Lindy Is Not The Only Fruit

He Goes:

Today something a little different - other dances. As I've mentioned before, I started dancing with ballroom and latin, which led on to Swing due to the enthusiasm of people at one of my regular dance classes. I still do ballroom and latin, but it's a distant second to Lindy Hop.

The main thing about ballroom classes is that where Lindy Hop is a long-term relationship, ballroom is like speed dating. There are roughly ten different dances, and classes tend not to focus long-term on one particular dance. You meet a dance for a couple of weeks, maybe, just long enough to get the basics and perhaps a fancy move or two, and then you move on to the next one. Sometimes this is a blessing (when you get a dance you really don't like - for me, the Foxtrot), sometimes a curse.

The dance I'd say I like best out of all the ballroom and latin dances is the Cha-Cha, and in no small part I think it's because it shares a lot of the great features of Lindy. For one thing, the basic steps are frighteningly similar: anyone who's done an eight-count basic almost has the rhythm for a cha-cha: step, replace, triple-step, step, replace, triple-step. There's a Lindy move I'm told Frankie Manning sometimes taught which he called the cha-cha, even. The cha-cha-cha triple step needs the same fast footwork that a Lindy triple needs, but after it there's the same little respite in the form of the slower step-replace so that it's energetic without being relentless.

It's also eminently leadable, and from the very first I've always been interested in leadable dances. Although in theory all ballroom and latin dances are led, the number of different styles and holds sometimes makes it quite difficult for a follow to know exactly what pattern she's being taken into - not to mention that with so many leads to learn it's even more common in ballroom for leads to just remember their steps and rely on the follows to remember too. Cha-cha has a bunch of nice simple leads, though - lifting the hand up for a turn, sending it across for a new-yorker, palm-to-palm for an outside turn, once you have those three leads down, a lot of the other moves are simply variations on the same thing (leading quicker, or interrupting the follow's movement, that sort of thing).

Again, similar to Lindy, Cha-cha is danced in place, which means that you don't have to worry quite so much about floorcraft (I know floorcraft is pretty important in Lindy, but there's a different quality to it in ballroom, particularly in the progressive dances. It's hard enough focusing on your own dance, without having to dodge through and around a stream of other couples. A crowded ballroom floor full of beginner waltzers can often resemble the asteroid-dodging scene of The Empire Strikes Back more than a dance from a period drama). It's nice to be able to pick a spot and stay there, sometimes.

Finally, it's a nice social dance. It doesn't need much room, it's lively and can be danced to a wide variety of music (like Lindy it's danced to 4/4 time, but it fits modern music a little better), and because of the short moves and easily-led patterns you often actually get to dance it in class where you might not get to do much in the other dances except go through a routine a couple of times.

Of course, it has its disadvantages. Like all ballroom dances, as I say, you do a little bit of cha-cha and then move on. It's also not so easy to be creative, and - not one for the dancers, obviously, but important for motivation - I don't think it looks as good as Lindy. All that said, though - if swing dancing is ever banned in your town in some very specific re-enactment of Footloose, you might do worse than taking a cha-cha-chance on it.

Massive frilly arms and dog are considered optional for modern cha-cha

She Goes:

Keith you won a gold star for referring to Star Wars and then lost it with that awful groaner of a pun at the end!

I don't have as much dance experience as Keith, I dabbled in 'ballroom' as a young teenager and tried salsa a few years ago. The only thing I have to compare and contrast lindy with is blues.

Having said that, I'm now thinking about the differences between salsa and blues... I think there's similarities there. (A basic step with a hip twitch, anyone?) I rather enjoyed salsa, but I always found it difficult dealing with the proximity of my leads. And here I am now, dancing the blues, up close and personal and doing things with my hips with near strangers - and not even batting an eyelash at it!

But yes. Blues and lindy. There are obvious differences such as speed of music, energy, simplicity of steps, and socially there seems to be less peril on the dance floor. (In terms of injury!)... But from this point, for me at least, vast differences appear. I have a different emotional response to a successful blues dance, compared to lindy.

After a bangin' swing sesh I'm buzzing. Excitable, grinning from ear to ear and in all likeliness, a sweaty knackered mess. I get the kind of post Lindy high that I used to get after a particularly strenuous yoga class. Serene. And a bit achey.

After a good bluesing I'm so relaxed it's bordering on ridiculous. I feel extremely chilled out but also alert. I'm less sweating like a horse, more glowing like the embers of an open fire. The post blues high is heightened physical one. I'm aware of each flick of my fingertips, the weight shift from hip to hip, the breeze on my neck from the cool night air.

I also worry less when I dance the blues. Regular readers may have heard me bang on about thinking less and dancing more- this certainly works with blues. Well it currently does. I don't need to worry so much about lead signals being missed because so much is lead with the body. (See, I'm not being a perv, full body contact is a plus!)

Not that I'm fretting frantically when dancing Lindy! I suppose it's a slightly unfair comparison with the two. Lindy is my long term relationship, the thrill and butterflies from anticipating good dance have gone, although the deep satisfaction from being bang on the money stays with me for longer. (Last night i had a couple of smashers with a favourite lead- we haven't had it that good for a little while and we both commented on it afterwards) I miss it when I don't do it. It's a physical ache for it, genuinely like my other half has left for a few days and I can't sleep the first night alone in bed without them.

I'm in the first rushes of love with blues. I get restless with excitement, I wonder what to wear, who I will have the best dances with.

I think I'm going to have to stop here before I spin off into ridiculousness... But I think to sum up I do believe its a good idea to dip your toes into something different from time to time. It helps you break outside the box, and approach your regular style with refreshed eyes.

Ps The Savoy Ball has sold out now! Haven't got your ticket yet?! Oh... Shame... However some tickets maybe be offered up by people who now can't come- stay peeled to the Facebook page and cross your lovely fingers!