What's The Use Of Diving?

He Goes:

What is it that makes a song swing? There are technical details of the musical style, of course, and in theory a little adjustment can make any song swing, but on the dance floor personal taste in music doesn't generally revolve around the distance between notes but the whole package - the lyrics, the strength of the beat, the breaks and pauses.

There's a delicate balance in all the variables of a song. My wife (who is more of a ballroom dancer than a swing dancer) likes dancing swing to ballroom jive music because the more regular beat and structure of the music doesn't tempt me to improvise as much. I like songs to be a bit less regular for exactly the opposite reason - where there are interesting features in the music there's room for fun improvisations. But there's a tipping point beyond which songs get basically undanceable - where the jazz noodling obscures the beat, or makes the time signature next-door to pointless.

I can't complain too much about music like this. After all, I've been saying that experimentation and mistakes in dance are one of the sources of creativity, I can hardly deny musicians the same privileges. But there are jazz songs that are on the swing/stride end of the scale and ones that are on the free jazz end of the scale, and somewhere along that line there's a point where only the most experienced dancers have any chance of dancing to the music. The rest of us just have to sit down and wait it out.

So first and foremost, I like a regular beat with some variation rather than a mechanical beat or an unpredictable one. The second most important thing for me in a song is how the story in the lyrics ties to the music.

Sometimes, where there are strong lyrics in a song and an understandable theme, it only takes having danced to it perhaps once or twice for a lead to pick out those features in the lyrics that suggest moves. In a more complicated song it might happen, but for me the ideal is that if a move relates to the lyric in some way it should be obvious to the follow - even if she hasn't heard the song before - that what we just did matched the lyrics. In "Hallelujah I love her so", for instance, stopping to mime knocking on the door during the "if I call her on the telephone" chorus gives almost perfect comic timing - stopping on the break at "I hear her" is the confusing set up where the follow wonders what you're doing. Then there's a split second before the knocking punchline, which resolves the break and is immediately understandable.

I like "Straighten up and Fly Right" for a similar reason, and "So High", but probably my favourite for simple lyrics that make for a fun dance has to be "Watch the Birdie" (this clip, along with the famous scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, makes up the scant handful of watchable sections of the - in my opinion - otherwise terrible film "Hellzapoppin'"), which is so full of danceable features and breaks that there's barely a couple of bars in between each opportunity for improvisation.

Finally, it's nice when a song has a relatively predictable ending - a countable crescendo. I understand that it's part of the convention of western music that a tune generally doesn't end with a complete bar, but songs can still have predictability built into its end. A song can be brilliant right up until the last moment and then stop suddenly, prompting confused looks from the dance floor as everyone stops in the middle of a move. Or - more common - a song will have a series of Brucknerian endings that makes it seem less like a dance tune and more like the movie version of "Return of the King". The classic Glenn Miller version of "In the Mood" is like this, for instance - it ends two or three times, and I'm rarely sure whether it's two or three or four when I'm concentrating on dancing. Other than that it's a lovely piece of music to dance to - mellow and spiky in equal measure - but having a memory test at the end does make me curse it sometimes.

If you type 'love swing' into google you will not come up with this sort of image....!

She Goes:

 You know, for someone who listens to and bangs on (and on) about music, how much I love it and  how I can't live without it... I don't often tend to think of it in more detailed terms. I love all music, and if I can swing to it, even better. It doesn't have to be clearly defined as swing, either. (Doing the Tranky Doo to Belle and Sebastian? Check!)

If I like it, I like it. And if I love it, even better.

I came to dancing through my love of music, and it's one of the things that keeps me coming back for more. Dancing (lindy or otherwise) to a tune I adore is one of the best things in life, as far as I'm concerned. I have very eclectic tastes in music, and I'm not just saying that. Put my itunes on shuffle and it could string together some Deftones, Saravah Soul, Cinematic Orchestra, Roni Size, Slim Gaillard...

...But what I listen to most is that good, solid, swinging sound. I'm tapping my feet to it at bus stops, doing 'the vulture' as i bop down the road, making up choreography to song sections on escalators. LOVE!

In terms of my dancing, if I'm standing and I think I can make it to the end of the song, I'll dance it. Even if I have to do it half time or we give in and do balboa steps after the first chorus! Faster and slower songs are an enjoyable challenge, and the reason why I'm thinking of having a dabble in blues and balboa to expand my move reperoire.

In terms of my general enjoyment levels, I do like a nice moderate/moderate-upbeat paced song, and if there's breaks in it, even better! I like being able to have enough space to style it out and actually interact with my lead. I want to have the time to watch what they're doing and respond to it, and to give them the chance to do the same. It's great when we both know the song (or can read it the same way) as it really feels like a collaberation then. Faster songs are fun but it can be more about keeping up with the beat (and each other!) which is also fun, just in a different way.

She Links:

Wrap your lovely ears around THIS. I've been nursing this for a few weeks now, I'm almost sad to stop compiling it!

And in case you missed it, here's a playlist I made for you a couple of weeks ago.

Do me a favour? If you see me without a partner at the beginning of any of these songs, please come and grab me!

Kick Me Daddy, 8 To The Bar

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Last week Spoon and I listed the attributes that made us avoid some of our potential dance partners. It's not easy to look at a list and not spot one or two things that you yourself are guilty of, and looking at Spoon's list I immediately thought: Oh, right. Floorcraft.

The mysterious art. The reason why Cuban salsa dancers supposedly do a left-to-right basic. The reason why Balboa starts to get popular as dance scenes get more crowded. The difference between you and your follow strutting off the floor confidently and limping off the floor with your arm under hers.

I consider myself a pretty reckless dancer. I like big moves, and I think it's generally coolest if you don't look too much at where you're going. But even with small moves and careful dancing there's a lot of scope for disaster. When I'm leading I'm thinking about the pulse of the music, about the position in the bar, about how I can get ready for the next move, how close we are to a break or the end, whether my right hand is safely in the middle of my follow's back or whether it's crept down like a sleaze hand to her waist, whether my posture's okay, whether there's something in the lyrics I can use... to do all of that in addition to keeping track of all of the couples dancing around us is a recipe for failure. I have to drop one or two tasks, and although usually it isn't floorcraft, sometimes it is.

The strange thing about floorcraft is who the victims are. It's almost always follows, with spectators coming a solid second. I guess this is because leads generally stay where they are, making them easier to track - while follows are sent spinning all over the place and spectators move unpredictably around the edge of the dance floor. Manoeuvring to minimise collisions with other dancers (for instance moving a lindy-charleston to the edge of the floor and facing in) sometimes also makes it more likely that spectators will get unfavourably involved. A few weeks ago, near the beginning of my big dance marathon, I did a hit-the-deck charleston (touching the floor on one with a big mule-kick behind). I'd thought I was nice and safe, but in fact there was a spectator close enough behind to get (gently) mule-kicked in the stomach. Kicking a stranger in the stomach is almost more mortifying than the accidental bad touch.

You'd think, having made that terrible mistake once, I would avoid it again. But a mere week later I found myself charleston-ing to some fast-tempo music. Three basics in a row, and then clearly it would be worth doing something to mark the end of the section. I checked behind. I checked behind again. I hit the deck, left leg out behind me - directly into a spectator's thigh. He'd somehow managed to ninja himself in the way in between me looking and me hitting the deck.

D'oh.

The trouble with floorcraft is that it's most necessary in the most cramped conditions, but they're also the conditions in which all the simple ways of doing it go out of the window - if you're dancing in a crush it's hard to keep your arse out so that you hit bumper-to-bumper because it's easier to be upright. The same for keeping your arms out. At a busy dance you're more likely to meet beginner follows with dangerously inappropriate footwear. There's also a psychological aspect - although I like busy dances because of the ambience, I also find they can be a little bit boring. If there's no room to swing out you're stuck largely with 6-count moves and tight partnered charleston - which can work, but if you have to dance a whole evening without swinging your follow out once it can begin to feel a little like you've failed dancing. I've taken to inventing what I call the "Red Rhythm Swingout" to try to get round this - more like a Lindy Circle that ends in open than a proper swing-out, in which I hang on to my follower almost until she's put her foot down on the seven beat so that I can place her safely into the tiny space available for her. It's not great, but it gives me the option of a swing-out that doesn't end in Picasso's Guernica.

As well as brain-power, floorcraft requires muscle - it's not easy keeping your backside out and your arms up if you're dancing for three hours. I tend to straighten up as the night goes on and my legs and core muscles become more and more tired. At least this is one feature of dancing that corrects itself - by the time I'm tired, half of the other dancers are too, and the floor is clear once again.

She Goes:

Floor craft is a pretty flippin' big deal when it comes to social dancing. I find it absurd that people are still not able to take these basic concepts on boards. It's common sense! Come on now!

Let's start with spectators. They're mostly dancers and so can scoot round a tightly packed dancefloor without too much trauma. (being able to 'read' the flow of the moves).. However there is the odd individual who will try and short cut across a fast-filling-floor... and the results are not always 'phew that was close'... Also, the people stood/sat around the dance floor. Yes, you're all tuckered out, bless, from swinging the flip out during the last song, but please folks, keep your limbs out of stomping range!

Now. The nitty gritty.

I agree with Keith in terms of big moves being better. Big moves! Kicky legs! Flung out arms! Twist! Heels! However! It's bad enough accidentally injuring the person you're dancing with, never mind someone you're not. Spending a whole dance apologising is not exactly confidence-boosting and rather distracting. You spend a couple of bars post-apology guiltily glancing over your shoulder, and then a couple of bars trying to refocus yourself. You may miss the killer break in the tune. The song may end before you get your groove back. You may regain your focus only for it to happen again! (This happened to me recently, I actually poked someone in the face. Mortifying. Took me ages to regain my composure and pretty much ruined the dance for me from that point. Fortunately we had a second song which was less violent!)

It takes two to STFO, and good manners on the floor come from team work. Leads, keep your eyes peeled, but follows be aware too. Yes, they're driving, but remember, you can still grab the handbrake at any time. He's swinging you out and you know the space has been snapped up? Twist round early, slow it down, style it up, whatever!

When there is a collision/clipped heel/punch in the face, apologise! Even if you don't think it was your fault! Don't be the lead/follow people mutter grumpily about every time you have an incident.

There's a couple of great leads I can think of straight away who are great to dance with, but I dread when there's a busy dancefloor. I love unexpected dips and jumps, keep me on my toes, and I enjoy the challenge of an aggressive swing out, keep me on my count, but i don't like any of these things if I'm constantly having to reign the moves in on your behalf. (and believe me, I often am)

It really does come down to common sense and manners. If it's crowded as hell, dial down the swing outs. If it's a really fast floor, get used to it (and check your partner has too) before busting out some faster moves. And if injuries are sustained, apologise, shake it off and hop to the bar for a time out. Not exactly mind blowing stuff, is it? *innocent face*

He Links:

As I've mentioned, I have an idea that creativity and improvisation in dance come from mistakes. But they can also come from deliberate experimentation. Fen K (of this post fame) is (as well as a swing dancer) a company dancer and dance teacher. She is currently working on The Physical Science Project, a chemistry-themed dance workshop. Here are the Physical Science dancers brilliantly improvising the effects of a Puppet potion.

Straighten Up And Fly Right

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Not everyone makes a good dance partner. 

There, I've said it. Swing dancers while dancing are just like people (in many ways, they are people), and that means that although a good 95% of them are great fun to spend a song with, there is that niggling 5% who just aren't. It might be because they're not good dancers, but sometimes they are, and they still aren't fun to dance with.

There is a conversation I have with almost every beginner I dance with, so much so that I should probably have it put onto a laminated card so that I can just hand it out. First of all there's the disclaimer, in which the beginner follow tells me that she isn't very good or only knows the moves we learnt in the lesson and I reassure her that that is no problem, we can just do that. Last of all I get asked how long I've been dancing for, at which point (after telling them) I generally start my explanation that it's probably not a useful question to ask, because it's hours on the floor that are important - for example I've been swing-dancing four times as long as Spoon and she's at least my equal, mainly because she dances at every opportunity.

It's the question in between that that I have to think about the most, which is this: "Don't you get bored dancing with beginners?"

Now, obviously it would be the height of bad manners to answer "yes" to that during a dance with a beginner, but actually I don't. I'm not sure I'd want to spend an entire night dancing with complete beginners, but even then I'm not sure - I haven't got bored dancing half of a night with beginners, why would the other half make any difference? 

It's not that I'm such an even-tempered person that I can enjoy dancing with anyone, it's just that experience isn't the determining factor for enjoyment. Some beginners are a bit of a chore to dance with, but it's not the fact that they are beginners that makes the difference. There are other things that make a dance partner tedious to dance with.

It's hard to explain, exactly, but there is a definite different feel between a dance partner who's doing their best to follow your lead but can't (either because they're inexperienced or because your lead is ambiguous), and a partner who won't follow your lead. It can feel like dancing with a store mannequin - more a battle than a dance, as you try to push someone around the floor.

A look of disapproval during a move is another way to make a dance unenjoyable. I like a reasonable bit of eye contact during a dance, and when a lead goes wrong I generally try to check out my follow's expression. The best I can hope for is a laugh - a shared understanding that one or the other, or possibly both of us, just made a hash of things, but that's OK. The next, and most common, expression, is one of confusion. That's perfectly understandable. What I don't like is when I get a frown, a "what do you think you're trying to do?" look. I'm not against people giving me advice - otherwise how am I going to learn, after all - but when I'm dancing with someone I like to feel like I'm dancing with them, not interviewing for a job.

Arm clampers are unpleasant to dance with. Having now followed a little, I appreciate how hard it is to keep your arms available, if for no other reason than the strain on one's shoulder muscles. But some follows will go further than that, seemingly leaning their whole weight onto my arm in closed position so that it feels as though I'm helping an injured woman to hospital rather than dancing with her. If I haven't had a chance to warm up this can be pretty excrutiating during classes - keeping a smile on while my shoulder is screaming in agony because three follows in a row have been leaning on it and I'm trying to keep a decent frame. Perhaps younger leads don't have that problem, or perhaps everyone's got the agonies and we're all toughing it out.

Alcohol seems to be a special way to leech fun from the more sober partner to the drunker, too. A bit of a drink to work up dutch courage I can understand, but occasionally you meet people who are going above and beyond. I'm getting to an age now where when I see a university-age woman drinking at a dance hall I have more of an urge to call her parents than dance with her. The perfect storm of unfun dancing is to dance with a drunk woman who is unable to keep time, unable or unwilling (or both) to follow a lead, and still thinks that she's god's gift to music. No.

So beginners, do not worry. It's not a limited number of moves that make a dance bad. After all, even when I dance with someone at the same level as me a good half of the dance is going to be basics and simple turns. What will make me wish I hadn't asked you to dance (or that I'd made an excuse when you asked) is grumpiness, is clamping down on my arm until I lose feeling in my hand, is treating the dance like a technical examination which we have to get through, and in which you have no part except to follow along like a robot.

She Goes:

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I can’t decide whether to do a disclaimer now or at the end of this post. How about I apologise for any offence now, and try to do some damage limitation at the end?

So, reasons for not enjoying dances/turning people down… this could end up being controversial!

Mr I-Can’t-Count; you know the moves, but I find it difficult to follow you when you do a 7-count swing out…or maybe a 9-count Charleston! I don’t really care if you send me out forwards/backwards/sideways, but send me out in the count I’m used to! And then start the next move after the current one has actually finished!! Count it with me, c’mon, one, two, three-and-four, five, six, seven-and-eight!

It’s really disconcerting! I’ll have to chalk it up to the fact my wondrous beauty is distracting you and making you nervous… These leads are often also about as musical as my kitchen sink! I can’t help but wonder why they picked swing dancing, maybe they’d prefer something else like, I don’t know, sitting down?! (And then I see them kicking swinging out like a boss later on- egg on my judgmental face much?!)

Mr Robot; Seriously dude, you need to chill out! Tense arms and legs, you’re all elbows and knees…and don’t get me started on the plate hands!! As a follow I try and reflect my lead’s style of dancing- I think it makes the dance flow better and makes us look more compatible to any watchers. But, hell, do I feel uptight after our dance! Loosey-goosey baby, loosey-goosey!

Mr Swimmingly; Now look, we ALL sweat like mad when we’re getting our swing on. I’m not talking about that. Wet shirts? I’m not afraid. Slippy hands and arms? I laugh in the face of their danger!  Actually I quite like my leads hot and sweaty. Damp shirt, shiny face, slightly out of breath? Yeah, you’re all warmed up, let’s do this!

I’m talking about the guy that sweats so much you’re wetter from his sweat than your own. I’m not even kidding. (This isn’t the odd drip; it’s more like a shower from every movement) Most regular dancers are actually incredibly gentleman like and considerate when it comes to this. Regular shirt changes and a discreet towel/flannel whip round and they’re ready to go for some more. But. There is the odd lead that doesn’t. I actually know one and I have to avoid him, which is quite awkward. However, he also falls under the above two categories so I have very just cause.

Mr Lynx; You smell. I’m sorry, you really do. I cannot believe that you are not aware of this. Let’s look at this logically, shall we? You are a regular dancer. A regular dancer who knows they get hot and sweaty. But you have no towel, no change of shirt, no spritz of scent, no mints and probably not an extra spray of deodorant before you came out either. If you had just one of these things I could forgive you…  You smell like you just stepped off a farm! Please, do something about this; you’re not doing yourself any favours! I personally try and spray nice smells on myself when out dancing, throughout the night, as I do get very hot and sweaty sometimes. (If I do smell bad, somebody needs to tell me right now)

On the subject of breath, I am fine with most food smells (except fish breath! Urgh!)- But if you eat something pungent the day of dancing please do bring mints/gum, as I know many other follows who are less forgiving than I am. Plus I love a waft of minty-freshness whilst on the floor. 

Mr Wet-Fish; like a limp handshake, your leading is floppy and insecure. I can’t read your signals and we spend the whole dance apologising to each other, both feeling worse and worse as the seconds tick by. I feel confident enough now on the social dance floor to ask for stronger signals when I find a lead like this. 

Mr Bad-Toucher; we covered this a couple of weeks ago and I’m thrilled to say that I’ve not had a bad touch since. I will own up to accidentally instigating a boob grab at the last social dance I went to, but a non-dancer distracted me. My lead pulled me up on it straight away and I called him ungrateful … And then apologised after a couple of bars. *Shame face* 

All in all I’m quite lucky that the people I dance with regularly don’t fall into these categories- what a lovely civilised bunch you are!

And if you ever have any doubt or fear that you are one of these Mr categories- then work on changing it! Eat ALL the mints! Change ALL the t-shirts! Count ALL the 8s!

She Hears:

A bonus soundtrack compiled by Spoon to get your Monday swinging:
http://8tracks.com/smallspoonful/that-old-sound