The dance was another great success in my eyes, so many good dancers coming out, Naomi’s amazing DJing, some candles and nice lighting, and a general all-around good feeling in the room.  Just know for the record you guys that if I run a dance I plan to make it as sexy and beautiful in there as possible, and I think each time gets better – and I have plans too…

It was a really long day for Naomi and I, but it makes  it all totally worth it when everyone is so helpful and cool.  Thanks to everyone who helped out at the door while I was running around, setting up and getting Thai food, and thanks a ton also to the crew who stayed til the end and helped put everything away super quickly.

The feeling at the dance on Sunday is what I want for the Minneapolis scene and it is why I created Uptown Swing in the first place and why Naomi and I are putting on these workshops and dances when we can.  I really think it is something special when people in a scene can share not just the social dancing they do, but also the work of improving and the bonds you create from that sharing.  That is what I remember most about when I was starting up, was how we all shared learning the dance, not just doing the dance, and it is so awesome to see people do the learning and then see the results in their dancing echo out into the overall vibe of the scene.

I like what we’ve got going here so lets keep rolling with it.  I’m gonna keep trying to get new people started with Uptown Swing beginner lessons (new session starts August 31st!) and keep pushing people’s dancing with the intermediate lessons.  If you guys have ideas for things that could happen in the scene lemme know.  I don’t have a lot of time in town so I can’t do a ton, but I like what I’m doing now and want to see more happen here.  In any case, I’ll see you all out dancing soon, but for now, thanks!

-P

But it was worth it as I’ll explain later.  Most importantly, I got here and as usual it is totally amazing.  I’ve seen a giant chicken dance with Frida during the meetings every night while she makes announcements.  I’ve had a random comment I made about dancing earlier and earlier in the night when I got old spawn an entire parade and “future” party over which I was forced to preside as myself 40 years into the future where I couldn’t really go to a dance past 8pm – with a live band and dancers from this same “future.”  I had my advanced class interrupted by a circus-themed jazz routine in honor of tonight’s theme party.  Plus I have had some amazing dancing and I am ready (after my 9m-midnight nap) to go get some more.  Oh and I danced with Dawn Hampton.  She really is the shit.  If you ever get a free week in July, do yourself a favor and get out to Herrang, it truly is the Mecca of Lindy Hop and although it is quite likely that you will experience nothing on my little list above aside from great dancing, you will surely have some very special experiences of your own that I couldn’t even guess at.  As they say here, “only in Herrang.”

I hope all’s going well back home in Minneapolis.  Although it is hard to imagine the rest of the world existing while in Herrang, having my classes at Uptown Swing gives me a bit of an anchor to back home that convinces me that indeed home does exist when I’m not there so I’m writing to remind you all that I exist too, even when I’m not home.  I’ll see you all actually very soon, although it won’t feel like that for me.  In the meantime, be sure to check out Late Night Swing’s inaugural Thursday night at their new location at the Social Dance Studio – it should be great and packed to the gills with fun dancers.  If you took lessons with Uptown Swing this session, be sure to let them know at the door as Late Night Swing will be our Uptown Swing field trip this session and Cindy & Terry are gonna give this session’s students $1 off.

With any luck at all I’ll be arriving back home just in time for the big National Dance Day event at the Tea Garden.  This is why I said my plane debacle was all worth it.  After a billion calls to Delta, they finally decided that to compensate for my flight pains, I could get my return flight changed to get me home at 12:30pm aka one whole 1/2 hour before everything starts up at the TG.  I was scheduled to arrive at 3:30pm, so rushed as I may currently be, it’s much better.  I hope to see everyone out on the 31st to come party with us at some time during the day – it should be super fun.  Sign up here if you know you are coming to the (FREE) night dance so you can get a coupon for 1/2 off of a drink.  For now, take care, I’ll try to pour out a little fun for the homies that ain’t here.  Ciao!

-P

-P

P.S. Even when you are totally getting screwed on a flight, be nice, it helps everything.

For now I just want to thank everyone who has been helping to spread the word about Uptown Swing.  So far you have been the biggest part of all in making my vision a success.  I am really excited to get more people introduced to Lindy Hop & Swing dancing so please keep telling your friends.  We have some great opportunities coming up to put the dance in front of people’s eyes and show them what they are missing out on, but in the end there is no better advertising than word of mouth, so thank you!  Have a great time working on that solo movement with Stacia – I’ll be back in 2 weeks to party it up with you guys at the Tea Garen.

-P

We’ll have this upcoming Tuesday off – no Uptown Swing, but then we are back on the first Tuesday in July, starting off our special July session.  Read more about it and sign up HERE.

Very simplistically it is sorta like a pulse, a bounce, or a lilt that keeps the rhythm moving forward, like there is a little bit of lag on some beats and some beats are a little quick.  Of course these descriptions are pretty unhelpful and can be used to describe a lot of music that doesn’t really swing, and the more talking you do about it and the more technical you get, the further away you get from actually getting what makes any particular rhythm “swing” or not.  So rather than annoy the music theorists out there who really know their stuff, we’ll just take a listen, with dancing in mind.

We’ll start out with the easy comparison of an old swing classic by the master of swing, Count Basie, and a hip-hop super-jam by Missy Elliott:

Easy Does It by Peetski

Lose Control (Feat. Ciara & Fat Man Scoop) by Peetski

Now I love both of these songs, but it’s pretty clear here that one works a little better for swing dancing than the other.  But how to tell when the differences aren’t so obvious?  Let’s listen to some songs that are more similar so that we can better hear the “swing” in the rhythm.

Here are 6 examples, 2 songs per artist, including one song with a beat that swings and one song with a beat that doesn’t swing (also known as a “straight” beat).  Listen to these songs and imagine doing triple-steps to the beat (or really do em!) and you will be able to tell the difference pretty quickly because really, the difference is pretty easy to hear, especially if you try moving to it.  If your triple-step sounds like a latin “cha-cha-cha”, straight and even, with equal time and emphasis on each step, then it doesn’t swing.  If, on the other hand, your triple-steps have the feeling of “TRIP-le-step” with more time and emphasis on the “trip” that on the “-le-step” then you’ve got a swinging rhythm on your hands.

We’ll start with some soul music by Sam & Dave.  First up, their version of an old Sam Cooke classic, “Soothe Me”:

Soothe Me by Peetski

Now take a listen to Sam & Dave’s signature tune, “Soul Man”:

Soul Man by Peetski

Both great songs, both great to dance to, but the first has that “swing” whereas the second has a “straight” beat.  Next up, here are a couple songs by blues guitarist, Freddie King:

I’m Tore Down by Peetski

Goin’ Down by Peetski

Both about, going/being down.  Both bad-ass songs in their own right to be sure.  Again though, “I’m Tore Down” has that relaxed swinging feeling to the rhythm, even as he kicks the crap out of the guitar while on “Going Down” the beat is hard and straight.

Even in a genre like hip-hop, which is a little further down the road from old big band jazz/swing music than soul or blues, you can hear the difference when a beat swings and when it doesn’t.  Here are two songs Outkast put together for a compilation of theirs:

The Whole World feat. Killer Mike by Peetski

Funkin Around by Peetski

So this time we have two hip hop songs, no big bands involved, and yet, “The Whole Word” swings, it’s beat just rolling and lilting forward while “Funkin’ Around” for all of it’s funk, doesn’t, strictly speaking, swing.

If it still isn’t super clear, I am gonna give you one more example, this one by a master of many genres, Ray Charles.  It is perhaps no coincidence that this man who could play jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and Latin music, and who in many ways made Rock & Roll possible, has a song where you can clearly hear both a straight rhythm and a swing rhythm side by side.  This is by no means the only example of this, but just try some triple-steps to this song and see if your dancing doesn’t change distinctly at about 1 min into the track.  Check it:

You Are My Sunshine by Peetski

The track starts out as straight as can be with a bit of a Latin flavor, and then at about 1 minute the whole thing switches up and the whole beat shifts around and settles into this big heavy swing rhythm, only to return from whence it came 30 seconds later.

—

Now regardless of whether it swings or not, you can swing dance to whatever music you want, and don’t let anybody tell you any different.  But, at the same time, don’t let anybody tell you that dancing to a rhythm that swings will end up the same as dancing to a rhythm that is straight, even if you are going for the same dance.  If you are doing the Lindy Hop, it will likely work more easily with a song that swings.  Old jazz music from the Swing era is really the architecture of swing dancing and Lindy Hop in particular, and the new rhythm that was blowing everyone’s minds back then was the swing rhythm.  It had a force and a momentum to it that bled directly into the dance.

There are dances now that work great to music that has a straight beat, dances like Chicago Steppin’, Hand Dancing, or West Coast Swing (which can “swing” but doesn’t have to) and you can certainly take the partnering skills you learn from Lindy Hop and apply them to whatever rhythm you want.  But while you are learning, take a moment to try out and enjoy the momentum and flight that the swing rhythm lends to your dancing.  Because when we, as dancers talk about music that swings, and how great it is for Lindy Hop, or swing dancing in general, we are talking about how the rhythm moves us.  How all the way down to our triple-steps, our movement is transformed by that quality of the music we call the “swing”.