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Swing Dancing
encompasses the family of dances that were born from
the jazz and big-band eras. Swing dance subculture is
a movement in the dance community that has gained
enormous popularity since the mid 1990s and has
supported a resurgence of “retro”
clothing, music, and dance. The Swing
dances include East Coast Swing, Jive, West Coast
Swing, Lindy, Carolina Shag, and several other
variations that are done around the country.
Where
to Learn and Attire for Learning
You can learn
some version of swing at any ballroom or dance
studio. However, to find group lessons and get your
foot in your local swing dance community, your best
bet would probably be to go online. Many of the swing
dance clubs around the country are created and
populated by computer-savvy people in their twenties
and thirties, although at a swing dance you will
probably see all age groups, from high school up
through senior citizens. Swing dancing in a ballroom
and swing dancing at a swing dance have entirely
different looks and feels. Swing dances are often
held weekly and/or monthly, but swing nightclubs are
not prevalent in all parts of the country—often
the swing club or group will rent out a given
facility for the lessons and event. Be comfortable if
you are going to a swing dance lesson. You do not
need to be as formal as you would be for a ballroom
lesson, but denim is not recommended. Business-casual
dress with comfortable close-heeled shoes is
recommended for both ladies and gentlemen for a swing
lesson.
Where
to Dance and Attire for Going out
Dancing
As mentioned in
the previous section, not every city or geographical
area has a venue specifically dedicated to swing
dancing like they do for the other three subcultures.
A search for your local city and swing dance should
reveal a local swing dance group or two. Because
swing dances are not always held in nightclubs, it is
unique to swing dance and ballroom dance that their
events are often non-smoking. When dressing for an
evening out swing dancing, you have a couple of
options. You can go with business-casual attire for
the ladies and gentlemen, and just look nice and
clean-cut, or if you have them on hand, you can go
all out and go vintage. Many swing dance aficionados
have fairly elaborate vintage wardrobes to truly step
back into the big-band era. As always, close-heeled
shoes are a must.
Most
Popular Dances
The swing
subculture includes the lindy hop, jitterbug, jive,
East coast swing, balboa, and West coast swing. You
will find, however, that most swing dancers only
truly dance one or two of the swing dances and simply
know what the others are.
Of
Special Note
Swing dance is
probably the least intimidating form of social
dancing to get your feet wet with. However, depending
on your geographical area, it can be a little
difficult to find swing dance venues. If you are
interested in swing but you can’t seem to get
wind of your local swing events, try country. Many of
the instructors cross over between the swing and
country subcultures and can probably point you in the
right direction.
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