Lindy Hop and the Studios

Spitfire

Spitfire

Well-Known Member
Is Lindy Hop commonly offered in the dance studios where you live?

Just curious about other areas of the country since it is not being offered here; at least not in group classes. The reason given is that it is not in demand and in fact it's not being taught much anywhere else either at the present time, but in areas where it has a much larger following I'm wondering if the dance studios have gotten into teaching it.

And for those of you who may have had Lindy at a studio is it taught differently in any way?
 
We don't have any studios here in Ithaca, that I can talk about. There is one dance academy, but I have nothing to say about it, and am pretty sure I'll never take a dance class there.

THere are group classes offered here in Ithaca. We had Bill Borgida who offered a coupel series while he stayed here a couple months, and a lindy class/jump swing class that is offered for PE credit at Cornell, plus a coupel really great lindy dancers, one who is Lucy Dunne, who used to teach lindy class series a coupel times a here. I say used to as quite a few of them have graduated. Then we have another dance instructor, Cindy Overstreet, who ever so often, starts a lindy series of classes. I would say that we do have quite a few lindy classes here.
 
A ballroom studio in Kansas City used to offer lindy. However, it was poorly taught and the students weren't dedicated to practicing. Finally, it was a studio that played primarily fast neo-swing for the swing nights. This was not beginner lindy friendly music.
 
One of the studios here had a weekly group class for lindy a few years ago, but it was cancelled due to lack of attendance.
 
It's probably a good thing that most dance studios don't offer Lindy Hop instruction. There's a line in Dizzy's Desiderata that says "Exercise caution in your choice of dance instructors, cause the world is full of Arthur Murray Studios." If you've never read Dizzy's Desiderata, you should. It's pretty entertaining.
There are some good ones, though. Sandra Cameron in NYC is one that comes to mind. Unfortunately, it's not where I live.
 
It is taught locally, but only excruciatingly badly.

I think that this ties in with an earlier thread discussing differences between WCS & Lindy crowds. For a whole variety of reasons, the dancers tend to be somewhat distinct. And I think that is reflected in the level of demand for vintage swing dances, Balboa & Lindy, at the studios and the consequent unwillingness of the studios to put enough effort into learning how to teach or even dance the vintage dances.

I think too that franchises are subject to some constraints by their chain, but am not sure of this.
 
The largest social dance studio in town teaches Lindy periodically every 3-6 months. Based on demand/requests, they may teach a second or a third 8 hr/month class. Why? Based on feedback from some instructors (who are die-hard Lindy dancers & and are quite active in the Lindy community), the majority of people that come in to learn swing (6-count ECS) simply aren't interested enough to move beyond it. Most don't even make it past 1-2 months worth of classes. Many simply don't practice much. Lindy is another learning curve for ECS folks and most simply do not have the motivation to learn and practice regularly in other to enjoy the dance. When it comes to swing practice night, most music is not Lindy friendly. The very few Lindy Hoppers at the studio try their best to get more Lindy friendly music, but it's not popular with the ECS folks since they'd have to...gasp....triple step...(sarcasm intended by me) in order to dance to the music.

I moved on from ECS to Lindy Hop and am not looking back. As a follow, Lindy allows much more freedom of expression than ECS. Not to mention Lindy is a unique culture/community in and out of itself :D .
 
Here is the thing, any studio that has classes in any swing style taught by teachers who are not active members of the swing dance community, or actively being trained by an active member of the swing dance community you are going to recieve an incredibly watered down product. One which is sometimes not even recognizable as a swing dance... ECS/Jitterbug with hustle prancing and cuban motion? *retch*

Most studios won't go out of their way to hire a skilled swing dancer/teacher or have their teachers trained by one. End result is an inferior product. This feeds right into the lack of interest at studios. Not being a part of the community they have no idea who to target and how to advertise. At my studio I only teach the upper level Lindy classes. Its hard to attract new dancers when they find out that I won't be there teacher.
 
Dancegal said:
The largest social dance studio in town teaches Lindy periodically every 3-6 months. Based on demand/requests, they may teach a second or a third 8 hr/month class. Why? Based on feedback from some instructors (who are die-hard Lindy dancers & and are quite active in the Lindy community), the majority of people that come in to learn swing (6-count ECS) simply aren't interested enough to move beyond it. Most don't even make it past 1-2 months worth of classes. Many simply don't practice much. Lindy is another learning curve for ECS folks and most simply do not have the motivation to learn and practice regularly in other to enjoy the dance. When it comes to swing practice night, most music is not Lindy friendly. The very few Lindy Hoppers at the studio try their best to get more Lindy friendly music, but it's not popular with the ECS folks since they'd have to...gasp....triple step...(sarcasm intended by me) in order to dance to the music.

I moved on from ECS to Lindy Hop and am not looking back. As a follow, Lindy allows much more freedom of expression than ECS. Not to mention Lindy is a unique culture/community in and out of itself :D .
Click to expand...

Sounds like my former studio. The kickers for me have been the studio boss saying that he doesn't want a lindy hopper's influence in his studio and some 'fake' DJs telling me that lindy music wasn't allowed.
 
swinginstyle said:
Sounds like my former studio. The kickers for me have been the studio boss saying that he doesn't want a lindy hopper's influence in his studio and some 'fake' DJs telling me that lindy music wasn't allowed.
Click to expand...

Do you know what it would be about a lindy hopper's influence that a studio director wouldn't want to have around? There has been two studios near me who have not reacted positively to my lindy hop propositions.
 
jdavidb said:
Do you know what it would be about a lindy hopper's influence that a studio director wouldn't want to have around? There has been two studios near me who have not reacted positively to my lindy hop propositions.
Click to expand...

Lindy is danced by out-of-control 20 somethings that sweat a lot, do kicking charleston things and girl tossing. Right??

Our dance is Balboa, which can be sedate, no sweat required and can hugely increase your range of danceable tempos (60 - 240 BPM easily). Same kind of reaction. I even offered to simply teach their studio instructors Balboa (for FREE - our current goal is to merely increase the number of local Balboa dancers). Same negative reaction. "It isn't on our syllabus." and "There is no demand."
 
heheh yeah when talking to those directors it feels like I just asked, "so where can I park all of the bullldozers?" or "do you have a landing pad for my helicopter?"
 
Lindy hop is a very free-form dance. Your ability in the dance is judged not by how exact you perform a step but by how unique your own style of performing th estep is. The ability to improvise and the recognition that while there is correct and incorrect technique, there is no correct or incorrect moves is very threatening to syllabus dependant studios.

Another factor maybe that lindy hop being a vernaculr or folk dance encourages, no, demands the use of natural movement and posture... which is very different than the standard smooth ballroom method of standing and moving. They may worry what a few months of that relaxed athletic posture will do to their carefully crafted aesthetic. And rightly so.
 
I think that Damon has very good points and that this could help explain why even Balboa, also a street dance with attributes common to Lindy (and to Argentine Tango - another street dance??) is not welcome in the conventional studios.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top