at a social early on in my (now defunct) salsa career when I approached a girl for a dance who, after taking a moment to look me up and down, gave me a flat "no". After a brief pause I went to the next girl who told me she was taking a break and wasn't dancing to this song... but as soon as I stepped away she was up with the next guy that asked her.

That wasn't the end of my night, I know I had a few more dances before I left and if you can believe me I genuinely don't keep it as a chip on my shoulder but two rejections in quick succession really burnt and, going beyond making sure I never refuse a dance, I make sure to ask the quiet ones in the corners or the person hovering with intent near the edge of the dancefloor who knows no one there and barely knows the steps but is already infected by the fun of swing and is raring to give it a rip.

I'm hardly alone on this as I know plenty of others do the same but it's still worth highlighting for the sake of the rest that don't and who risk looking like an elitist clique. I've said before, and I will never tire of repeating, just how wonderful the people in swing are and I guarantee that if any of these more experienced dancers are asked 99% will say yes, but I do think a greater onus should be on them to actually initiate the dance in the first place.

This also doesn't just apply to the swing bourgeoisie but to anyone who knows they've been dancing longer than the other person sat there tapping their foot in anticipation - even if you have only been learning for a few months and are far short of where you want to be, ask up the girl or guy that you know has probably only been to about three classes and just have fun. Not only will it help your own progress and confidence but it will make you feel like a rockstar and the positive effect you will have on that beginner is priceless.

We've all been that beginner so pay it forward and go grab a newbie.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

the swing bat-signal

swing dance bat signal over Belfast
An artist's interpretation of a 'Swing Bat-Signal' over Belfast











I was out in Glasgow over the weekend for a friend's birthday and we ended up in a place called Drury Street Bar & Kitchen - cunningly enough, on Drury Street.

It was a great venue and it also had great music; but that was a serious problem.

For the first hour or so there was an ace little live swing band and they were followed by a great DJ set but there wasn't a swinger in sight and, like a kid standing at the window of a locked toy store, I stood and imagined all the fun that was there to be had but was tantalisingly out of reach.

I got a few of my more eager friends up and attempted to teach them some basic Charleston but although they gave it their best shot, understandably no one wants to learn to dance in the full glare of the public, so that came to nothing. I also approached a few random strangers who I thought were giving out the international signal for swing dancer by tapping their feet along to lindy hop music on two but, alas, it too was nothing but smoke and mirrors.

This has also been a regular problem at weddings.

One of the things I got really excited about, after taking up dancing, was thinking about being able to go to large social gatherings such as wedding receptions and being able to dance without resembling that uncle we all have who refuses to conform to societal or rhythmical norms.

No such luck.

Invariably the music is great, whether lindy hop or west coast swing appropriate, and each time a great song comes on I scour the function room looking for some syncopated body movement but each time the search is fruitless. What is worse is that, now that my friends know how fond I am of swing dancing, they expect greatness on the dancefloor. Try as I might, however, I have yet to make a partner dance look anything other than completely daft when performed solo.

It's possible that doing a couple of rapid two-handed sugar pushes at the right moments to Donna Summer's Hot Stuff might just about work for anyone wanting to recreate the most famous scene from The Full Monty but otherwise you really need a partner.

In fact, I have a wedding coming up in December when I know the music is guaranteed to be good so as a precaution I have invited my regular dance partner as my +1 just to be on the safe side!

That said, it would be great if there was a universal signal or motif you could wear to such things to try to root out other dancers without having to ask everyone the same question. A special handshake, or an app that makes your phone vibrate when you're within range of a another swing dancer, or, best of all, put out a great big Commissioner Gordon-style bat signal and hope for the best.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

the music, part II: west coast swing

Usher. It is nigh on impossible to find a photo of this man with his shirt on.











Perhaps one of the reasons that west coast swing does not yet have the same following as lindy hop is west coast swing's versatility and its lack of association with a particular musical genre.

When I hear music from the Big Band era or a rock'n'roll tune and I start tapping my feet I also picture a certain look or style of outfit and start thinking about swing-outs and rock steps. West coast swing, however, does not have a 'look' (although it does have a few cliché wardrobe requirements that I shall mention in a later post) and as it can be danced to just about anything it also doesn't have a specific 'sound' either.

For this reason, I think the versatility of west coast swing is a bit of a double-edged sword but one of the big positives for me is that it lets me dance to R&B. For the benefit of any purists I actually mean contemporary R&B and the stuff that blurs the lines with pop music, rather than the soul or funk-infused Motown equivalent; so Usher, Boyz II Men, R Kelly, Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake that kind of thing. Yeah, I know my credibility just dropped in the eyes of some but I feel no shame. In fact I'll even go one further and say Justin Bieber is actually capable of greatness as I think his collaboration with Tyga on Wait for a Minute is one of the best west coast swing songs out.

...and now a short pause for some to reassess a few life choices as they come to terms with learning that one of their favourite songs features the Biebster...

As I said in my previous post, I can trace my love of the old swing music to growing up listening to my parents' music but my love of R&B comes from slightly different origins.

On a family holiday when I was a wee'un I made friends with some kids from the US who introduced me to the work of a now fairly prominent white rapper and some other guy who, based on his title at least, appeared to be combining music with a medical career. This was an entire genre of music that I had never previously encountered and I was quite taken by the bass, kicks and snares, thankfully unaffected by the lyrics but sadly very curious about the fashion (this latter point resulted in some highly questionable sartorial decisions which I am convinced cost me a date with a major crush - apparently such clothes were not designed with skinny, white Northern Irish kids in mind).

My interest in the music, however, developed from rap and hip-hop to the lighter, pop-blended R&B with its slower rhythms and rich, cheese-sprinkled melodies and dancing to this stuff is a lot of fun. Much like a Big Band or rock'n'roll tune has me bouncing, a lot of these R&B tunes just make me want to move (Usher's Pop Ya Collar and LL Cool J's Phenomenon remain two of my all-time favourites) and as the music is slower it makes hitting the breaks even more satisfying and provides a lot of opportunity for personal expression.

As I have said already, west coast swing's incredible versatility means dancing it isn't just limited to a single genre of music. I've been to several events that have played the odd blues, country, Americana, classical or even deep house tune and once you've calibrated yourselves to the tempo you can cut loose and swing away to just about anything and it is this opportunity for experimentation with such a wide variety of music that is one of the reasons west coast swing is so appealing.

Friday 17 October 2014

the music, part I: east coast swing & lindy hop

Buddy Holly & the Crickets performing on the Ed Sullivan Show on the 1st December, 1957
Buddy Holly & the Crickets performing on the Ed Sullivan Show; 1st December, 1957











As I said before, it's one thing to just listen to the music but it's a whole other ball game when you can feel it and, for me, that's one of the biggest reasons I love swing dancing so much - lindy hop/east coast swing and west coast swing both. In fact, that's probably the main reason I got into swing dancing in the first place.

Like most people, my early music tastes were influenced by my parents and what they had playing in our house when I was growing up. This music ranged from Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Rod Stewart and ABBA to Kenny Rogers, Foster & Allen and Daniel O'Donnell depending on who held sway on the radio at that moment or the level of punishment to be meted out. I even had a few records of my own including the evergreen soundtracks to Postman Pat, Winnie the Pooh and the Jungle Book, but it was a cassette tape (link added for the benefit of some) with the greatest hits of Buddy Holly & the Crickets that really grabbed me.

The Buddy Holly Story the musical hit Belfast not long after and I think I went to see it at least four times as I just couldn't get enough of it, and so Buddy, along with the help of the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, introduced me to rock'n'roll. This was at a time when my mates were listening to Guns'n'Roses, Coolio and Ace of Base and though I also soon succumbed to the lure of New Kids on the Block (who, interestingly enough, were the reason I decided to try breakdancing) I've always had a thing for older up-tempo rhythms and a craving to dance to them.

Rock'n'Roll remains my favourite music to dance to, as the playlist attached to this blog may suggest, and if you can hack the pace then Little Richard, Elvis, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran and company just can't be beaten for fun. In fact, east coast swing was a product of this era as it was developed to accommodate the faster rhythms and to make swing dancing more accessible to the masses as the trickier parts of lindy hop, most significantly the 8-beat swing-out, were dropped to leave the simpler moves which then became a dancing style in its own right.

East Coast Swing was particularly championed by the Arthur Murray Studios - a chain of dance schools across the USA that is responsible for the 'Big Apple' routine and others, and incidentally provided a venue for some of the only live footage that still exists of a performance by Buddy Holly & the Crickets - and as the music took off so did the new dancing style.

Lindy Hop, however, is most famously danced to tunes from the Swing Era of the 20s-30s when the Big Band jazz bands, led by the likes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, and Duke Ellington, played an upbeat blend of percussion, brass and woodwind with vocals by Ella Fitzgeralds and Billie Holidays laced on top. But, as much as I adore rock'n'roll, there are few things that can top dancing to a great live band playing the best the Swing Era has to offer and I have to give a special mention to Dana Masters & the Linley Hamilton Quartet who, to date, played the best gig I've ever swung at!

I don't really need to point it out but long before rock'n'roll arrived on the scene the Swing Era music produced plenty of fast music that got lindy hoppers up and popping (and all power to you if you can manage to stay on the dance floor without a defibrillator for the entirety of Benny Goodman's full 12-minute Carnegie Hall version of Sing, Sing, Sing with Gene Krupa going buck daft on the drums) but it is the slower, pulsing rhythms of Big Band music that really lend themselves to amazing lindy hop dancing.

I also couldn't possibly finish this post without mentioning electroswing. Generally, it is not for the faint-hearted - Sing Sing Sing clocks in around 110bpm (beats per minute), Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire burns nearer to 160bpm, but my favourite electroswing offering, Puttin' on the Ritz by Club des Belugas, rockets along at around 200bpm and will blow your mind and/or joints. This stuff is incredible for the odd dance here and there (not for a whole night, that would kill people) but electroswing, as part of the nu-jazz revival that started in the 90s, must be given a lot of credit for the re-emergence of swing dancing and therefore the amazing scene that we have today.

Next up, music for west coast swing...

Thursday 16 October 2014

next up: what do I wear to class?

an underground swing dancing session with a bit of Charleston
a bit of underground Charleston










One of the most fun things about swing dancing is getting to try out a completely different era of clothes and putting your own stamp on your look. I'll come to this in more detail in another post but for now I'll just mention the kind of thing people wear to classes.

This goes for lindy hop, east coast swing and west coast swing but the most important thing is to wear something comfortable! Some folk rock up straight after work and are more than happy to dance in a suit whilst others choose to channel their inner Olivia Newton-John and turn up ready to get physical. Either way, there is no strict code and if you are happy to swing and sweat in it then go for it!

The most important thing, though, is footwear. Again, these should be comfortable and should allow a full range of movement that is unlikely to endanger you or others, so girls (or guys), that means no high heels! Boots are also likely to be too heavy whilst new trainers can sometimes provide too much grip which can be dangerous for your knees and ankles.

The best things to plump for are old trainers with well-worn soles, brogues, flats, or if you want to be with the 'in' crowds: lindy aficionados often dance in (sole-worn) plimsolls or Keds whilst the west coast swing collective are big fans of Toms.

If you get really into it, there are a few brands, such as Aris Allen, that specifically make dance shoes, often with suede soles, which let you slide about a bit more but that is something best left until you have grasped the basics. Later on I might even explain how to turn a pair of trainers into dance shoes with some glue and a bit of suede or felt if you fancy a blast at DIY cobbling.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

so... what are classes like?

lindy hop class at Swing Belfast
lindy hop class at Swing Belfast











This post is obviously more for someone who has never been along to a swing class but in the hope that non-dancers are reading this then questions like this need to be answered!

The first class I went to at Swing Belfast was in 2014 and had about 16 people. The photo attached to this post is from their beginners' class in October 2015 when close to 80 people turned up. EIGHTY! And that was just the beginners/level 1 class without even considering the improvers/level 2 or intermediates/level 3 classes. I was blown away by the surge in interest that swing dancing has had in Belfast over the preceding year and long may it continue! So, to introduce any would-be newcomers, I'll explain what happens!

First of all, it is not imperative that you turn up with a partner, so that was a huge relief to me as I couldn't convince anyone to come with me to class never mind dance with me! It also turned out that I was not alone in this regard and there were a host of other folk arriving solo. So, when the first calls to 'pair up' were made everyone just grabbed the aspiring lead/follow nearest to them and we formed a big circle around the teachers (that's what's happened in the photo above) who explained what to do for each move which we then practised with our partners. Every minute or so we switched partners so that everyone danced with everyone else. I know not all swing groups rotate partners but I am more than glad that that's how I learnt for a number of reasons.

Firstly, this helps average out everyone's ability and increase it - some people are quicker to learn and so they can actually help their other classmates get up to speed.

Secondly, over-familiarity with the dancing style of only one other person may reinforce bad habits that impair your ability to social dance with others (which is really what swing dancing is all about!).

And thirdly, and most importantly, it's through classes and these rotating learning circles that we get to meet all the other awesome people in our scene! Because swing dancing, like most other styles of partner dancing, is generally less fun solo, and although there is a lot of fun to be had dancing with completely new people (in another post I've discussed the 'dance crush') the most fun comes from grabbing a familiar friend and swinging out to a familiar tune as this takes away the performance pressure and lets you just enjoy it!

Seriously, try it!

Tuesday 14 October 2014

lindy hop, east coast swing, west coast swing: what's the difference?

USA: the ancestral home of lindy hop, east coast swing and west coast swing
USA: the ancestral home of lindy hop, east coast swing and west coast swing











As I've said, the main dance styles I love are lindy hop, east coast swing and west coast swing, but how do they compare to each other?

Of those three, lindy hop is the old grandfather from New York whilst east coast swing and west coast swing are the cousins from opposite sides of the USA that maybe get together at larger family gatherings but otherwise keep to themselves for the rest of the year. I will get into the swing family genealogy in more detail in a later post but for now I just want to explain what sets them apart in practice.

In an overly simplistic sense, the basic steps of east coast swing and west coast swing have a 6-beat count whilst lindy hop has an 8-beat count - although the more you get into it, those rules sort of fall apart but we shall proclaim them as gospel for now! Lindy hop is generally danced to big band jazz and music from the swing era, east coast swing emerged a bit later and so it is popularly danced to similar music to Lindy hop but with doo-wop and rock & roll added for good measure, whilst west coast swing is the incredibly versatile relative newcomer that can be danced to just about anything but mainly comes out to play to contemporary R&B, blues and pop music.

East coast swing is the simplest of the three and the best place to start for a complete beginner as the steps are a lot less complex and the dance is more flexible, in that it can be danced to a wider range of tempos without requiring a huge change in skill. As you can see in this video, east coast swing is primarily a ballroom dance.


Lindy hop is usually danced to the same style of music as east coast swing and the moves of these two styles are completely interchangeable (along with Charleston and others) but lindy hop is a definite step up in difficulty as the footwork is a tad more complex and involves the 'swing out' which is the fundamental 8-beat basic that the style is based on. It is a lot trickier to faster music and also incorporates the aerial moves or 'air steps' that have made it so iconic and here's a video of two of my favourite lindy hoppers: Skye Humphries & Frida Segerdahl.


Although west coast swing has its origins in lindy hop it is often categorised separately as it is the newest of the three and one of the more technical styles as many of the moves are led in a more subtle fashion. It is generally danced to music that favours slower, flowing movement and 'stretch' rather than the up-tempo bounce or 'pulse' that characterises lindy hop or east coast swing but west coast swing can be adapted to just about any music genre or tempo; as demonstrated here by one of my favourite west coast duos of Maxence Martin & Virginie Grondin.


In terms of asking me to pick a favourite it would be like asking someone to rank their favourite offspring - I could probably confess that there are certain favourable characteristics that one has that another doesn't - but I really do love them equally and would encourage people to try them all!

Monday 13 October 2014

it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

two of the originators of lindy hop: Willa Mae Ricker and Leon James
two of the originators of lindy hop: Willa Mae Ricker and Leon James


It seemed fitting to kick off a blog about swing dancing with the title of a song that helped kick off a whole era but Duke Ellington's 1932 record also pretty much sums it up for me.

I'm not really sure what I expected to get from swing dancing. I had dabbled with a few styles ranging from Scottish ceilidh to break dancing to salsa and I enjoyed each in a different way but when you don't need to count the steps and the music just makes you feel the beat... oh boy, that's the stuff right there!

I started taking East Coast Swing classes with Swing Belfast in January 2013 which shortly blended into Lindy Hop soon after, and then, by August 2013, I was convinced to also give West Coast Swing a go (with Swing Belfast's affiliate West Coast Swing NI) and I've since been absolutely hooked on both.

It has also got to the stage where I feel my friends are getting exhausted hearing about it so I hope that by deciding to put my passionate ramblings into a blog I might give my mates a rest and maybe connect with others who share my passion in the incredible and international swing community that I have become a part of.

In fact, the community that swing provides is just as important as although I came for the music and the dancing I stayed for the people. This starts with the Swing Belfast crowd, who have now become some of my closest friends, but I am also someone who loves travelling and I have been able to use swing dancing as an international language to turn up in different cities - London, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, San Francisco, Budapest - meet a whole host of strangers that quickly become friends, dance and hang out.

I. Love. Swing.