Not only do you contribute to that dancer’s improvement, you also make a new friend and help them feel welcome in the community. That’s why dancers - even advanced dancers - recognize the importance of dancing with beginners. Swing dancers understand that unless you dance frequently, you won’t get better. It’s also one of the few spaces where I can feel completely comfortable to go somewhere all by myself, walk up to a complete stranger, ask them to partake in an activity with me, and we can part as acquaintances, or even friends, without further expectations. I really enjoy catching up with people once a week during a dance, or on the edge of the dance floor as we watch and admire other dancers. We have very diverse interests and backgrounds, but we share something in common: a love of swing dancing. I have made many new friends from swing dancing whom I might not have met anywhere else. You also learn how each lead or follow has a different response to your personal connection method - so you can make adjustments and have many different types of dances with many different people. You connect through tension, physical contact, rotation, pulsing (that consistent bouncing thing we talked about earlier), eye contact, and sometimes a bit of verbal communication if need be (and if you’re not already chatting). It’s a nonverbal, physical, expressive conversation between the partners.Ĭontrary to the belief that a lead “makes” a follow do a dance move, the lead actually suggests a move, and the follow chooses to respond to the suggestion. In swing dance, which is a social partner dance, a lead and a follow form a connection to communicate what movements they’d like to do in accordance to the music. Communication and connectionĭance is a great way to communicate with another human being, even without speaking. It’s actually very important to maintain a steady bounce to the music - moving in rhythm like that is even called a pulse! Whatever way you swing it, you will definitely get your daily steps in, and then some. Whether you’re starting off with east coast, quick-stepping with balboa, or ramping up in Lindy triple steps, swing dancing definitely gets your body moving and your heart pumping. Here are eight ways I’ve benefited from swing dancing: 1. I love swing dancing even more for what I’ve learned about it and gained from it. I’ve taught classes, choreographed performances, made friends from around the world at swing dance events I travel to - and I’m proud of myself for sticking with something that I was bad at, but gave me joy. Ten years later and I’m still dancing, taking lessons, improving my technique, working on my personal style, and sometimes even performing. When I started, I had two left feet, someone dropped me (yes, dropped), and I was terrible - but I was in love. My favorite hobby (besides reading) is swing dancing.