Lindy Hop: A tale of Hoity-Toity Jedi
Hey Mom!
So I attended my first Lindy Hop workshop this weekend and I have a few things to say but before I say those things I would like to preface them as indicated by the following change of font:
If you want to try a new activity and you're scared people will be complete trash-goblins toward you because you're new, swing dancing is a pretty good place to start. I've been to social dances in Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton so far and everyone I have encountered has been super amiable (and patient) and welcoming (and patient) with the exception of ONE GUY who was still amiable and patient, just a little too confident in his "complete spatial awareness" also all the people we bumped into on the dance floor were extremely gracious about being jostled.
Aaaaanyway, I decided to attend Spring Fling this year and I have a few anecdotes/advice (probably bad advice but if you've been here before, you know this) for anyone who was like me and thought If I go, I'll be the worst one here and everyone will hate me and I'll make the instructors cry and question why they became instructors.
You might be like me and think Dance? Sounds hoity-toity and such. Well, at one point during a social dance this weekend my partner yelled "Force push!" (the Jedi kind, not the physical violence kind) so... yeah... it's pretty serious and hoity-toity.... for definitely, certainly for sure.
You'll be the worst one there. Ok so this might not be true for everyone but at some point you're going to be the worst one at something. For myself, it was trying to do swing-outs when my hips have all the movement and flexibility of a bowling ball that has been bolted into the crust of the earth (DON'T ASK ME ABOUT THE PHYSICS OK?!). I had one moment of panic where I thought This is it. It's all over, they're going to ask me to leave and break my knees so I never try to dance again. But they didn't, they said "Hey you're doing great! I'm going to help you with your footwork."
PRO TIP: If anyone offers to video you dancing so that you can see what you look like DO NOT TAKE THEM UP ON THEIR OFFER. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm no Black Swan but seeing myself awkwardly hup around the dance floor was more traumatic than those child birth videos they show you in high school biology.
By the end of a weekend of social dances and workshops you'll think you've shattered your legs. I woke up this morning and legitimately thought I wouldn't be able to walk to the bathroom because I learned the Charleston and LOST MY EVER-LOVING MIND! If you have no idea what the Charleston is, the best description I can give you is the following:
Imagine your legs are pogo sticks. Jump on them, one at a time, faster. Also kick but don't kick anyone. I realize that if this were a professional operation, I would have a video and an explanation of the two different types of Charleston but I think we all know that's not the purpose of this blog.
Instructors show-up to social dances. It is completely acceptable and encouraged to ask instructors to dance. However, I thought to myself, Mack you've done a lot of new and terrifying things this weekend so if you don't want to ask an instructor to dance you don't have to. Well guess what?! I totes danced with an instructor this weekend... it. Was. Brutal. So there are these things call 'Jam Circles' which is like the dodgeball of dance, there's a bunch of different variations and they are all super fun if you're into dodgeball. One of them is called a snowball and basically every small amount of time someone yells "Snowball!" and the people in the circle grab someone on the outside of the circle to dance until everyone is dancing (yay inclusion). So there I was, snowballing around the dance floor and suddenly, an instructor is standing in front of me and asking me to dance. I would like to give you a timeline of my experience:
"Would you like to dance?"
This is fate. I will face my fears this day!
"Sure!"
*Any semblance of rhythm floods from my body as I completely forget how to dance. I embody the beauty and grace of macaroni art as my limbs freeze up like the tin man at the beginning of Wizard of Oz*
*Panic sets in. It's all over, they're going to ask me to leave and break my knees so I never try to dance again.*
"Snowball!"
Now, I know you would like some sort of comforting moral... the only one that I can offer you is: "At least I can't do any worse next time.". Would I have liked to have moved in time with the music? Yep. Would it have been nice to use any of the skills that he and his co-instructor spent three hours teaching me that day? Sure would! But that's not the world I live in. Did I die? Nope! I haven't died from embarrassment yet, despite the many many, many, opportunities I've given it. As it turns out, embarrassment really doesn't have a great finishing move.
That is all.
Also (and I know this got long a page ago) for those of you asking for photos, it's weird to take photos of other people dancing and I certainly don't want people taking pictures of me dancing sooooo I compromised and took this blurry photo:
So I attended my first Lindy Hop workshop this weekend and I have a few things to say but before I say those things I would like to preface them as indicated by the following change of font:
If you want to try a new activity and you're scared people will be complete trash-goblins toward you because you're new, swing dancing is a pretty good place to start. I've been to social dances in Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton so far and everyone I have encountered has been super amiable (and patient) and welcoming (and patient) with the exception of ONE GUY who was still amiable and patient, just a little too confident in his "complete spatial awareness" also all the people we bumped into on the dance floor were extremely gracious about being jostled.
Aaaaanyway, I decided to attend Spring Fling this year and I have a few anecdotes/advice (probably bad advice but if you've been here before, you know this) for anyone who was like me and thought If I go, I'll be the worst one here and everyone will hate me and I'll make the instructors cry and question why they became instructors.
You might be like me and think Dance? Sounds hoity-toity and such. Well, at one point during a social dance this weekend my partner yelled "Force push!" (the Jedi kind, not the physical violence kind) so... yeah... it's pretty serious and hoity-toity.... for definitely, certainly for sure.
You'll be the worst one there. Ok so this might not be true for everyone but at some point you're going to be the worst one at something. For myself, it was trying to do swing-outs when my hips have all the movement and flexibility of a bowling ball that has been bolted into the crust of the earth (DON'T ASK ME ABOUT THE PHYSICS OK?!). I had one moment of panic where I thought This is it. It's all over, they're going to ask me to leave and break my knees so I never try to dance again. But they didn't, they said "Hey you're doing great! I'm going to help you with your footwork."
PRO TIP: If anyone offers to video you dancing so that you can see what you look like DO NOT TAKE THEM UP ON THEIR OFFER. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm no Black Swan but seeing myself awkwardly hup around the dance floor was more traumatic than those child birth videos they show you in high school biology.
By the end of a weekend of social dances and workshops you'll think you've shattered your legs. I woke up this morning and legitimately thought I wouldn't be able to walk to the bathroom because I learned the Charleston and LOST MY EVER-LOVING MIND! If you have no idea what the Charleston is, the best description I can give you is the following:
Imagine your legs are pogo sticks. Jump on them, one at a time, faster. Also kick but don't kick anyone. I realize that if this were a professional operation, I would have a video and an explanation of the two different types of Charleston but I think we all know that's not the purpose of this blog.
Instructors show-up to social dances. It is completely acceptable and encouraged to ask instructors to dance. However, I thought to myself, Mack you've done a lot of new and terrifying things this weekend so if you don't want to ask an instructor to dance you don't have to. Well guess what?! I totes danced with an instructor this weekend... it. Was. Brutal. So there are these things call 'Jam Circles' which is like the dodgeball of dance, there's a bunch of different variations and they are all super fun if you're into dodgeball. One of them is called a snowball and basically every small amount of time someone yells "Snowball!" and the people in the circle grab someone on the outside of the circle to dance until everyone is dancing (yay inclusion). So there I was, snowballing around the dance floor and suddenly, an instructor is standing in front of me and asking me to dance. I would like to give you a timeline of my experience:
"Would you like to dance?"
This is fate. I will face my fears this day!
"Sure!"
*Any semblance of rhythm floods from my body as I completely forget how to dance. I embody the beauty and grace of macaroni art as my limbs freeze up like the tin man at the beginning of Wizard of Oz*
*Panic sets in. It's all over, they're going to ask me to leave and break my knees so I never try to dance again.*
"Snowball!"
Now, I know you would like some sort of comforting moral... the only one that I can offer you is: "At least I can't do any worse next time.". Would I have liked to have moved in time with the music? Yep. Would it have been nice to use any of the skills that he and his co-instructor spent three hours teaching me that day? Sure would! But that's not the world I live in. Did I die? Nope! I haven't died from embarrassment yet, despite the many many, many, opportunities I've given it. As it turns out, embarrassment really doesn't have a great finishing move.
That is all.
Also (and I know this got long a page ago) for those of you asking for photos, it's weird to take photos of other people dancing and I certainly don't want people taking pictures of me dancing sooooo I compromised and took this blurry photo:
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| You're welcome. |
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