Dancing

Here you'll find out more about how our weekly dances run and what you can do to get started. In general, our dances are very casual, and you can come by and leave at any time you wish. If you want to take part in our beginner's lessons, they always start before the dance, and last half an hour to forty-tive minutes. We'll spin records for a few hours and you can dance, chat, and ask the more knowledgeable club members (including the executive and instructors) about the finer points of swing dancing.

At the Queen's Swing Club, we usually teach various styles of Lindy Hop. If you want to know why, or what it's all about, read What's The Deal With Lindy Hop? below.

You may want to know about more advanced stuff, like aerials and dance jams. These subjects are described below.

Clothes

Something comfortable. We sure love it when you dress like you're on a date but remember, like being on a date, you'll be sweating like crazy.

Shoes

Shoes are like a whole 'nother category. There's always the issue of whether your shoes slip or stick too much. Fortunately we've been gifted with nice hardwood floors, usually on the slippery side. Athletic shoes are great, especially those baby blue And1's that everyone's wearing. Beware of heels. Even if they look mad sexy they sure lose their appeal if they strike the foot of a fellow dancer. Yeah, you can get those fancy dance shoes, too. They're great, but you wouldn't wear them outside the dance floor. What a conundrum!

Cash

After a hard night of dancing, you probably want a drink of some sort. We do! If you would like to hit the Queen's Pub for some stout pitchers after the dance, you'll probably need some cash.

You will not need to pay for the dances if you're a member of the club.

Water

This is pretty important. You never know if that water fountain in the JDUC is going to work.

A big smile

Swing dancing is incredibly fun. It can also be incredibly hard. Don't worry if you can't get it the first time. After a few weeks you'll start getting the hang of it. Bring some friends who haven't tried it before and want to do something new. They'll thank you for it, and you never know but they might get into it more than you do.

For many of us, swing dancing is a great way to totally forget about how awful school can get, and the club lets us totally cut loose. It's like a little vacation where you can listen to great music, have some fun, and if you like, really push yourself to do something you've never dreamed of doing six months ago.

Many people who saw the Gap commercial and the Swingers movie and heard the Cherry Poppin' Daddies haven't really heard of "Lindy Hop".

In short, Lindy Hop is a style of jazz dance that allows partners to connect with each other and the music, as well as all the other dancers on the floor. It was developed in parallel with the early jazz music of the late 1920s and early 30s.

Jazz was changing popular music in America and people found new ways to dance to it by adapting their old moves and figures from European ballroom dancing and American jazz dances like the Charleston and Black Bottom. For the most part, black Americans of African descent perpetuated jazz music and jazz dancing and many today argue that Lindy Hop was strictly an African-American dance.

Harlem, in New York, was at the center of this new dance craze where people of all races danced to the new jazz called "swing". Swing music and dancing was too popular with white youths for the white establishment to ignore, and quickly became popular in 1935 with the success of Chicagoan turned New Yorker Benny Goodman and his orchestra in California. By then Lindy Hop coalesced into a distinctive, fluid, but often misunderstood style, much of which is still practiced and built on today.

Because of its history in American culture, we teach beginner's lessons in Lindy Hop at the Queen's Swing Club. The other reason why we teach Lindy Hop is that we feel most confident dancing in that particular style. We feel that Lindy Hop truly expresses the attributes of swing music and makes it even more enjoyable to listen to. Dancing to music is like making a physical representation of the music and hey, it's a lot of fun as well.

Many people have learned or are learning different styles of dancing that are associated with swing music and they are more than welcome to dance however they want to. Notably, the regional style known in Queen's as Queen's Jive (or simply "Jive") is a great way to get on the dance floor confidently and very quickly, even after one lesson. We encourage dancing in this style if one can do it, but we also encourage learning Lindy Hop so that one can dance to a greater variety of music, especially the vintage swing music we love so much.

By the way, there are also regional differences in Lindy Hop done around the world, so don't get hung up over style. It is more important to add your personal style to Lindy Hop so that you can really express yourself.

We all have seen dance moves known as "aerials" in movies like Swing Kids and in the Gap commercial. They look really cool because of their apparent recklessness. Swing dancers have performed these flashy moves in an effort to outdo each other during informal dance competitions known as jam circles (like those formed in break dancing). Aerials can be performed safely or dangerously depending on the dancers involved. Normally in social situations aerials are not encouraged and even prohibited in some organizations because of the potential dangers. We are more lenient and allow aerials during Queen's Swing Club dances because everyone likes them, but cannot take responsibility for one's actions while dancing, especially when performing aerials. Please use your good judgment and don't get yourself or anyone else hurt. Some tips before you take flight:

• Practice aerials often with a regular partner to build your confidence
• Do not expect to do aerials with someone you haven't practiced with first
• Warm up and stretch your muscles before performing aerials
• Don't perform aerials if not in peak physical condition: i.e. you should not be drunk or tired
• Be considerate and respect everyone else's space. Look around and make sure you won't hit anyone
• Remember that you are responsible for your actions, not the Queen's Swing Club

This is from Mandi Gould from Bees Knees Dance Study.

Entering

Be conscious of when you are entering a dance or birthday jam. It makes sense to enter at the beginning of a phrase. In a birthday jam there might be a lot of people waiting for a turn so one phrase is usually all the time you get. Keep to that phrase. If you enter in the middle of a phrase then you might be cutting someone else's time short. If no one else cuts in then you can keep on going! In a regular jam, be ready on the sides to jump if a couple exits. There is nothing worse than an empty circle!

Mark your territory before the end of the phrase so that others know that your planning to go in or move in for a fast steal! Be aggressive (not in a violent way but in a confident way). Don't just stick your hand out; dance your way in, shadow the dancer you are about to replace or grab a free hand of the person you want to dance with.

In a birthday jam please remember that it's about the birthday person! Don't just show off and ignore your partner. It's their night to shine — everything you do should be about making them look good.

In a regular dance jam grab a partner on the side and get into a ready position. Get the groove going on the side and mark your territory. Be ready for a new phrase in the music. Make an entrance! Prepare!

Exiting

Don't just walk off, keep dancing! And keep your energy up as you re-join the audience. Audience participation is an excellent thing! In a regular jam you can stay in until another couple makes their move to enter or you can exit at the end of a phrase or the end of a chorus.

Audience

Don't block off the band! Make a horse shoe shape and include the band in the jam experience! The music is the most important thing after all. Again, keep your energy going but don't get too high strung! It's easy to clap ahead of the music which gives the dancers in the middle a sense of having to rush. And clap on beat! What does that mean? You should be clapping on the EVEN beats. If you're not then either the music isn't swing or you aren't swinging!

There is much to be said about dance jams. Nothing is written in stone but I feel that these are important things to keep in mind. If anyone has any comment to make, please feel free to take it to the discussion list!

Mandi
Bees Knees Dance Study