Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Amber Otto gathers everyone into a circle to begin the warm-up.
“Rock-step, kick-step, kick-and-back step,” Otto, a graduate from Springhill, yells to the class during the first part of the dance lesson.
Video
An introduction to swing dance
Amber Otto and Geoff Crawford of the KU Swing Society demonstrate a few beginner swing dance steps.
“Everyone grab a partner,” Otto said. “Now invite your fellow to dance.”
The beginners stand in the center of the room for their first lesson in the fundamentals of swing dancing. Meanwhile, advanced dancers line the perimeter, waiting for the moment they can step onto the dance floor.
Every Tuesday the KU Swing Society organizes Swing Night, an event open to the public that teaches a variety of swing styles in the Kansas Union. Swing Society is “dedicated to preserving vintage vernacular Jazz and Blues ‘Swing’ dances” through communal dance and instruction.
Otto has been dancing for four years and began teaching swing dancing two years ago. She comes to Swing Night every week, even after graduating from the University. She said the 25 or so people that showed up to Tuesday’s Swing Night was the average amount she tended to see on a weekly basis.
“We saw a lot of regulars and a lot of new faces tonight,” Otto said.
Erica Henderson, a junior from Fredonia, has been coming to Swing Night for the past two years and said she loved the atmosphere of the group.
“Everyone’s here just for fun,” Henderson said. “They don’t care if you know two moves or two hundred moves. Everyone dances with everyone and it’s so much fun.”
Lauren Landry, a senior from Plymouth, Minn., and the president of KU Swing Society, has been swing dancing, specifically the Lindy Hop, for about five years.
“I did some East Coast back in high school in Minnesota,” Landry said. “But I really got into it my junior year at KU with the Swing Society.”
Lindy Hip Hop and East Coast are two of several dances the group rocks to during swing night.
Landry said Lindy Hop was the “granddaddy” of all partner swing dances.
“I hesitate to call it more complicated, but it does involve knowing both six and eight-count steps,” Landry said. “We generally work students up to this from East Coast Swing.”
East Coast swing developed from Lindy Hop and became popular again in the Neo-Swing era. Landry said that when people think of swing, East Coast is normally what they’re visualizing.
Some other types of swing dance they do are Lindy Hizzop, a “funkier,” more hip-hop version of swing that has more hip movement and foot work. Balboa is another dance that was created in the ’40s when the dance floors were really crowded and swingers needed to take up less space. In Balboa, people dance very close to their partners and the footwork is smaller and more intricate, Landry said.
Landry said the group tried to encourage people to learn all the dances during the lessons, which start at 8 p.m and last about an hour.
“We try to play a wide range of music from the 1920s all the way up to contemporary music to try and meet everyone’s tastes,” Landry said.
As the lesson came to a close, eager dancers began to take the floor.
Each free lesson is followed by social dancing until 11 p.m. Landry said it was not necessary to bring a partner because the group tried to rotate partners during the lessons. Along with the beginners’ lessons, the group teaches more developed lessons for people who come every week.
“We want people to enjoy dancing, learn to love the music if they don’t already and meet other people who enjoy dancing as well,” Landry said.
— Edited by Megan Heacock
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