How to do the lindy hop swing dance

Swing as a way of life
(no, it's not what you think...)

People and things living in the past can be described by various definitions. And most of these words are derogatory. Judge for yourself: anachronistic, archaic, Old Testament, antediluvian, old-fashioned, obsolete. But relatively recently, this synonymous series has replenished two elegant antonyms: "retro" and "vintage".
The fashion for clothes from a grandmother's chest arose in the 70s of the twentieth century and is still going on. The very word "vintage" refers to the past as a legacy, and to an old thing as a time-tested jewelry. After all, literally "vintage" is an expensive aged wine. Word "retro" is no longer associated with a one-root retrograde. "Retro" is style, and style is a positive category.
There is such a phenomenon - "historical reenactors": they try to recreate a particular historical epoch. They play ancient Slavs medieval knights, Turgenev girls or Don Cossacks. In fact "retro" - the same historical reconstruction as interest in the past the twentieth century (or its individual decades), despite the fact that for many of us, he has not yet managed to become history.
Of course, the reconstruction of an era does not consist only in the acquisition or making the right costume is just the tip of the iceberg. A real reenactor wants to understand the essence of a historical period. He immerses himself in the culture of the time he is interested in. Therefore, the one who suddenly decided for himself to comprehend, say, the forties in the USA, can read books and magazine publications of those years, look films, learn about the political and economic situation of that time…
But to feel the forties, you just have to dance them!
The first half of the twentieth century in America is an unconditional triumph of jazz in its various manifestations. thirties and forties in the United States accepted call the era of swing or the era of big bands - big jazz orchestras. The very word "swing" in English has many meanings and applies not only to the musical direction, but also to life as such. "It doesn't make sense if it doesn't have swing" - one of key slogans of the big band era.
Perhaps it is the Lindy Hop pair dance that best reflects the feeling swing era. After all, it has both the rhythm of that time and jazz music. improvisation, and just the joy of life.
The Lindy Hop was the first swing dance from which almost everything came the rest is in American dance culture: jive, rock and roll, hustle. These are the so-called social dances (public), that is, dances are not for performances on stage, and for personal and public use. It is not known for certain when the Lindy Hop began to dance, but no there is no doubt about when exactly the dance got its name. This happened at 1927 years after the famous first transatlantic flight Charles Lindbergh. Newspapers were full of headlines: "Lindy hops the Atlantic!" ("Lindy jumped the Atlantic"), everywhere and everywhere they talked about it. It is not surprising that when the famous dancer George Shouden, nicknamed Shorty George - "shorty" - was asked about the name of the style in which he dancing, he answered without hesitation: "Lindy hop!" Beyond Meanings "jump", "jump", hop has colloquial meanings "dance party" and - in aviation jargon - "flight". "Shorty" George joked, and the name of the dance was firmly fixed.
At the age of 30-40 there was a craze for swing dances. All over America, young people - both black and white - with indomitable energy youth kneeled in the ballrooms to the accompaniment of a live orchestra. It was entertainment on the verge of protest against the boredom of everyday life. Perhaps it is precisely for such a bright cheerfulness that Lindihoppers often disliked. Sometimes on the doors of "decent" dance establishments you can was to see a stern sign: "No lindyhoppers allowed!" ("Lindichoperam entry denied").
Lindy Hop and big bands reigned on US dance floors before fifties. And after ... The culture of swing began to gradually die out, giving way to the new in music and plastic. Jazz took the path of complication and intellectualization. The dance niche was occupied by rock and roll. It's come new post-war period and a new generation has come. "The patient is faster dead than alive," some culturologist might say in regarding swing. But sometimes death is confused with lethargy.
In America, interest in swing was revived in the late 80's - early 90's. In 1989 The first concert of the Royal Crown Revue was held in Los Angeles. It was thanks to her that the States rediscovered the music of the middle centuries. Soon there were real reenactors of the swing era. Many dressed in the fashion of the forties, many threw away their furniture to bring home from the junkyard "vintage" sofas, armchairs and all sorts of Houseware. But it wasn't difficult. It turned out to be more difficult to recreate the dance. At first, the reenactors simply tried to copy what they saw in films of those years. True swing dancers re-emerged only after the opening of the Los Angeles club "Derby" at 1993 This was the first an institution for many years, where swing parties were constantly held and concerts. In 1997, the film "Swing Kids" was released - cult for modern swing dancers - and revived among few culture of the 30-40s went to the people, and not only in American.
Before Russia, a wave of passion for Lindy Hop and other jazz dances (Charleston, boogie-woogie, balboa, shim-sham, etc.) rolled at the turn centuries. Pioneers in this business was the school "Tantsklass". At 1994 her students demonstrated a rock and roll program with elements Boogie Woogie. Now swing is taught not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Pushkin, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod.
One of the leading Moscow swing dance schools - MSDK (Moscow swing dance club) - conducts classes mainly in lindy hop, but also trying to actively introduce a lesser known dance to the masses balboa, in which partners are especially close to each other. Perhaps soon the school will begin teaching and has already become quite popular in Russia, due to the appearance of a large number musicals, tap (aka tap, aka tap dance). Many teachers of MSDC raised within its own walls. Evgeny Demchenko (22 years old) and Valeria Orlova (24 years old) dance and teach in pairs. Both by the nature of their professional activities are related to the technologies of the XXI century - the Internet, Web programming. Both are mostly busy in their free time. twentieth century. They do Lindy Hop (and dancing in general) only two and a half years old, but already winning in dance competitions and share skills with swing neophytes.
"One day I was just walking down the street, looked into the Hermitage garden and saw how people dance in the open air. Made a big impression even wrote about it in his LiveJournal. And then in the comments people said me what it was and where you can learn it," says Eugene about his first acquaintance with swing. Before Lindy Hop, he never he didn't dance, and he didn't particularly like jazz. Valeria the situation was somewhat different: "Since childhood, I loved Louis Armstrong very much and swing in general. When I found out that Lindy Hop is a swing dance, I I was amazed: it turns out you can also dance to it! "
In principle, you can dance Lindy Hop without swing music. Evgeniy claims that many try to do it to funk or even hip-hop, but dance looks completely different from this. "Authenticity gives a special color, - says Valeria, - besides, what's the point of dancing to other music if you already have swing? It is so versatile that never get bored. Unfortunately, in Russia Lindy Hop is not so popular both in America and Europe. But more and more people are interested in him, and want to share my knowledge with them. It's not just a dance it's a lifetime!"
One of the main problems of dance life is the lack of male dancers gender. In the classroom, they try to cope with this in the following way: firstly, partners from the group of continuing (and their role is played not only by boys, but also by girls), and secondly, there is a constant change of partners - thus, none of them stays alone for more than 5 minutes. "It seems to me that young men they just think that dance is not a man's business, - Valeria reflects. - Perhaps they immediately get bored at the mere thought of dancing, they think that it is necessary to learn choreography by heart and do serious face like in ballet. But here it's the other way around: it's just good pastime, dance, where the main thing is freedom, improvisation, music. There are no strict rules here." "In general, a dancing man is always more girls like it, "adds Eugene.
Classes at the school are held in an American democratic way. Age of students ranges from 20 to 50 years. Teachers never comment on about unsportsmanlike clothing and the lack of removable shoes for the wards. The only thing that, according to Evgeny, can be a little annoying, because these are the conversations of the students during the explanation of the dance steps. Also not the formation of permanent couples during classes is very welcome - then there is a greater number of periodically idle partners. But most importantly, it violates the basic principle of social dance - the ability to dance with with any partner, even with the one you see for the first time in your life. How whatever it was, "we have not had occasion to raise our voice to students," says Valeria.
Teachers believe that absolutely everyone can learn to dance, there would be a desire. "There are several examples of people in our community who which could not be associated with dancing, - says Evgeniy. - Now one of them is already teaching, the other took first place in balboa tournament ... Oddly enough, after the swing, other dances are given easy enough. It's kind of a paradox. Because people often come from ballroom dancing, with good dancing skills, but swing is given to them as difficult as the rest - those who have not done anything before generally. And after the Lindy Hop, there are no problems with learning, for example, Latin American dances. Maybe this is because swing dancing is not bound by rigid rules."
In summer, Moscow Lindyhoppers can be seen on the streets of the city. in clear Weather swing fans organize dance walks. One of popular places for street dancers to practice - an observation deck at embankment of the Moskva River in Neskuchny Garden. Those who have enough money and free time, go to the Swedish town of Herrang, where every summer a swing dance camp is open for a month. "People they practically only dance there, - says Valeria. - all day long - classes, then parties. All with breaks only for food and sleep. Even for one week there you can raise your dancing level as for half a year of ordinary classes, because this is an immersion in the environment. Imagine to yourself: 500 people in one small town - and all swing dancers! And all talking about dancing. People are dancing everywhere: on the paths, on the grass, in halls, saunas. It's a crazy camp!"
In winter, lovers of the forties live at swing club parties, their the same forces and organized. By the way, this year the first Moscow Lindy Exchange Festival. Foreigners come to such meetings. dancers, and for the domestic lindihopper, this is a great chance to improve the level of his plastic art. For three days there were swing parties, including live music. Organizers Lindy Exchange says you don't have to be a high-class dancer, you can even be a beginner. Finally, Swingers don't aim to out-dance each other, they just enjoy dancing. Yes, and the swing itself is not a result, but process.
Fans of the forties in Russia are, of course, a subculture. But she doesn't closed. For the most part, Lindihoppers are open, cheerful people. After all, when a good person feels good, he dances. And if it improvisation dance, which means that a good person is free.

Svetlana Vorontsova-Pavlova