Your Going to LOVE Swing Dancing
Picture yourself in two-tone shoes bopping to
the upbeat music popularized during the Big
Band era. You and your partner are
enjoying the fast tempo, manageable footwork,
and innumerable moves offered by
swing dancing. As you
dance, you settle into the strong, elastic
connection characteristic of swing, with the
relaxed handhold & frequent movement toward
& away from your partner.
The relatively stationary nature of swing
dancing allows you to practice on any size
dance floor or, for that matter, almost any
size corner of a crowded dance floor. As you
practice your new skills, you're finding
yourself dancing swing at more and more venues
- you couldn’t have done without it at
that class reunion, and at your
coworker’s wedding last week you and your
partner were the talk of the table.

Swing dancing enables you to
get out there and heat up the dance floor more
frequently than you ever thought possible. You
are now swing dancing at specific swing events
in your area, as well as at country nightclubs,
ballrooms, and almost every dinner and dancing
special occasion that has come up. The timeless
swing will not go out of style any time soon
with its toe-tapping beat and hip dance
moves.
Visualize Swing Dancing

Upon starting your first
swing
dance lesson (
Swing Dancing for Beginners Volume
1 or
Swing Dancing 101), it's best if you watch the first
section one time through without trying to do
any of it. Just give your mind a chance to
absorb the material so it’s somewhat
familiar to you when you hit replay to start
the section over again. Watch how the dancers
move, think about the words that are used, and
picture yourself dancing the swing.
The second time you go through the DVD,
it’s recommended you take notes. Jot down
the important parts of the swing so you can
engage other parts of the kinesthetic learning
prior to getting up and dancing along. Write
down what the connection points are, what the
basic steps are called, how many counts are in
a basic, how to align with your partner, and so
on. Also, write down any questions that you
might have about the swing. There’s a
good chance you will find the answer later in
the DVD, and if it’s something
you’re already pondering, you’ll be
sure to remember the answer.
You were born ready for Swing Dancing
You’ll
find that by time you get ready to stand up and
try the swing with the DVD, the dancing
won’t be nearly as overwhelming. Writing
down the key concepts will allow you to get a
jumpstart on the rest of swing dance lessons in
the series. You’ll find that after you
get up and try it, you’ll probably have
more questions (that's good, by the way!). As
the DVD goes on, the steps will be broken out
into separate views using picture-in-picture
formatting, pointers will be given on where you
should be during different parts of the dance,
and frequently asked questions will be
addressed that should satisfy most, if not all,
of your questions and then some.
Third time's a charm!
The third time you view the DVD, you'll
probably be dancing along with it real time.
See how far you can make it just by watching
and trying. You’ll probably find that one
of the two of you is able to pick up and
understand the material more quickly than the
other.
Then, picture yourself dancing swing at
upcoming events or at local venues where you
and your partner can go. Where will you go out
dancing after you learn the swing? Again, there
are many possibilities, so start thinking of
them.
Now, if you're ready to look at the swing DVDs
that will get you started, check the images
below. After the products, we'll go through
some of the basics. This will give you an idea
of how the video lessons are taught and to what
detail.
Recommended
Swing Dance Videos
Swing Dancing to the next level
If you'd like to read more about
Swing Dance Basics and how to
do the dance, we have a page set up that is
taken directly from our book, Picture Yourself
Dancing. The bullets below show some of what
all you'll find on the
Swing Dance
Lessons page. Keep in mind, each
of these topics are covered in much more depth
on the full-length DVDs themselves:
-
Swing Dancing Overview
(an overview and description of the
dance)
-
Six-Count Swing Basics
(slows, quicks, timing, and where to
step)
-
What are quicks and slows?
-
Swing dance mirroring (how to practice
with your partner w/o worrying about
connections
-
The Swing Basic as a couple (foot
positions, connection points, etc.)
-
Tips for followers
regarding dancing the Swing
-
Tips for leaders in
dancing the Swing
-
Right Turns for the Swing (and how it's
led)
-
Left Turns for the Swing (and how it's
led)
Your source for Swing Dancing info
To read more about the easiest way to start
dancing the Swing, visit our
Swing Dance Video Lessons page
here.
To learn to dance the Swing as a part of a
great introduction to country western dancing,
visit our Country Western Starter Pack page by
clicking the image below.

All Shawn's Swing DVDs are designed just for you!
Each
swing dance lesson video, including
Swing Dancing for Beginners
Volume 1,
Swing Dancing for Beginners
Volume 2,
Swing Dancing for Intermediate
Dancers Volume 1, the
Country Western Dance Sampler,
and
Dance Lessons 101, brings you
the most thorough Swing (
East Coast
Swing and Single Time Swing )
instructions available, complete with tips,
tricks, hand and body positioning, and
more. These logical, fun, and easy to learn
dance lessons will help you build the
confidence you'll need to step out on any
dance floor.