Swing Dynamite Blog
Thoughts and news about swing dancing in Ottawa
Back to the Roots, People!
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Oct 13, 2008 in General
Or should it be, “Back to the roots: People!” A little punctuation goes a long way.
A major theme in swing dancing in the last few years has been this idea of “getting back to the roots.” Generally speaking this was a movement led by some of the world’s top Lindy Hoppers, who saw a need to examine the origins of swing dancing and recapture the original spirit. It was partly because dancers looked around and saw that with all the emphasis on “technique,” “connection,” and “improvisation,” things just weren’t that fun anymore. The whole exhuberance of Lindy Hop in the swing era was somehow missing. It wasn’t really the same dance.
So dancers pored over the old clips, they dug up old recordings and played them at dances. After a few years of borrowing partner connection ideas from West Coast Swing, Ballroom and Tango, Lindy Hoppers started looking more closely at how the original Lindy Hoppers used to do it. And after a few years of Hip Hop and Ballet Jazz influencing modern Lindy Hop movement, dancers started looking at vintage jazz movement, from Charleston to Tap.
But Bryn’s post about starting at the beginning brings up an important point: beyond the roots of swing dancing in Charleston, jazz movement and so on, even beyond the West African and Western European dance influences, the most important roots of swing dancing are people.
There’s a lot of talk about “social dancing.” Too often I get the impression that “social dancing” to many swing dancers just means a sport in which a “leader” tries to get a “follower” to do weird things to her body, roughly in time with a beat. But social dancing is more than just improvisation, leading and following. It’s when dancing takes on a social role. In both the African and European traditions that Lindy Hop descends from, dancing was a major feature of social gatherings.
I started swing dancing in the fall of ’98, but I also began learning ballroom and Salsa at the same time. One of the reasons I was so much more interested in swing was the freedom to improvise in ways that Waltz or Rhumba didn’t offer (at least as I was taught them). But the real deal-maker was the people. I just met so many cool people when I went out swing dancing that even if I hadn’t enjoyed the dancing, I still would have come back.
It’s always, always about the people.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start
[ 8 Comments ] Posted by brynzapoppin on Oct 13, 2008 in Swing Dancing
How better to begin a blog about dancing than to write about beginning to dance?
When I first started dancing, I felt completely unconnected to my peers. The only real thing that has ever unified the swing scene as a whole is the fact that we all dance (and incidentally, there’s a certain awesomeness to that; it’s amazing how diverse and yet friendly and hospitable the lindy hop world is). But nevertheless–not knowing much about dancing, nor having much of a history with it–I had very little in common with these practical strangers, and the only questions I could think to ask were, “how long have you been dancing?” and, “how did you start?”
I stopped asking those questions right around the same time I became really serious about dancing. Suddenly I was more interested in discussing the finer points of the rock step than I was in finding out about the people I was dancing with or what had brought them there. It’s funny (and sad), in retrospect, given that I’ve always been powerfully curious about the human mind. But there I was, furiously working toward becoming the best dancer and best teacher I could be, and losing sight of the forest for the trees.
The forest, of course, being composed primarily of people. The number one reason why people start swing dancing has nothing to do with wanting to master the art of triple steps and everything to do with other people. Swing dancing is a great a way to mix and mingle, build friendships, discover relationships, make real physical contact (so sorely lacking from our society today), and–for many–to develop social graces. Certainly the social aspect has been one of the most important parts of it for me, and I am grateful for the friendships and the networks I’ve developed through my dance travels, through our local dance community, and especially through our own dance company. Nearly all of the most important people in my life are fellow dancers. And yet, in many cases, I don’t even know what brought them to that fateful spot where our lives met.
Lately, I’ve gone back to asking the question of how people started dancing, and already I’ve learned a lot from it. The answer offers insight into the person they were (and are) outside of dancing; outside of the most obvious string tying us all together. It’s a starting point for digging beneath the surface and building up a friendship that is deeper than a mutual hobby. It even reminds me of the person I was (and am) outside of dancing; the person who cares intensely about other people and about what makes them tick.
As a teacher and a scene-builder, I think this return to the roots is important for bringing new people on board. Sometimes, I think too much emphasis is placed on turning beginners into expert dancers with refined musical taste. Now, I may spend my days (and nights) dissecting my posture and movement in comparison with those of my favourite pros, and I may drool at the sounds of Count Basie, Sidney Bechet, and Robert Johnson, but ultimately… I do this because I love the people, because I love the feeling of dancing with sheer abandon and sharing that with the people around me, and because nothing brings me greater joy than seeing the smiles on my students’ faces when they don’t know I’m looking.
Back around the time of its inception, swing dancing was an essential ingredient in the lives of millions during periods of war and economic depression (something to think about with the state of the world the way it is right now). A big part of that (perhaps the biggest part) is because swing dancing is a community celebration. It brings people together in a way few other things can.
But it can’t do all the work on its own. We need to talk, too. Back in the day, people mixed dancing with lounging, drinking, and socializing. It was a natural way of life for them. But today, because most of us aren’t fortunate enough to have grown up with social dancing as a regular part of our lives, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in one part of the term (dancing) and forget about the other (social).
So… let’s start talking. I want to know: Why did you start dancing?
Welcome to the Swing Dynamite blog
[ No Comments ] Posted by byron on Oct 13, 2008 in General
Welcome to Swing Dynamite’s new blog. Let’s see where this goes!