Swing Dance, Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing
OUT to Dance offers fun swing, lindy hop, and West Coast Swing dance classes at West Roxbury School of Dance:
Swing Dance
Swing, also known as East Coast swing, lindy, lindy hop, jitterbug,
or rock and roll, is one of the hottest, most popular of all partner
dances. Its simple structure and footwork along with playful moves
and styling make it well-loved for its forgiving and fun-loving
nature; swing is danced to slow, medium, or fast tempo jazz, blues,
or rock and roll, and is frequently played at every imaginable
social event. The origins of swing began in the 1920's with the
Charleston, tap dancing, and some now obsolete partner dances
like the Breakaway. Soon it evolved into Lindy Hop, (named for
Charles Lindberg's transatlantic flight) and exploded in Harlem
at the Savoy Ballroom in the late 1920s and 30s. Swing dancing
is the best drug-free mood elevator known to humankind.
Learn more about the Swing
Dance
Lindy Hop
Lindy hop is an African American vernacular dance which evolved
in Harlem, New York, United States in the late 1920s and early
1930s. It is frequently described as either a jazz dance (in reference
to its close relationship with the development of jazz music,
particularly swing - lindy hop was developed to jazz music, and
in its turn helped evolve jazz music in response to the dance)
or as a street dance, a term which means much the same as vernacular
dance. It is a member of the swing dance family. Lindy hop is
an organic fusion of many of the dances which preceded it and
were popular during its development, but is predominantly based
on jazz, tap, breakaway and the charleston.
Lindy hop combines elements of both solo and partnered dancing
in its marrying of the movements and improvisation of African
dances with the formal 8-count structure of European partner dances.
This is most clearly illustrated in its foundational step the
swingout. Here, the European partner dancing format was adapted
to allow men and women to dance together in closed position (a
practice usually forbidden in African dances), and yet also to
improvise 'alone' in open position without disturbing the structure
and flow of the dance.
Learn more about the Lindy Hop
West Coast Swing
The “other swing”; west coast swing is the soulful,
slinky, bluesy descendent of east coast swing and lindy hop. The
official dance of California, W est Coast Swing is a truly funky
“slotted” dance where the follower travels back and
forth along a shoulder width rectangle, called the slot, with
respect to the leader. The leader is more stationary but will
move in and out of the slot depending on the pattern led. You'll
need to see it or do it to appreciate its sexiness! (Various reasons
have been given for the slotted style. One reason is that when
all followers dance in lines, club owners could pack many more
dancers onto the floor. Another reason was that in Hollywood,
film makers wanted dancers to stay in the same plane, to avoid
going in and out of focus.) Although West coast swing originated
in the 50's and 60's, it's currently danced to a huge selection
of contemporary popular music, from blues to R'n'B to soul to
country to disco to hip hop.
Learn more about West
Coast Swing
"I can't imagine maintaining a bad mood
while swing dancing; I could walk into your swing class in a
funk, and leave with a grin, guaranteed." Brian
W., Wellesley, MA
When joining our dance classes or private dance lessons,
note that our OUT to Dance studio locations, West Roxbury and
Roslindale, are within twenty minutes of downtown Boston, Dorchester,
Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Brighton, Allston, Brookline, Newton,
Chestnut Hill, Dedham, Norwood, Needham, Westwood, Milton and
Quincy; and within 25 to 35 minutes of Cambridge, Somerville,
Arlington, Wellesley, Natick, Waltham, Braintree, Brockton, Stoughton,
Canton, Foxboro, Weymouth and surrounding towns. We are also less than an hour from Providence, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. |
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