learn to lindy hop

With the right song and the right partner and the right mood, I can get the basic steps down pretty well. I was actually doing quite well with this last week. But then I tried it again this week at our dance group and was really screwing the pooch. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t feel the steps. I might have been overthinking the moves. I know that I’m a better dancer when I don’t consciously count out the steps, but rather just feel the rhythms and respond naturally with the steps. Maybe next week.

This is the hardest dance I’ve ever tried to learn. I took a 6-week Lindy Hop class six months ago and got the basic steps, but I still look like a rhino on roller skates. It’s the timing that kills me. Triple step, triple step, back step. What’s so hard? It’s just an 8-count move with variations. Every week when I go to my swing dance class, I practice this with several of the fellows that also attend. I still stink at it. But it looks SO great when it’s done by couples who are good at it. I love watching dancers who can really lindy hop well. I’ll keep trying it.

Cause it’s cool

I’ve now taken a whole bunch of lessons and am realising that I’m not a natural. Still good fun though so I’ll keep going. The actual dances are not so easy because you have to make it up as you go along. Stress, stress, stress.

I just finished my last class of intro to lindy yesterday. I now know about 10 different moves pretty well. My teachers were the best. I wish I could take the more advanced classes, but it doesn’t work out in my schedule. However, now that I’ve completed the intro class, I can go to that for free whenever I want.

Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this in one month. I might go to a weekly lesson in Feb.

To be a really cool thing. I would love to be able to lindy hop instead of just jumping around the dance floor looking stupid. Normally, I just jump around and seem really enthusiastic at shows, but if I could lindy hop, I could do that instead and seem super cool instead of just bizarre.

My group lessons lasted 6 weeks. They were in LA-style lindy. I think this was what I needed to start getting the hang of this dance. I still have tons to learn, and I’m not sure I’m ready to take this goal off the list. The lessons were quite good overall, and I will probably take more with these instructors. The only thing I would change, and I think I will let them know this, is to do a short review of what we’ve learned at the halfway point and the conclusion of the series. This would take only 10 minutes or so, and I think it would have helped cement what we covered in my mind. For myself, I think next time I will keep some notes on what was covered in each class. Perhaps I will post them here.

The lessons were here: http://www.tokioswing.com/

I have been a lindy hopper for about 6 years now. It was great but remember, there is a life outside of dancing.

Last night, I went to the first lesson in a beginner’s Lindy Hop series. I’d gone to one beginner’s lesson a few weeks ago, and found it difficult to keep up: the instructor moved along from one thing to the next very quickly. The instructor last night explained a lot more details - everything from hand grip to the way your arms should be touching on steps 3 and 4 - and took the basic swing-out just two steps at a time with lots of repetition. At the end of the night, I had the basic swing-out plus two simple moves.