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I celebrated Leap Day by going swing dancing.
This was the first time I've been dancing in at least a year, maybe two even. I started swing the summer after my sophomore year of high school (summer of '03, five years ago), and I've loved it from the very beginning, when I showed up at the Fed with Angie with no experience partner dancing, no idea what the basic step was, and totally inappropriate shoes (I ended up barefoot by the end of the night). Angie and Hedda taught me the basics of jitterbug right there in the ballroom, standing off to one side, and then pushed me off to sink or swim. I still remember my first dance, with a lovely older gentleman named Larry who I still see around sometimes, and I always make sure to dance with him.
And that was it, I was hooked. I love dancing in general -- over the years, I've learned the following: ballet, jazz, modern, various basics in ballroom (cha-cha, tango, waltz, foxtrot, and, uh, polka?), salsa, two-step (yeehaw, Broken Spoke), belly-dancing, and of course swing (which is an umbrella term that covers jitterbug/East Coast, lindy hop, balboa, and West Coast Swing). I'm sure I'm forgetting something. This doesn't include clubbing-type dancing, although I love that, too, when I can manage to do it in a club without someone's crotch attaching itself to my ass (rare!).
Anyway, I love swing best. Partner dances, especially things like the waltz or the tango, are so often romanticized -- you're "in tune" with your partner, moving together as one, blah blah blah go read a romance novel love scene for some similar phrases. To me, that's not right. It's beautiful, sure, but who the heck can achieve that off the dance floor -- aside from telepaths -- even in a friendly or platonic sense (and I say that as an identical twin who frequently gets the "so, do you do that twin thing, where you know what the other is thinking?" question)? In swing, there's something about the movement, together and apart, swing out and in, rock back and step forward, that appeals to me. The connection feels more natural than the waltz, more interesting than other more informal dances. It's dynamic, it's open to innovation, it's complementary without losing individuality. It's just plain fun.
I'd forgotten how much I loved it. It makes me a little angry that being depressed kept me from dancing as much over the past couple of years. But I danced nearly every dance tonight, to a really great live band, and had a blast. I'm glad of that.
FYI, most people think of swing as something like this scene from Hellzapoppin', which is amazing display of talent, don't get me wrong (Frankie Manning FTW!). But aerial moves like that on a ballroom floor stuffed with hundreds of people? Someone's gonna lose an eye. You get aerial moves more in performances. Social dancing like what I do is more like the first part of this, or like this.
This was the first time I've been dancing in at least a year, maybe two even. I started swing the summer after my sophomore year of high school (summer of '03, five years ago), and I've loved it from the very beginning, when I showed up at the Fed with Angie with no experience partner dancing, no idea what the basic step was, and totally inappropriate shoes (I ended up barefoot by the end of the night). Angie and Hedda taught me the basics of jitterbug right there in the ballroom, standing off to one side, and then pushed me off to sink or swim. I still remember my first dance, with a lovely older gentleman named Larry who I still see around sometimes, and I always make sure to dance with him.
And that was it, I was hooked. I love dancing in general -- over the years, I've learned the following: ballet, jazz, modern, various basics in ballroom (cha-cha, tango, waltz, foxtrot, and, uh, polka?), salsa, two-step (yeehaw, Broken Spoke), belly-dancing, and of course swing (which is an umbrella term that covers jitterbug/East Coast, lindy hop, balboa, and West Coast Swing). I'm sure I'm forgetting something. This doesn't include clubbing-type dancing, although I love that, too, when I can manage to do it in a club without someone's crotch attaching itself to my ass (rare!).
Anyway, I love swing best. Partner dances, especially things like the waltz or the tango, are so often romanticized -- you're "in tune" with your partner, moving together as one, blah blah blah go read a romance novel love scene for some similar phrases. To me, that's not right. It's beautiful, sure, but who the heck can achieve that off the dance floor -- aside from telepaths -- even in a friendly or platonic sense (and I say that as an identical twin who frequently gets the "so, do you do that twin thing, where you know what the other is thinking?" question)? In swing, there's something about the movement, together and apart, swing out and in, rock back and step forward, that appeals to me. The connection feels more natural than the waltz, more interesting than other more informal dances. It's dynamic, it's open to innovation, it's complementary without losing individuality. It's just plain fun.
I'd forgotten how much I loved it. It makes me a little angry that being depressed kept me from dancing as much over the past couple of years. But I danced nearly every dance tonight, to a really great live band, and had a blast. I'm glad of that.
FYI, most people think of swing as something like this scene from Hellzapoppin', which is amazing display of talent, don't get me wrong (Frankie Manning FTW!). But aerial moves like that on a ballroom floor stuffed with hundreds of people? Someone's gonna lose an eye. You get aerial moves more in performances. Social dancing like what I do is more like the first part of this, or like this.
