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

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.