It might not seem like it, considering all my posts are
about the things one does when sitting down like watching series, movies,
reality shows and Twitter, but I was very much into dancing in my youth. I was
part of my school’s dance team; we went to international gymnastics festivals, and
even competed a couple of times. I didn’t say we won. But then I moved to
England and I guess it was too cold to get out of a seated position. That is my
excuse anyway. Dancing was over. I tried a couple of classes here and there but
nothing stuck. I got a bit interested in finger tutting, as it could indeed be danced
in a seated position, but no one was convinced this was an adequate form of
exercise. Including myself. Do look up finger tutting; it is what they did in
Dr Strange for spells and it is very impressive when done well. When not done
well, it looks like one is trying to relieve finger cramps. One sometimes is.
Now that I have fulfilled my customary long, loosely related
intro, I can discuss the Lindy Hop class itself. I have a friend who has been
praising it for years and admittedly it really sounds like it brightens up her
day. And you can clearly understand why; it looks like such a cheery, rhythmic
dance. For years she has been urging me to try it and of course I chose the
Covid era to actually go to a class. Covid means no Lindy Hop parties, which
are apparently the easiest and most fun way to practice. Covid also means a
single partner for the whole year, therefore less socialising. So, bad and good
things alike. I chose to go with a friend of mine, where I would lead and she
would follow. I wore my most gentleman-like ripped jeans for the class, sat with
all the boys who were learning how to lead and moved my hips as if I was
dancing Salsa. I have done a few Latin classes here and there, but I never
thought they had been so influential. I guess it will take a while to get into
that groovy body posture our instructors seemed to employ with such ease.
The class setup was relatively straightforward. We did a
warm up, we learnt a few basic steps, learnt a bit about the history of the
dance, and learnt that the term ‘Swing’ is not just Lindy Hop, but an umbrella
term for a bunch of different dances plus the practice of exchanging romantic
partners for a night. Hence my consistent use of the term ‘Lindy Hop’ instead
of ‘Swing’. Imagine my statements about parties being good for practice and having
a single partner for a year if I used the term ‘Swing’ throughout the last
paragraph.
These primary lessons were all quite expected; it was a
dance class so we danced and it was an introductory class so we were introduced
to its history. Not everything was expected though. For example, I didn’t
expect to sing. Or scatt, as we were told to call the jibber jabber that we
sang. Now, I might have misled some of you to think that we karaoke-d to Ella
Fitzgerald, but in reality we just put some syllables in place to understand
the rhythm of the dance. But doesn’t that sound much less impressive? After our
basic steps, we were paired up with our partners so that we could repeatedly crash
onto each other instead of managing the steps. Apparently this is a common
teaching practice; it teaches us to wear withstanding shoes when dancing with
another novice like ourselves.
As you might have realised in the last couple of posts, I
have decided to make the most of my time in Greece. A bit of Improv, a bit of
Lindy Hop, still a lot of series watching and a brand new addition of working
out to Chloe Ting. This will be an action packed year that will hopefully
inspire a few more posts and distract me from the pandemic that, for the time
being, has me doing gargles every night since I heard that they use Listerine
in between shoots for Riverdale. And anyone who knows me knows; I will do
whatever Camila Mendes does, except run an illegal speakeasy with my dad’s drug
money.
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