Lindy Hop is a dance that emerged in 1928 when Black dancers, "Shorty" George Snowden and Mattie Purnell, lost their grip and briefly broke away only to return to each other again. Lindy Hop is first and foremost a Black dance having been created during the Harlem Renaiisance and took flight at the legendary Savoy Ballroom as an expression of Black kinetic values such as call-and-response, improvisation and making African-American rhythms visible on the dance floor.

What is East Coast Swing, Jitterbug and Swing?

When swing dance schools or related festivals and events refer to east coast swing, jitterbug or swing, they're often referring to Lindy Hop, albeit a specific rhythm pattern featuring Slows and Quicks. These names indicate these organizations are engaging in cultural appropriation rather honoring the Black heritage or creators by using the names they gave their dances. Much like jazz, swing dances contain a multitude of rhythms and call on dancers to express themselves individually even while in partnership. East Coast Swing or Jitterbug was created to reduce the rhythms, limit individual expression and create a hierarchy where the leader, typically male, is the role dominant over the follower, typically female. Black social dances, rather, encourage mutual assertiveness. Lindy Hop and other Black social dances were dances of liberation, joy and freedom and made people fear upheaval of the status quo.

Where can I find social swing dancing in Denver?

Swingin' Denver offers a multitude of options through the year with our partnerships and collaborations across metro Denver and beyond often featuring live music. Here in Denver, you can also find options at The Pearl, Denver Turnverein, Avalon Ballroom in Boulder and other spots around town. When you find a favorite band, we encourage you to follow them so you can discover other venues where you can dance!

How can I stay informed about classes and events?

We encourage you to check out our website calendar and follow us on Facebook.

What should I wear to a dance class?

Lindy Hop is a casual dance and can be as athletic as you'd like it with a variety of rhythms, kicks, hops and bouncing. We suggest comfortable clothes that you can move around in, and non-marking flat shoes that will stay on your feet (open backed shoes or flip flops don’t work well.) Followers don’t generally wear heels in Lindy. If you have leather soled shoes, maybe bring a backup option in case you think the floor is a bit too slick.

Do you offer private lessons?

Some of our instructors do offer private lessons. Please email info@swingindenver.com. We offer private lessons for those seeking choreography, wedding dance help, improvement and other reasons.

What are the dance roles called?

The two dance roles are called leader and follower. Either gender can dance either role and switch during a dance if consent is there. Since we teach Black social dances, it's important to emphasize these roles are mutually assertive and both partners can be dancing different rhythms at the same. Much like how these dances encourage you to create bent lines and revel in asymmetry so is that asymmetry found between partners as we're constantly listening to the other partner and responding in time.

Exploring 6 vs 8-Count Patterns

A Redditor recently posed the questions on the r/swingdancing sub-reddit -

“Since many students have asked for it, we will teach a class (beg/int level) with this topic: How do dancers recognize the difference between 6 and 8 count steps?

Our final goal is to understand: It is not about 6 or 8, it is just about: Is the next one a step-step or a triple step.

How do you approach this topic? Any good excercises, you would teach? Any good ressources/videos which would help us to prepare this class?”

Here are some thoughts we had and shared:

dance to lots of music, giving students freedom to explore
walk the room, making observations, personally noting success with students, making inquiries when it appears that the outcome was different than one of the partners may have been wanting for themself and explore that.
acknowledge that how you make African-American rhythms visible on the dance floor (Jacqui S. Malone's definition of vernacular) is up to the individual though you'll provide rhythm ideas as the teacher
one place where we discuss rhythm choices is the passby - it can be accomplished with the QQSS rhythm or QQS triple step or QQ triple step triple step rhythms.
a place for decisions related to the length of a pattern likely along with rhythm choices is the send out and gather. You could do a send out much like an 8 count gliding step made linear where the indication to keep going is the leader adding to the momentum to get a walk walk. And for the students, it's good to note that we're co-creators in this event rather than having "gotcha!" moments.

For a visual example on how the second to last suggestion is employed, we have this recap video of our Beginner Lindy Hop class where we’re teaching a variety of patterns, rhythms and dances. Note that the triple step on the passby is a choice either partner can make and it might feel like a call to the other partner to respond to. Whether you do or not, is up to you!

So what do you think of our suggestions?